Ironman Canada

First post, ever. Wow, I don't know what I am doing. Hmmmm? The word narcissist keeps coming to mind. Oh well. As these words begin to take form into a real post, I am at a loss. Where to begin?

I was once a very fat individual. I refused to believe it however. I thought I looked pretty good, maybe a little extra cottage cheese around the mid section but I was confident I could sell tickets to the gun show. Luckily, I met a wonderful woman, who I might add is now my wife. Christi is whom I credit my personal transformation. With Christi's help I will complete the transformation from a 245 pound compilation of chicken wings and beer to a (let's hope) super fit Ironman.

Over the summer of 2008, Christi and I enjoyed a 12 day road trip driving from sunny South Florida to the Great White North. Although the first 2 days of the trip is still a blur, comprised mostly of driving, Red Bull and . . . no, that's about it, the remaining 10 days were highly enjoyable. We ended up in Penticton, BC for the trip's main focus -Ironman Canada 2008. Ironman, due to its wildly increasing popularity, has the 'sign up for the event a year in advance' clause. There is a plethora of reasons that Ironman would instate such an inconvenient rule, but I imagine the main motivator was to mitigate the likelihood of the 'less serious' individuals from signing up. Either way, we were there, and it was freakin' awesome! The whole weekend was a collage of athletes, tri bikes, sweat and running shoes.

We were fortunate enough to bear witness to what can only be described as the single most motivating endurance spectacle in my experience. It made camping out in the rain to get in line to sign up for Ironman Canada 2009 the next day very enjoyable. There is something prodigious about hearing the announcer, over the loud speaker, bellow the words, "Eric Barber . . . YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!". (Obviously, the announcer did not say my name, but that is how I choose to remember the situation, who are you to judge anway?).

So, as I sit here, typing away diligently, I have come to the realization that there is a little less than 7000 hours remaining for me to train. I better be going now, but before I do I want to say one thing. I owe a great deal to my lovely wife, who has supported me 110% from the beginning. I couldn't do this without you Christi! I love you and thank you!!

Stay tuned for the trials and tribulations of my impending journey to Ironman Canada 2009, it should be a good one.

Post 1 complete, boo-ya!