Hello Internet

The first post... how daunting.

I guess I'll begin with a little about me, and what I plan to achieve by writing this blog.

First a synopsis of my past few years:

Near the end of 2006 I was pretty depressed, constantly tired (I was convinced I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), a tad overweight and out of shape. I spent most of my free time on the couch, and if I did get up to socialize, I usually drank way more than I should have. My life had become a boring routine and I was left feeling constantly unfulfilled. One day I decided I had had enough of being tired, constantly sick, and altogether miserable. I signed up for Muay Thai classes at a local martial arts gym. I also started going to the gym at my apartment complex a few times a week. Most drastically, I decided to go vegetarian.

At the beginning of 2007, when I started to take things really seriously, I lost about 20lbs. I was constantly covered in bruises from sparring, but I wore each bruise as a badge of honor. Even as a thin teenager I was always self-conscious of my thighs, but for the first time ever, I wore shorts and showed off my newly sculpted (albeit bruised) legs. I had more energy and I felt pretty amazing. Mid-2007 I moved down to New Haven, CT and started working as a web designer at a company I actually like. I was psyched when I saw that they have an employee gym, complete with towels and showers!

In 2008 I resolved to go to the gym at least 3 times a week. This quickly turned to 6 or 7 times a week. I mostly stuck to the elliptical, strength training with kettlebells, and doing kickboxing. I had made some amazing progress over 2 years and I was ready to really push myself. In May I decided to start running. I could barely run 5 minutes at first, but quite gradually increased both time and speed. Mid-June I began running outside, something I had attempted many times before but couldn't do. After a lot of research and trials of methods, I finally found ways to reduce the occurrence of the dreaded "runner's stitch" I would always get. With this resolved, I began adding miles. In September I ran my first 5K, finishing with a net time of 25:15, and later in October finished a 5k at 24:12, and placed 3rd for my division. By the end of the season my morning runs were reaching 7 miles.

During all this, I had also started biking a lot more. Since I was already running and biking, I thought, why not swim too? I joined a gym with a pool, and started swimming on a regular basis. At one point I decided that 2009 would be the year I would try my first triathlon.

Over the course of 2008 I had done a lot of research into nutrition, exercise and triathlon training. I follow a few blogs, and I'm always interested in how others tackle such a unique sport. Since there aren't that many triathlete bloggers that are vegetarian, I thought I could add something to the community. I hope to post recipes I enjoy, as well as my nutritional methods, book and product reviews, athletic inspirations, and the trials and tribulations I'll encounter while obtaining my goal. Basically, I hope to be the blogger I was constantly searching for. Hopefully there are people out there who will actually be interested! If not, it'll at least be a documentation of my lifestyle, and a place where I can reflect on my progress and an organized catalog of recipes and memories.