def shepherd: Why A Heterosexual, Married, North Carolinian Father Of Three Cares About LGBT Equality

def shepherd: Why A Heterosexual, Married, North Carolinian Father Of Three Cares About LGBT Equality

Promise Kept

To keep my promise of writing in my blog everyday, I am posting a short message letting you know that I am having a problem with my Internet connection, so I really can't write tonight. I'll post twice tomorrow. :-)

New Enthusiasm

I want to start off by thanking everyone for their words of encouragement since my last post. It's really nice to see that people are actually reading my blog.

One thing I have come to realize is this blog is a source of inspiration for me. I think my enthusiasm was beginning to fade because I wasn't as diligent as I should have been about keeping my blog updated. Writing like this is almost therapeutic for me. It forces me to focus on what I am doing and helps me stay on track.

So, I am going to make a promise. Starting today, at the beginning of each week, I am going to pick a goal and spend the entire week accomplishing that one goal and then report back to you.

This weeks goal will be: Writing in my blog every day.

Keep checking back to check my progress.

Thanks again for all your kind words. You all mean the world to me.

Set Backs

I want to apologize for not keeping up with my posts over the past couple of weeks. I have been working a lot of hours lately and have not taken the time to keep my blog up to date. Moreover, I have not been taking time for myself either and the scale has shown it. I haven't lost any weight in over a month. I'm not getting enough sleep, I've been a bit grumpy, and I sure as heck haven't felt like exercising the way I should. That, on top of a few set backs physically, I haven't been eating right either.

Recently, I went to the doctor because I have been experiencing pain in my shoulder and knee. After several x-rays, my diagnosis was bursitis in my shoulder and a torn meniscus in my knee. Because of this, I have not been able to train the way I need to in order to get ready for the triathlon in August.

It seems that lately I am having a difficult time getting my self back on track. Everyday, I start out with a fresh attitude. I get up, pack my breakfast and lunch, and off to work I go. I do pretty well for most of the day; however, when I get home, I seem to run out of gas physically and mentally.

Don't fret folks, I'm not beaten yet. I'm hoping that if I can keeping my posting up to date I just my get my encouragement back. I would love to hear how some of you folks out there handle similar situations.

Stay tuned, more to come.

Here We Go Again

Well call me crazy, but I'm signing up for another triathlon. This event is exactly one week after my 46th birthday. I cannot think of a better way to celebrate or to honor the beginning of my 46th year of life.

Sometimes it saddens me that I waited until my mid forties to take my health seriously. Even after watching both parents die an early death it still didn't motivate me to do anything about it.

After watching my mother loose her battle with diabetes, and now working in a medical practice that cares for several hundred diabetes patients, I am forced to face the fact that these patients I see walking in everyday could very well be me if I don't do anything about my health.

After completing my first triathlon (2 hours, 15 minutes, and 44 seconds :-) ) and seeing what I can do with just a little bit of effort, I am committed to living a healthier life. I guess there is no better day than the present to take my health more seriously and give my body the respect it deserves

The Tri Of My Life

Well it wasn't pretty, but I did it in 2 hours, 15 minutes, and 44 seconds. I finished 799 place out of 857 participants and 31st out of 38 in my age group. All I can say is, I was NOT last!!!

Starting with the 400 meter swim, they started the race by splitting us up by our age groups. By the time my group hit the water, several other groups had already taken off. The swimming event was much different than I practiced for. First of all, I was swimming with 37 other women and trying not to get kicked in the face was a real challenge. The other challenge was with all those women in the water with you kicking and splashing, the water became quite choppy. I hit the shore in 13 minutes, but the swim portion wasn't over yet. My swim time didn't end until I hit the transition area. To get to that area, I had to run approximately another 400 meters barefoot and uphill on a concrete path. Luckily, I wore socks in the water and that helped protect my feet during the run up to the transition area. My total swim time was 16:12.

Once in the transition area, I had to quickly dry off and change into my cycling gear. Still in my swim suite, I put on my shoes, helmet, riding gloves, and sunglasses and off I went on my 12 mile ride. I was off to a great start and felt that I could gain a lot of time during what I think is my strongest event of the triathlon. About 5 miles out, I felt my back tire begin to wobble and then start rubbing on the break. I immediately knew that I had broken a spoke. I can't tell you how upset this made me. I thought for sure I was out of the race. I could not ride on a broken wheel and there was no support around to help me.

Determined not to give up, I twisted my spoke around one of the other spokes so it wouldn't caught in the other spokes. Then, I disengaged the brakes so the wheel would not rub so hard on the break. I climbed back on the bike, switched my bike into the lowest gear I could and took off. With my tire wobbling and rubbing on on the break I peddled as hard as I could and completed the ride in what I think was still a pretty good time of 59:17

Exhausted and a bit overheated, I entered the transition area to start my final event of the 5K run. With no regard for the people around me, I ripped off my swim top and put on a lighter t-shirt, slipped my shoes on over my drenched socks, grabbed my iPod and walked quickly out and across the starting line of the 5k.

At this point, my legs were a really tired from the ride and the temperature was starting sore. Instead of running, I chose to walk at a fast pace through most of the 5K. About a quarter of the way out, I past Deena on her way back to the finish line, we slapped hands, yelled some words of encouragement to each other and kept on going. About 5 minutes later, Cat and I crossed past, and about few minutes after that, along came Cortney sporting her Short Fat Girl shirt.

Making the final turn, I started making my strides towards the finish line. At this time I have picked up the pace to a slow jog and can feel my excitement growing as I hear the crowds at the finish line. I picked up the pace even more and ran as hard as I could the last 1/4 mile and after 52 minutes and 37 seconds of run/walking, I heard the announcement "Here's Lisa Getzinger from Decatur, GA crossing the finish line"

After 2 hours, 15 minutes and 44 seconds of my life had past, I had become a triathlete!

I want to end this posting by giving my love and thanks to my partner Kristy who stood and trained by me from the very moment I decided to do this. If it wasn't for her love and support, I probably never would have completed this. My thanks also go out to my fellow triathletes, Deena, Cat, and Courtney for believing in me and seeing me through this journey. Thanks you to Noelle and Kristy for helping out with the training support and raced day photography you guys are the bomb. One more thank you to Susan; thanks for your motivation and support through our training

The Results Are In

Race results in order of completion

1. Courtney: 1:40:12


2. Cat: 1:41:51


3. Deena: 1:43:07


4. Lisa: 2:15:44

Click on table below for detailed results