A Story to Tell

At the risk of stating the obvious, this is my new blog. 

I’ve been thinking about starting one of these for years but wasn’t always sure I really had anything too compelling to write.  Mine has been a life not all that interesting to the outside world -- for the past six years, I’ve been a lawyer in Chicago, defending big corporations in complex litigation, working crazy hours (yes, I’ve spent the night in my office many, many times) and trying to stay sane at the same time.  Not exactly thrilling blog fodder.

At some point, I found an outlet.  Just a little over two years ago, I signed up to do my first triathlon (well, truth be told, my fifth triathlon, but the first four were in high school/college and I rode a hybrid bike and had no clue what I was doing and that was a million years ago anyway.  So those don’t count.)  I needed a challenge in my life at that time, a kick in the ass to start living again. I had been consumed for months by the devastation of a bad breakup, the difficulty of re-finding my way in a city after I already had one foot WAY out the door, the stress of a demanding job, and just general apathy about the direction I was headed.  A half ironman seemed like the solution, so I made my way to google, found an awesome training program in the city, and hit the ground running (and biking and swimming).  Yada, yada, yada, the race went OK, yada yada yada, I did some more, and now, I’m kind of hooked.  

It seems to me like at least 37% of the triathletes out there have a blog.  I could have started to write all about my new triathlon life a long time ago.  Let’s be fair, for two years, it has consumed my time and my thoughts and, well, my money, but it just didn’t make me want to write.  I don’t have sponsors to plug or terribly interesting triathlon tales to tell…what would make me any different from all the other super-triathlete-writers who have already tread this ground??

BUT NOW … I finally have a story that, I hope, will be worth telling.  A couple weeks ago, after months of hemming and hawing, I told my (extremely generous and accommodating) employer that I’d decided to take a break from lawyering.  A very long break.   Starting in late July, I’m going to pack myself up, wave goodbye to my Chicago life thus far, and start traveling the world.  The plan is to take a year.  It may end up being longer or shorter, depending on my finances and my moods and my life-altering realizations and all that stuff.  But, for now, a year.

And here’s the kicker. Like I said, I kinda love this triathlon stuff.  I’m still a rookie and still figuring it out, but I’m not giving it up.  My bike’s coming around the world with me.  I’m going to keep training.  AND, I’m going to keep racing, but in foreign lands.  Is a triathlon in Chile a lot different than a triathlon in Illinois?  I’m about to find out.  My plan is to stay in each place I visit for at least 3 weeks to a month; to really absorb the culture and unique aspects of daily living (and training).  And to find a race of some sort -- whether it’s a triathlon, or a running race, or a kayaking race, or a mountain bike race (anyone who knows even a little about how accident-prone I am just gasped a little), or something I’ve not even thought of.  It’ll be different and it’ll bring me out of my comfort zone.  I like that.  And I’m going to write about it.

Let’s just say, I’m really, really excited.

So that’s my reason for blogging.  I’ve finally got a story to tell. 

And let’s get it out upfront -- this won’t be a work of literary genius, that’s for sure.  I’ve been writing in legalese for a long time, and while I’m pretty good at throwing in words like henceforth, indubitably, res ipsa loquitor, etc., I fear my creative writing skills have lapsed.  I know I tend to unabashedly split my infinitives (see what I did there?), overuse parentheticals (and here?), and make overly liberal use of commas.  So bear with me.  But if I ever screw up a [there/their/they’re] or a [your/you’re], PLEASE call me out.