Call me Princess Buffcake

Growing up, I was not at all athletic. My dad actually gave me the nickname "Princess Fluffcake" when I was about 12 because I refused to do anything even remotely physical.  

I tried soccer, got hit in the head with the ball, and wouldn't go back.

I tried gymnastics, fell off the bar, and wouldn't go back.

I liked to ski, but was a bit of a spazz, and not very courageous.  I stuck to the blue runs and threw a fit when my dad would challenge me to something more.

I was on the swim team for 2 years in high school, but only because Sean Smiley was too.  He was my high school crush, and swim practice gave me a couple of hours more a day to be near him.  I wasn't very fast.

Steve and I almost broke up early on in our relationship while mountain biking.  I was trying to impress him, and led him to believe I was pretty good...so he took me on this ride up this crazy steep hill.  I ended up crying, he was calling me a wimp...it was not a pretty sight.  

After Olivia was born, I joined a health club.  But it was more to have a couple of hours to myself each day, as babysitting was included.  I would barely break a sweat and call it good.

So 3 years ago, when I came home from the gym telling Steve I wanted to join the "Women's Tri-Training" program at the gym, he laughed at me.  He told me he thought I should wait "until I was lighter" (those were his exact words, I'm not kidding.  And I wasn't even that heavy!)  

Without his support or encouragement, I decided to do it anyway.  The first night of training, I couldn't even run 1/2 mile.  I wanted to die.  But I also wanted to prove Steve and all the other nay-sayers wrong.  So I stuck with it.  And 10 weeks later, I finished my first sprint distance triathlon.  

I am now in training once again, and can't believe how far I've come.  I'm towards the front of the pack now, instead of one of the last.  I ran my fastest mile ever in training a couple of weeks ago - 8:55.  In years past, my "fast" pace was about 12 minutes/mile.  

I don't mind the sweat anymore.  I don't mind the muscle aches and exhaustion that come after a particularly tough ride or run.  I love the feel of the water passing over and around me as I swim.  

I still have a layer of "padding", that doesn't seem to want to melt away.  But underneath it all, I have discovered an athlete.  And now, instead of Princess Fluffcake, I like to think of myself as "Princess Buffcake".  Sean Smiley...eat your heart out.