The siren song of adventure on the open sea...

 I first read about the Ultimate Florida Challenge in 2006, and informed my husband that I wanted to try it. Actually, I gushed fairly enthusiastically, but he's used to that. Growing up, my dad had a 24' Crestliner that we took out on the James River in Virginia and into the Gulf Stream just off of North Carolina's Outer Banks.  I enjoyed all manner of water-related activities as we moved around the country. Water calms my soul, while simultaneously reminding me not to take its restless nature for granted: a friend and impersonal teacher rolled into one.

I attended college in Colorado and married a mountain man who, cat-like, doesn't really like being wet. I could not be more land-locked. Did I mention we now have two children? Ah, yes. One is 2.5, the other is 6 months. Can you imagine how we spend our time now? When not completely occupied by these two wee ones, we're playing catch-up: Sleep. Showers. Grocery shopping. Cleaning/damage-control in the house. Not much exercise. Let's be frank: I am completely and utterly out of shape.

Still, when I think about a race that carries you 1200 miles in less than a month (21 days is the goal), all by sea and rivers, powered by your own arms and the wind, there really is no decision to make. (Oh, and there's that little issue of the 40 mile portage. You must be able to carry/drag your vessel that distance between rivers to complete the race.)

This is my opportunity to do something with my beloved water, a reason to return.  I just hadn't expected birthing two children would set me back as much as it has, both physically and time-wise.

I guess it's time to figure out what I need to do to get from here to there.

Sizing things up

So to start with, I need to take inventory and set a realistic goal.

Where I am now: I have no life outside of motherhood as of this moment. This blog is my first step towards a more balanced existence. So I deleted all the comics and some news sites off my computer, since I easily waste an hour over the course of each day reading things that don't directly benefit me. I will now spend that time on my blog and researching what I need to do for this project.

Where I REALLY am now: Oh, my poor body. I've had two babies, and it shows. I have 20 lbs of pregnancy weight I still need to shed from this past May. I'm nothing but flab at this point, and would like to trade it in for some muscles just to keep my posture from deteriorating further. I broke my back in 1998, and the pregnancies took a toll, so I'll need to rehabilitate that before I start training too hard, too. I know it can be done, though, both from personal experience and from the example of others. I'll share some of these great stories in the future.

Timing: I'm giving myself four and a half years to do this. Why? There are a number of factors: the ages of my children, my poor physical state, the time it takes to plan and execute training cycles, and needing to raise the money for expenses surrounding training, equipment, and the event itself. Plus, I really want to succeed, so I don't want to sabotage myself with too ambitious a schedule.  This will be my gift to myself for my 40th birthday.

Baby Steps: First things first.

1. Form a team of people to help rehab my body back to a balanced state.
2. Schedule the workouts.
3. Follow through- which is hard with the dynamic life of toddlers/infants.
4. Figure out how to eat better.

These will be life-altering changes for our little family as it is, so that's where I'm starting. As all moms know, it's really hard to make the mental shift towards placing your needs on the same level as others and not feeling guilty about it. I'll let you know how it goes.