Twelve in 2012

I’ve been told my column is interesting because I’m not very good at racing — and that I’m supposed to take that as a compliment. Hmmm.

The truth is that I’ve received some awesome feedback from this Twelve in ’12 health column. The more races I’ve been doing, the more comments I’ve been receiving. People come up to me at the grocery store, at restaurants, at the YMCA locker room … you name the spot and people are talking to me about it.

During the Fourth of July Road Race at Bay Point Park someone actually shouted out to me across the street asking me which number race I was on. I still don’t know who it was, but I gasped out “Number 6” as I held up six digits and kept shufflin’ along.

And after our last race (No. 7 – a 35-mile bike ride) someone went up to my husband, Chad, at the golf course and asked him for advice about buying a bike.

But perhaps the best feedback I’ve received was from a guy I barely know, a friend of a friend. He told me that he’s been reading my columns and enjoys following along with my race adventures. He’s doing some races of his own and says he finds my writing interesting.

My response was something along the lines of, “Well, I’m not sure that I’m really qualified to be writing about all of these races — it’s not like I’m ever going to win a race or anything. I’m usually just trying to finish.”

His response was something like, “Well that is what makes your columns so good. You are like 99 percent of the other competitors. You aren’t going to win and that is what people can relate to.”

Hmmm. That provided some food for thought.

Well, I guess it is good that nobody is expecting me to be headed to the winner’s podium anytime soon because I’ve got three races planned in August.

I’ll be doing the Dirty Girl 5K Mud Run at Welch Village on Aug. 4 and then the Wingman Triathlon just eight days later. At the end of the month I’ll be doing the Minneapolis Duathlon with Chad.

I’ve really enjoyed the races so far and have actually been having fun doing the training. I’ve been trying to balance time in the swimming pool, miles running and hours logged on my bicycle along with weekly hockey games with my women’s hockey team.

All of the workouts and help from a trainer on my nutrition has helped me drop 15 pounds and made me a whole lot stronger and faster. Who knows, maybe I’ll actually win a race someday.

On second thought, I’d better not — I wouldn’t want to lose any readers!

Tags: health, lifestyle