My website was first created in 2011 as a way to share about my training and racing as an elite triathlete.  Here’s the original biography I wrote (photos added later):

I didn’t used to think of myself as athletic.  I grew up in California, with a father who loved and coached football and baseball, and two younger brothers who were good at baseball and soccer.  I was the oldest and the only girl, and though I tried my hand at tee-ball (got stuck in the outfield where no tee-baller can even hit the ball…bor-ring), city league basketball (so embarrassing), tennis (ever heard of the “Exhibition Team”…yeah, their results don’t even count); and when I hit our family dog in the head while playing catch in the driveway with my brothers, I was just about to throw in the towel on sports.

So in a last-ditch effort to find myself a sport, I tried the city swim team.  Thank the Lord I apparently had a gift for moving myself through the water, and I excelled in the pool beginning at age 11.  Finally I was enjoying a sport because I was good at it!  By the time I graduated high school, I was a little burnt-out on swimming so I took up cross-country running and track at the local community college I attended.  I was fortunate to have a wonderful coach who taught me so much about the sport of running, and truly to love it.  I made it to the State Meet two years in a row, then I moved on to a University:  Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.  There I delved into studying but during one quarter with a light load of classes, I decided to try out the club Triathlon Team.  I distinctly remember thinking:  ”Well, I can swim, I can run pretty good; who can’t ride a bike?”  So I bought myself a winner at a garage sale: $50.

I was totally intimidated by the cool-looking triathletes and all their fancy gear, so I never went to any team practices except for swimming where I knew I could hang.  My first team race was the infamous Wildflower, in 2002.  I was the one without the wetsuit, flat-bed pedals, and a really tacky helmet.  I started the race telling myself, “I never have to do this again.  Just finish today.”  But I grinned from ear to ear during the entire bike portion, ran my heart out, and came in 9th overall woman, 2nd in the Collegiate division – just behind the #1 girl on our team who was all of a sudden not particularly fond of me.  Whatever; I was in love with this new 3-sport sport.  Not bad for a girl who hit a dog in the head with a baseball (don’t worry, she was okay).

I continued with Olympic distance triathlons till 2005 when I had moved to Boulder and decided to try out a longer race with some friends.  Lo and behold I won my age group and qualified for Kona.  What??!!  Honestly I didn’t think I wanted to do it at the time, but realized the gift I was being offered:  the opportunity to challenge myself in ways I hadn’t ever done, possibly even imagined, and to do it alongside legendary athletes.  I accepted, and my Ironman road began.  Since 2005, I competed in 13 Ironman distance races, winning overall female at the Vineman in northern California two years in a row (2008 and 2009), and then again in 2014, setting the female course record.  I absolutely love this distance and all the challenges it brings.  I was honored and excited to compete as a professional triathlete from 2011 through 2014, under the guidance of my experienced coach Curt Chesney of Boulder.  Fortunately, I upgraded my bike, my helmet, and my pedals.  And I have gone through a few wetsuits as well.

Besides triathlon, I have (had) a wonderful career as the Director of a Wellness Center (fitness, etc) within Frasier Meadows Retirement Community in Boulder, CO, which I absolutely love.  I have about 250 “grandparents” there who are some of my biggest fans, and I try to keep them on their toes and staying fit and active each and every day.

Living in Boulder has been such a privilege; it’s a mecca for endurance sports and I’ve met so many others who excel at my sport and have pushed me and made this whole thing a lot more fun.  Every once in a while I also like to get up above the “Boulder Bubble” and go off into the mountains to ride, run, and just breathe in this beautiful state of Colorado.