It's been a year

I took last year off. Almost no cycling, running or swimming for a year and it truly is starting over with that kind of break. Much of this last year was a reset. After leaving a 20 year career I felt lost. The only job I really knew was gone and I did not know what was next for me. It took a lot longer to feel like there was some direction, and I’m not totally there yet, but generally I’m headed towards what I want to do with the second half of life.

Life is about choices and we make them every single day, however no daily choices prepare you for making the monumental decision of relocating for work or scraping to get by but having your kids close by. For what I did, there aren’t many options for work staying in Syracuse so if I were to stay with my career field, I’d have to move to Tennessee, California, Florida or Texas - all locations with job openings in which I was qualified for when it comes to teaching the niche area of music business. If I stayed to be a Dad, it meant scraping by with whatever I could find to stay in Central New York.

So, I’m 6,000 rides into driving for Uber and picked up less than full-time gigs with 3 other employers and still in Upstate NY. I’m not in a comfortable position in life but I have always said triathlon training was an exercise in getting comfortable feeling uncomfortable. That’s life now on all levels.

So why consider training again? Why race? Why look at the bikes I can’t buy? Hope. I’ve received some of the most supportive comments on social media recently and being visible is important. I was visible on TikTok and in a moment, it was gone. A few hours later it was restored and I feel like it’s my second chance as well. I initially intended the @seventypoint3 account to showcase races, training, nutrition, success and failure. It’s the time to show it all off unvarnished and take the community I’ve cultivated with me to some amazing places. I’m not out there to win, I’m out there to be seen by the next generation of limb different kids.