How long have I been lifting?

I have been going to a gym for a long time, in fact, my son who will be 16 at the end of the month tells me he remembers me dumping him at the gym daycare "for hours" when he was a little baby. I don't remember what I did last weekend, so how he can remember what happened over 15 years ago is a mystery to me. And we all know that most gym daycares have an hour, or at maximum, a two hour limit.

Although I have been going to the gym for years, I didn't really lift weights, I was a "wanderer". I would wander around and use this or use that, and never really put any effort into anything, I don't recall breaking a sweat unless the air conditioning was out that day.

The turning point came when I went to visit my younger brother in Spain one summer. The women were fit, slim and beautiful. I was fat and almost 40, I came home unhappy with myself and made a decision to change.

I decided I would run a marathon. You may have already figured out I am a bit OCD, It's pretty much all or nothing with me, I am difficult to live with (sorry sweetie). I joined San Jose Fit, a marathon and half marathon training group that met in Los Gatos. I had a blast, made lot's of friends and ultimately ran my marathon. 4 hours, 1 minute, 7 seconds, pretty fast for a 40 year old who just started running 6 months earlier. This is a picture of me crossing the finish line, I think this proves that running is not the best way to look good, although I had lost weight, this was still not the body I wanted.

I also developed plantar fasciitis in both feet, a very common injury in runners, so I had to stop running. I immediately joined a boot camp at my gym, we met twice a week and I started looking better. I then started weight lifting with the help of the instructor, he and I became good friends, often having bar-b-ques together, swimming with our kids and partners, it was great. Then my gym closed, I no longer had my weight lifting pal and I was on my own once again.

I joined a new gym and decided I wanted to try kettlebells. There was a trainer there I hired specifically for that. I found that her knowledge was not much better than mine on the subject, but powered on.

I caught the kettlebell bug.....