Inspirational? Moi?

OK, so I'm doing this whole triathlon thing for a host of essentially selfish reasons....   to get fit; to have fun: to meet cool new people: to become competitive within my age group; to lose a few pounds and look better; as a reason to brag; to hang out with women wearing Spandex....  :-)        Perhaps some of those translate into some secondary benefits like being a good role model for my girls and (hopefully) being there for them for many years to come but, never-the-less, I think there's a good deal of selfish motivation for most "triathlon types".  I certainly don't think of it as being a particularly noble cause!

Today, however, for about the fifth time in as many weeks, someone said that I had "inspired" them to start working out and get fitter and I have to say that, on reflection, this may be one of the best and certainly a very gratifying reason for taking on this crazy triathlon thing and writing this blog.

I have two friends who credit me as their reason for starting to run and lose a few pounds recently.  Another friend has returned to his bike and my boss, who is of a similar age and lives in the UK has committed to doing the Outer Banks Sprint Triathon with me in September of this year!  Far more gratifying though, is another friend and ex-colleague of many moons ago, John Yonkin, who said nice things about how I made a difference in his decision to take on the challenge of climbing 69 flights for stairs in full firefighting gear at the Columbia Center in Seattle to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society http://www.llswa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FF_homepage.   John comes from a long line of firefighters and his son (another volunteer firefighter) will be doing the event with him.  John's oldest brother lost his life fighting a fire and he participates in support of family members who are afflicted with Leukemia/Lymphoma.   You can read about his exploits in his blog:  http://jyonkin-seeyouatthetop.blogspot.com/2012/02/full-gear.html

Mr. Yonkin in full garb!

So, while it's nice to help encourage others to get off the couch, it's people like John and the many volunteer firefighters and first responders who are really inspirational.  I hope that you might consider supporting John's fundraising efforts.