Welcome!!!

Who am I and how did I end up doing triathlons…

My name is Flo. I am French but I have been living in London for the past 7 years. I’d like to think of myself as an active girl but it has not always been the case. When I was a kid, my parents forced me to do a lot of different activities including sports…but I just hated it! I’ve tried almost everything: gymnastic, swimming, badminton, karate…the first thing I did when I left home was to stop everything! Having a ‘penchant’ for sweet food…well it was not long until I put on the kilos. But I did not think at the time that exercising was a solution to stay fit.

It is in 2004 when I moved to London that I realised that. I used to live in Willesden Green with 2 blokes. One of them was a Norwegian who was always on his bike or at the gym and who would not stop saying how much he enjoyed it. So I thought: Hmmm! If he is so keen, that must be for a reason…why don’t you give exercising another shot? Two other events comforted me in this decision. The first event was when I had to go to the doctor because I needed a certificate stating that I could walk in order to participate in a seminar…the Doctor looked at me with horror, said that I was unfit (actually, the exact term she used was: OBESE!) and even if she signed the certificate in the end, she seemed quite reluctant to do so. That was quite a humiliating and upsetting moment for me to be honest (she was basically saying that I was so unfit that I could not even WALK!!) and it gave me a lot to think about. Around the same period, I had a train to Paris to catch and I was quite late so I started running…I was totally out of breath and could not stop coughing afterwards. It was really painful and it took me no less than 30 minutes to recover. That’s what convinced me that I could not carry on like that. So in 2005 I did something absolutely crazy…I applied at my local gym! And guess what, I was totally addicted from Day 1.

I could barely run 10 minutes on the treadmill at first but I improved very quickly and next think I know I was running my first 10K, then it was a half marathon and last year, I entered my first Super Sprint triathlon.

When I think about it, I really wonder how I did not realise earlier all the benefits I could get from physical exercise. I guess I was just lazy and clueless. But I am glad that I came back to my senses and changed my habits. For me sport has become a real source of wellbeing and satisfaction. I like that I can set myself goals and work towards achieving them. It is also extremely rewarding (addictive shall I say) to see myself make progress and to even surprise myself sometimes by achieving better results than expected.

Why this blog…

The idea of a blog emerged while I was studying the CAM diploma in Managing Digital Media. The final assignment for one of the modules required to create a blog about pre-defined subjects – none of which inspired me at all. What I wanted was to write about triathlon which is my No 1 hobby at the moment. So I did write a blog about Charity and Sports for the diploma but then I decided to really write a blog about my experience of triathlon.

I also want to be able to share my experience of this discipline with my friends and family and anyone who will visit this site and take time to read it.

Finally I see this blog as a sort of digital diary that will help me put words on my feelings and emotions towards this sport (and other sports too…). This is a way to keep track of what I have been doing and remember what I have felt about it at the time.

Final word…

I hope you’ll enjoy reading the blog…and don’t hesitate to share your comments with me!