she wants to tri what?

You've probably gathered by now that I have rather impulsive ambitions sometimes...and I lack follow-through. I could link back to specific incidences, but I'd rather not...it'll make me look bad. You can do the research yourself if you don't believe me. :) It's just that I often get these great ideas in my head and get really gung ho for like two weeks, confident that it's the thing I'm going to do next. And then I normally don't. 

It's okay. I'm okay with this. These are never important things...just little grand ideas I get about frivolous things I suddenly want to do. So it doesn't matter if they never pan out. They make me feel excited for like two weeks and then I'm over it and no one's been harmed, so who cares, right?

So Tuesday at about 3:00 I decided the next Thing I want to do is train for a triathlon. (Not an Olympic-length. A sprint triathlon. I'm ambitious, not insane.)

But why, Erika? Do you like to run? Do you even own a bike? Are you a good swimmer?

The answer to the above questions: I don't know; no; no; no.

Clearly I am an excellent candidate for a triathlon, right?

Well, I am. For some kinds of triathlons. Here are some triathlons I would excel at:

-The Ulta-Sephora-MAC counter triathlon.
-The Zumba/gardening/laying out triathlon.
-The 'read these three books really fast' triathlon.

See, I have a lot of strengths. They're just not things traditionally considered to be amazing accomplishments when done in a record amount of time. This world...so arbitrary. Ugh.

But let's move on. I've convinced myself that training for and completing a triathlon (there's one in Athens on August 18) is definitely possible and then I was doing some research and found these web pages that said you can go from couch potato to triathlete in 12 weeks and I have 16 weeks so I can TOTALLY do this, right? Plus I'm not even a couch potato, I'm at least a few steps above that, so basically I've got it in the bag.

Things I have to get over in order to become a triathlete:
1. I hate running. Like really really hate it. This is bad because at the end of this triathlon, there's a 5k. AFTER you swim 1/2 a mile and bike 14. So hating running is going to have to go.
2. I'm scared of riding bikes and don't own one. Minor detail. It's not really that I'm scared of riding, it's that I'm scared of riding near cars. So I need to find places to ride that aren't near cars. And also find a bike.
3. I prefer to spend my pool time on a lounge chair with my Kindle and a rum-based beverage. That will have to change if I'm going to swim 1/2 a mile in open water without drowning.
4. I would need to train 4-5 days a week in order to build up the skills and endurance (although most of the workouts would not be long (hour or less)...only one long workout per week (bike ride), which could be on the weekend). I currently work out maybe two or three days a week. I'd have to make some lifestyle changes to accommodate this.
5. Because we don't have access to an indoor pool, the swimming training will not be able to start for probably another month, or whenever I deem my in-laws' pool to be warm enough. So that'll put my swimming on a tighter time frame.
6. I don't dope. I've heard this is standard operating procedure for bike-riding, and I'm not sure where to purchase steroids. Dang you sheltered lifestyle...

So it's a lot of obstacles to overcome, and I can't even really say why I want to bother trying except that I want to do something really hard and work towards it and be proud of myself if I complete it. Is that so much to ask? I feel like training for something like this would give me a difficult but obtainable definite goal (unlike pregnancy) to work towards. And anyway, the internet said anyone could do it. So obviously the internet is always right and therefore I should do it.

Matt's all for it. I said I wouldn't do it unless he'd do it with me and of course he was all about it. We did our first day of 'training' (run/walking and biking at the gym) on Tuesday (about 3 hours after I decided I wanted to try. See, I'm really ambitious on the front end!) but naturally had to take yesterday off because one day was too hard. See how I work? 

So there's my big new life plan. We'll see how long this one lasts. Anyone want to offer a pep talk, or personal triathlon success stories, or talk me off the ledge? Feel free. Ha. Also, are there any triathlon apps or training plans? Well, let me rephrase. There are lots of triathlon-training apps and training plans. I just have no idea which ones are good. Tips?