This is a silly picture of me in a wetsuit. I changed into it in the back of my wonderfully large car with tinted windows. I am training for two outdoor swims. On June 26th I will be doing my first triathlon: the BeBoundless Tri in Shadow Cliffs Park near Pleasanton. I’ll be one of a number of spinal cord injury patients participating. I’m excited to push myself and to watch everyone else compete in the creative ways our limitations inspire. There will be carrying me in and out of the water at a running pace. I’m nervous about the one (big?) hill on the bike course. But there will be a team of volunteers to help push the para-athletes through that section. If you want to come and cheer me on, I would love to see you. I realize it’s at 7:30am on Sunday an hour away from the Bay Area… so I can just let you know how it goes.

The combination of registering for the tri, receiving a wetsuit, and today receiving a big box of goodies from the High Fives foundation is making me feel like an athlete again. I think I got a little taste of what it’s like to be a sponsored athlete. All the free High Fives shwag is so nice and completely unexpected. I think it’s time to take selfies wearing the hat/t-shirt/socks/hoodie/etc and add all the hashtags.