lil background

This is me in my prime, senior year high school.  My amazing sister who rocked the swimming world.

 I Started swimming at age ten. i was an obese child , but always loved to swim.  my mom thought swim team would help me with my weight,  It did i think i lost like 40lbs after i started to swim.  i also got really tall!  any way loved swimming loved the challenge, loved the feeling of working towards a goal.   All i remember in the early days of swim team was being tired all the time and eating a buttload! My best memories are of summer meets all over the NW.  we would camp with the rest of the team and have so much fun. My sister and I both swam so our summers were all practices and meets.  I didn't know any different.  I remember going to morning practice, coming home to eat breakfast, then taking a nap.  we would then go to the pool and go to rec swim.  eat a snack and then afternoon practice.  sometimes even staying to play at the pool! 

I went on to swim at St. Marys in South Bend Indiana. Loved Notre dame Football! Only stayed there for a term and came back to Oregon to swim at OSU. Being back in the nw is what i needed! 

 The water is were i feel the most comfortable.  i still feel like i belong there.  I swear i am gonna die of chlorine inhalation!  Any way the pool makes me feel even with the rest of the world. i was always bigger than everyone even at 5'10 and 160 i felt big.  When i get in the pool i don't feel that.  When i go to lap swim at my age i still feel like i am ahead of the game.  i love to get in the pool and lap the skinny triathletes who cant swim..  i wanna say " hey guess what a fat chick lapped ya!"  but i don't, cuz i don't roll that way:)  but i do think it!  I always wanted to get back into competition and join a masters team , but life happened.

Had my first baby at 29.  3 months later was diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis, the big RA.. RA is an auto immune just like MS , Lupus and many  others.  Auto immune means that your immune system attacks specific parts of your body.  In RA it is my joints.  Fortunately or may be not so fortunate my dad suffers from it to , so it did not take long for the diagnoses.  I was put on Methotrexate and anti inflammatory.  Methotrexate is a chemo drug, so my hair began to fall out and i got sick ALL the time!  It sucked having a baby and being sick constantly.  My husband and i made a life decision to move to Casper Wyo.. why you ask??  i know huh, Casper?  Well we wanted an adventure! he was offered a spot at the new Home depot .  We bought a house and moved the family to Wy.  the dry weather proved to help my RA a little.  In 2003 i had my second baby.  During my pregnancy i went into remission which was wonderful!  the only thing it came back with a vengeance!  i was then put on 2 x a week injection of enbrel.  which was a miracle. i felt better than i had in a long time.  My husband was offered the new store in Fort Collins so we jumped at and moved again.  All right more later getting tired. i ll pick up from here tomorrow:)