I had a "semi-competitive" athletic background in swimming and running in high school (class of 1979), i.e. good enough to letter in high school but not good enough to make my Div 1 college teams. I think I actually first heard about triathlon when I was out for a run the summer of my junior year in college and ran into a swimming buddy from high school. He told me all about this "triathlon" he had seen on TV (probably the 1982 Ironman Hawaii) and told me that he thought I could be good at it (thanks again for the encouragement, Rick).

I graduated college in December 1983 and started working full-time in January 1984. I bought an entry level road bike in the spring of 1984 and had a blast riding it around the city and suburbs of Minneapolis. Later that summer I went to watch a local triathlon called "Triathlon Minnesota" that had enough of a prize purse to attract a few of the top American professional triathletes. I was hooked and knew I had to give it a shot. I raced a couple of sprints in the summer of 1985 and became a triathlete.