i'm not perfect (but parts of me are pretty good)

Evolving Toward Wellness
An Occasional Series About SeekWellness Visitors

Sometimes it seems that self-managing lifestyles are too demanding, that only heroes and heroines can pull it off. Not so. While getting started is usually a difficult period of adjustment and sacrifice, once underway, a wellness lifestyle becomes self-renewing because of the daily satisfactions and positive results that occur from carrying out a commitment to excellence. Don't take my word for it. Read the stories of people much like yourself who are doing -- and loving it.

Have you experienced any major changes in lifestyle? If so, please tell us about it and let us know how you got started, what inspired you, helped you make the change, how you feel about it now, what difference the changes have made in your relationships, fortune, health or whatever. Attach a photo -- we might want to make you a star or at least give you some of those 15 minutes of fame that we're all promised. Send me your story now.

Thanks. Enjoy Carol's story, below.

Tampa Woman Quits Habit, Picks Up Better One

Published in the Tampa Tribune: Jul 26, 2001

Looking at her today, it's hard to imagine 45-year-old Carol Martin with a cigarette in her mouth. Not only is she the picture of health, Martin also is a rapidly-improving athlete in both triathlon (swim-bike-run) and duathlon (run-bike) events.

Among her latest accomplishments: qualifying for next month's world duathlon championships in Italy and a top-10 finish in her age group at the St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Petersburg. Not bad for someone who has been doing these things for less than five years.

Ten years ago, however, Martin was still smoking. The habit was formed in high school, when she and her family lived on an army base in Seoul, South Korea. For the next 20 years, she averaged about a pack a day and lived what most would consider a normal life. She got married, had three kids (Chris, Jesse and Sarah) and worked a job.

But as she approached 35, Martin eventually discovered that "normal" didn't feel right.

"I just didn't feel well," Martin said. "I eventually decided that there's got to be something more to life than this."

Martin didn't realize it at the time, but she was starting down the road to "wellness." The first step was to give up the smokes - cold turkey. With a little help from Nicorette gum, she kicked the habit. Then, her diet improved. Next came exercise in the form of walking and in-line roller skating.

Martin's sister, Donna Whittaker, was way ahead of her in exercising. She's a runner and suggested Martin choose a road race and make it her goal to finish in a specific time. So Martin took aim at the area's biggest race - the Gasparilla Distance Classic 15k (9.3 miles) in February of 1997 - with a goal time of 90 minutes.

With her sister's guidance, Martin achieved the mark. But as she grew more enthusiastic for her healthy lifestyle, Martin said she and her husband grew farther apart. She said he still smoked and didn't embrace the change. They separated that fall and later divorced.

Despite the personal struggle, life moved on. Motivated by her success at Gasparilla, Martin took swimming lessons at the Tampa Central City YMCA's masters (over 40) program under coaches Keryl Frost and Bret Hamlin. With a little inspiration and coaching from world triathlon champion and wellness author Don Ardell of Tampa, Martin tackled her very first triathlon in the summer of 1997. There, she finished seventh in the race's "novice" division.

"Except for maybe the bike, I don't think I have any natural talent for the triathlon," Martin said. "Running is really hard for me and swimming, boy, I needed help. But I guess what I do have is the motivation to compete and succeed."

At last week's national duathlon championships (10k run, 40k bike, 5k run) in Carlsbad, Calif., Martin wasn't counting on qualifying for the world finals. But she eventually decided to enter and she was glad she did. In only her third duathlon, Martin earned a berth in the world championships by taking eighth in her age group (45-49).

Martin, who mostly works from home as a consultant for a performance management system, still has other goals. One of her most ambitious is completing the Ironman triathlon distances of 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run. But she's also content with being healthy, happy and safe in the knowledge she'll never go back to her old ways.

"I could never smoke again - that's just unimaginable now," Martin said. "Those days are gone forever."

Reprinted with permission from the Tampa Tribune.

August 2001