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Jim Palmer

I’m over 40 years old, but I don’t give up easily. It wasn’t too long ago that I was exploring the idea of doing my first triathlon. If I can do it, you can too! I'm proof that with a little determination and training, you can get a great deal of fulfillment participating in marathons, triathlons... even ultramarathons.

While training for triathlons, try to be fully present in the moment and what's going on around you. Let yourself enter into the full sensory experience of sight, smell, and sound around you. Your triathlon training will be much more enjoyable

What makes triathlons fun? Well, it's going to sneak up on you, but one day you are going to come across someone who is right where you are right now. Suddenly, it's going to hit you that you did make it, that you persevered through all the challenges and obstacles, you accomplished your goal, you have become a stronger person -- YOU did it!

I feel overwhelming gratitude for the people I have met and the new friends I have made along the way of training and competing in triathlons. These people have greatly impacted my life. I learned an important life lesson: don't judge people, because there is always more you don't know about someone than what you do know.

There will be times as a newcomer when you will be tempted to reconsider doing triathlons. Here are some of the situations that made me think twice about doing triathlons... Plus, how I eventually got healthy and fit.

One big reason why you will be glad you finished your first triathlon is: The person coming out of the water will not be the same one who went in. After completing the swim, doing the bike, and running across the finish line, it will be a different you. Maybe it is not so much a 'different' you, but a part of you that has only now been awakened.

The bottom line is this: If a middle-aged man addicted to Zebra Cakes who doesn't own a bike or know how to swim can do a Triathlon, so can you! Here are 5 reasons to try a triathlon, and why you'll be glad you did...