Welcome!

‘Transition n 1: the process of changing from one state or condition to another’.....

I’m Sally – a Mama in Transition. In seven weeks I’m doing my first ever triathlon – swim, bike, run. One of the event’s most challenging parts is ‘Transition’ – the bit where you move from swim to bike and later from bike to run. Proper tri-athletes refer to those parts as ‘T1’ and ‘T2’ but frankly, I’m still coming to terms with the need to apply Vaseline to my boobs and bum that I haven’t yet got a handle on any technical jargon.

See, the thought of being on a roll and then needing to stop scares me. What if my legs seize up? Or I can’t find my bike? What happens to all that momentum?...

But then, life transitions are something I’m getting used to. Aren’t we all? I’m a Scot, living in the Hamptons, New York with my young family but there are days I’m still in mental transit from the life we left in the UK three years ago.

And then there’s the biggest transition – that one of moving from childless freelance journalist to 24/7 mother-of-two. My girls are two and four, born just 21 months apart. There are days I’ve got the mama thing down and am high-fiving myself for my kids’ ability to say ‘please’. I get them places (nearly) on time, wipe noses regularly and remind my husband to brush their teeth.

Then there are the days of tantrums and tedium – when I stalk child behaviour forums in vain attempts to find worse behaved kids than mine. The days of cookie bribery and too much Sesame Street. The days bedtime can’t come fast enough. The days I forget to brush my own teeth...

Momentum? Sheesh! What momentum? With motherhood, you’re one day on, the next day off. A permanent state of transition if you will.

To say this triathlon might be beyond my capabilities is an under-statement. I’ve little time to train, have dodgy knees, an occasional wonky right shoulder and a pelvis which likes to remind me it has borne two children. Plus, the last time I pedalled a bike I was 13 and escaping from someone who’d caught me smoking.

But I’ve longed to do a triathlon for years and relish the challenge. Exercise de-clutters my head, truly makes me a better parent and gives me in my advancing years, a good excuse to wear neon.

I’ve managed at being a mother the past four years, surely I can do this? What could possibly go wrong?.....

I'd love to hear from you too dear readers. Tell me about the challenges you're setting yourself, the jelly-belly you're trying to lose (and any tips you may have in so doing...) and your kids if you have them (but please don't prattle on too much about how well behaved they are ....)