what started this- The infancy

I come from a pretty disfunctional family. When I was 7 years old back in 1972 like most girls that age I fell in love with Donny Osmond.  I know you are asking what in the heck does that have to do with triathlons.  Well just hang on and you will see how it fits.  It wasn't long before I fell in love with the whole Osmond family.  If you know.anything about this family you will know what strong family ties they have.  They became my fantasy family.  Their mother, who fans called "Mother Osmond", would write articles about integrity, honesty and the value of hard work and discipline.  ah ha now do you see the connection? Mother Osmond would often talk about doing the hard thing and not taking the easy way out.  She would say that what mattered most is doing the right thing when no one was looking.   Those kind of values were not taught to me at home.  The Osmonds influenced me at a very young and impressionable age.  Those values are ingrained in me and helped set the path for me to start on when I was very young. I believe that early influence is what is giving me the mental toughness to do the training in triathlons today.