Jane Booth moved to the US from the UK in 1999. She spent her first three years learning to become an expert luncher, about the only activity open to her on her “Accompanying Spouse Visa,” which did not allow her to work for pay. 

When her green card came through, Jane returned to work selling premium business services to high-tech companies in the San Francisco Bay area. She also returned to writing, picking up from her early career as a business journalist and copywriter to write freelance features and articles for the regional press. 

In 2002, the sport of triathlon invaded her life and refused to leave. “I tried to ignore it. I would hit a command like ‘plan next year’s vacation’ and this rogue code would issue an error message, like ‘don’t bother with June because you’re about to do your first triathlon.’ It was as though an especially virulent virus had infected my decision-making function and reprogrammed me without my consent.”

Jane Booth’s humorous, honest and surprising journey from a woman who couldn’t tell the front from the rear of her bike helmet to an athlete capable of competing in an Olympic-distance triathlon is now in print, in the book Transformed by Triathlon: The Making of an Improbable Athlete, published by Fast Foot Forward Press. An edited version of the first chapter won an award in the non-fiction contest at the 2005 Jack London Writers’ Conference. 

Read excerpts from the book on her website at www.transformedbytriathlon.com

In the little spare time she has when not training for her next event, Jane and her husband David enjoy planning a vineyard on the second property they own in the Sierra foothills. “Our research is a lot of fun, if you measure it by the number of empty wine bottles,” she says. 

You can reach Jane at janebooth@transformedbytriathlon.com