About Me & My Blog

I started Confessions of a Closet Athlete in the spring of 2013 with a simple idea — I wanted to write about my own athletic journey the way other triathletes wrote about theirs. What I didn't know then was that the journey was just getting started.

Photo: FinisherPix — IRONMAN® California 2024 

  

For most of my adult life I was Tracy Pengilly, Swim Mom. My two daughters started as swimmers and switched to water polo in their early teens. When their athletic careers ended, so did my identity — or so I thought. It wasn't until 2012 that I stumbled across a Facebook post about a triathlon class, and everything changed.

That was 2012. Since then I've gone from crying in a bathroom before my very first sprint triathlon to completing five full distance triathlons, four half distance races, and the Boston Marathon on a bad Achilles. My full distance races include the last independent Vineman in 2015, IRONMAN® Vineman 2016 — the only year the race ran under the IRONMAN® banner — and IRONMAN® California in 2022, 2024, and 2025. My proudest result came at IRONMAN® California 2024 where I finished in 11:49:29 at age 56, good for 6th place in my age group — one spot from the podium and a Kona qualification slot.

Vineman, the race I loved so much, the same course where Barb's Race was held, became the heart of my novel.

Yes, novel. Somewhere between the long training rides and the early morning runs, a book emerged. Transitions — Ad Astra Per Aspera: Through Hardships to the Stars is a women's fiction manuscript about identity collapse, endurance sport, and what happens when the thing that defined you disappears. Think Emily Henry meets Rocky — with a wetsuit.

This blog has a little bit of everything — race reports, training, nutrition, product reviews, and now the occasional peek behind the curtain of writing a book and navigating the publishing world. It is written from the perspective of a middle-aged female triathlete who is still figuring it all out, one mile at a time.

I am also a former Pearl iZUMi ambassador and contributed to their blog. Those posts are still floating around the internet somewhere.

Cast of Characters

• Hot Stuff / HS — My husband, best friend, top sponsor, and the man who hands me my finisher's medal at the finish line. He does this better than anyone.
• Buster 🐾 — Welsh Terrier. Comic relief. Emotional barometer. He always knew when to leave the room. Forever in these pages.
• Coach K — Bob Korock, my long distance triathlon coach, former pro triathlete, and the voice of reason when I'm convinced I can do more than I should.
• F'n James — My tri coach James, so named for what I call him after he convinces me to do a race, interval, or workout I absolutely did not want to do.