Pic Spocket

My name is Thierry Guertin, 36. I am originally from Quebec City. I also go with the nickname “Spocket” on various internet forums. I was lucky enough to find Corinne, now my wife, while studying in France in ‘97. We moved in southern Ontario in 2000 for work.  We now live in Windsor, right across from Detroit Michigan. I work as a Mechanical Engineer for the US Technical Center of a German Machine Tool manufacturer. Corinne works as a Web Developer for the Windsor Public Library.

Corinne and I got married in August 2006. A lot of our family and friends traveled from far away to share this day with us.

I started this blog in the fall of 2007 with the intention of staying in touch with my friends and family members, post news and pictures. Since I post in 2 languages, the blog allowed me to stay in touch with writing in French, something I was completely loosing.

In the same period of time, digital photography sparked my interest and I took thousands of pictures. I have more gear than talent though. Luckily, I have to travel quite a bit for work so I usually have some nice opportunities for photos. Over the last couple of years, I have posted a lot of my pictures in this blog and in the attached Photo Album.

In 2008, our family got a new member: Newton, our Golden Retriever. He was a little demon as a puppy, but he’s grown up to be an awesome dog. You’ll find a lot of pictures of Newton on the site as well.

At the end of 2008, I got tired of being overweight and started training (weights and cardio) and dieting. I lost over 60 pounds in the following months. I also posted a series of articles on the subject describing how I did it and reported my progression. Here’s a before and after picture….

While I was training, I started swimming in February 2009 just because I wanted to do something different for my cardio sessions that would change the focus off of my legs. My friend Craig is crazy about biking and he pulled me in. In the spring I got my first bike in 17 years so that I could bike with him. Next thing you know, he is planting the seed in my mind to try for a Triathlon race. I thought about it and forced his hand to act on it. Never ran before, but anybody can run right? That first triathlon we did together was certainly an interesting experience. Since then, we got the bug and we completed several local triathlon and running races. Last fall, I completed my first Half Marathon with success. I also report these experiences on my blog.

For 2010, I am now aiming at bigger events. I am signed up for 2 Half-Ironman races (Florida in the spring and Muskoka in the fall). I plan to compete in a full Marathon as well later this year, hoping for a Boston qualifying time. I will also compete in small races spread over the summer. After these races, I’ll have to decide if I try for the real deal (full Ironman distance) or if I stick with shorter/faster races. Either way, singing up for races is a way for me to stay motivated and it gives me a reason to train so that I can stay lean and fit. Otherwise, I will gain the weight back like I did several times before…

I have much less free time for photography since I am now training 6-7 times per week, but I still enjoy taking pictures.  So expect to see more pictures, more news and more race reports on the blog over the coming months! I post between 2 to 4 times per month usually, so make sure to stop by regularly and feel free to drop us a message in the process.