It's bizarre to be this muscular. I mean, it's cool, but it's so different from the way my body has always been. I never willingly did any exercise until my mid-20s, so when I wasn't waiting tables [which is a workout] I grew fatter and less fit. Until something in me changed and I wanted to start working out and eating better. Exercise became a habit -- aerobics, biking around the city, calisthenics. Eventually I joined a gym and took up spinning and resistance training. It all led to what I am now, an athlete.

Man, it was freaky last year when I realized I was an athlete. I felt like a poseur saying it out loud. And now I'm spending 15-18 hours a week on my bike and in the gym -- 10 hours on rest weeks. I am very muscular. My pants all fit differently now that my hips have narrowed and my quads have grown. Yesterday, I sat upright on the trainer and put my hands on my hips as I pedaled . . . and felt the shifting and flexing muscles beneath my skin. I used to wonder at being able to feel my hipbones, now I wonder at feeling the firm layers of muscle all around them. And I'm crazy fit too. I can work hard and long and jack my HR up to 90%, and then drop it more than 40 beats in a minute.

And all this has its practical side too -- it's not just about riding a bike: snow shoveling is a chore, but not because it's hard. Carrying heavy things? No problem. Running for a bus? Easy-peasy.

I've often wondered what it's like to be a man, to be tall and broad and so very, very strong, and have that be 'normal.' They must experience their bodies differently than I experience mine. My strength has been hard won . . . and while men work at it, it comes much more easily. And they're SO physically powerful. It must be heady.