THE SELF-MADE TRIATHLETE:

Brett Miller never set out to become a hardcore triathlete who thinks nothing of swimming two miles, then riding 112 and finishing the day with a marathon. He just wanted to lose weight.

The 35-year-old operations manager started training for his first triathlon six years ago after packing on the pounds. He’d been making the most of San Francisco’s nightlife, hitting the bars with friends until the wee hours. He was smoking, he was drinking and he was giving zero thought to his health, and it was catching up to him fast.

“Someone took a photo of me and I didn’t recognize myself,” Miller recalls.

Oops.