My Life in Bikes

There seems to be some confusion as to what my name is, so I’ve decided to set the record straight.

My first name is Liz. My last name is Carlson. My former last name is now my middle name, which makes me Liz Reap Carlson. It’s officially Elizabeth Reap Carlson, but nobody calls me Elizabeth.

Me & my girl, Rube at her modeling debut in Runner's World magazine

I’ve been keeping Reap around as a bit of a transitional thing…something to help folks who knew me before I got married find me. I also want them to know that I did, in fact, get married. I found a man who’s as good, if not better company than my dog, and snatched him up faster than you can say, ‘yes!’

Even my Grandma, who’s now seated at the right hand of the Father, called me Lizzy. Or Lilly . . . or Lilly Bell when she felt spry. I can’t remember if she was the one who called me Petunia Pig, or if that was my uncle or one of my parents’ weird friends.

Either way, Gram only called me Elizabeth when I was being scolded or at church. Or scolded at church.

I never hyphenated, only married late . . . well after establishing a career as a writer / editor / photographer. Then I became a cyclist, and kept Reap around as a safety net, in case I needed to make desperate phone calls to former colleagues looking for a job.

The last thing I wanted them to say was, “Liz Who?”

But I think we’re past that. Anyone who knows me by now has figured out I married a guy who comes from a long line of ship builders. And anyone who doesn’t know me will hopefully figure that out.

So I hereby proclaim, the woman (myself) heretofore known as Liz Reap Carlson is now Liz Carlson, both personally and professionally.

But I’m not militant. I’ll answer to both. Some people call me LizReap as if it’s one word anyways.

And when the realtor who owns LizCarlson.com closes shop, I hope she’ll sell that prime web estate at a good price—or just pass the url on to me—seeing as how we’re practically related.