You’ll Never Know Unless You Tri
He was always the fat kid. Sometimes fatter than other times, but always the fat kid in school. And when you’re a growing boy you need to eat. Especially potato chips crumbled up in ice cream. There were always a lot of physical activities to do at home, cutting the grass, bike riding, hiking in the woods - lots of outdoor stuff. But it was never enough to burn off all the calories.
Gym class at school was a horror. Climb the rope? Yeah, right. Do a pullup? A pushup? You gotta be kidding me! Unsympathetic gym teachers made things worse. Sometimes he’d split his pants as an excuse to miss gym. His mom was never pleased about that.
A few years after college he took a look in the mirror and wasn’t happy. The beard that he thought was cool wasn’t. The fat was unhealthy. Too much smoking. He decided to make a major change. With full support at home, he shaved the beard, quit smoking, started Weight Watchers and began running.
At first the running was actually walking really fast for a half-block, then walk normal for a half-block. Repeat. Eventually the fast walk became a jog with a fast-walk rest. Then it was jogging around the block once, then twice.
The fat kid was getting much thinner. The jogging was becoming more like a run.
He heard about a benefit in town - a run to raise money for a charity set up in the name of a little girl who had been hit by a car outside her home. The run was a 5K, or 3.1 miles. “I can do that!”, he thinks.
He did. But it was bittersweet. As fast as he thought he was, he was really only a bit faster than the fast walkers. So, while the first-place runners are finishing in about 15 minutes, he was more like 38 minutes. Even the 90-year-old men beat him! By the time he got to the finish line there was no one there but the timekeeper – everyone else was at the post-race banquet of bagels, bananas, and Gatorade. It was a personal victory but it was solitary.
He persevered though. The 5K races became 10K races, then 10-mile races, then half-marathons (13.1 miles) and finally a marathon. He finished near the end in most races and still felt very alone at the finish line. Plus, all the faster runners were scarfing up all the bagels!
During that time, he had a friend1 who started doing triathlons. These are the swim/bike/run events. There are different distances, but the big megillah is the Iron Man: 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and a marathon (26.2 miles) held in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. It’s exhausting just thinking of it!
But he thought about it. He heard of a “sprint” triathlon at the St. Andrews School in Delaware (where some of the film “Dead Poets Society” was filmed). This triathlon was perfect for the beginner: ¼ mile swim, 16-mile bike, 5K run. Seems easy! Oh, except for that part about swimming the distance of over 4 football fields.
The YMCA had a 50-yard lap pool so it was pretty convenient to practice. Just go up and back 5 times without stopping. Seems doable until you actually get in the water! So now biking and swimming are added to running for practice. It’s quite an investment in time. Plus, ya gotta go to work, take out the garbage, etc.
And, then you have to plan the actual race itself. You jump in the water and swim, then you rush out of the water, change into your bike shorts (that hard bike seat is a bit uncomfortable without special bike shorts), slip on your special bike shoes, and start pedaling. After 16 miles, hop off the bike and change into your running shoes and take off for the finish line. That’s a lot of planning! And equipment. And all those seconds in “transition” count to your finish time, so you gotta make it snappy.
But it was totally worth it. Not too many people can say they’ve done a triathlon.
But you know the best part? Triathlon is like a fellowship. Anyone with the guts to try it gets respect from other participants. So, even when that last place finisher crosses the line, there’s a crowd cheering them on.
And that’s soooooo much better than chomping on a bagel.
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Is it map? Lap? Bag? Day? Hat? Bat? Cat?
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Debbie and I worked together for many years. We were training partners and ran most days in the Chester County PA countryside before work. She and her husband ran many races and her triathlon experiences inspired me to take up triathlon. She and Fred relocated to coastal Maine many years ago and I miss her!