A Day in the Life of A Spectator

I've yet to be involved in a race where I didn't race with someone I knew or have someone cheering for me. Spectators are a breed of their own. Some hold ridiculous signs, like in triathlon "Smile if you Peed in Your Wetsuit". Just know in triathlon, there's a lot of smiling when people see that sign. Or in the Half Marathon's I've ran, the sign that says "Push here for star power" and someone has taken the time to draw a symbol. Every single one of those I pass if I can, I push. It helps, ever so slightly I get my star power just like Mario in any of the Super Mario Brothers games.

The Chicago Triathlon ... It Happened

The days leading up to the Chicago Triathlon found me acting giddy. I was excited. I remembered the feelings I had after completing Esprit de She in June and I wanted to feel those feelings again. I wanted Will to be able to experience those feelings for the first time. And the best part of all of it for me was that we were going to experience it together. The day prior to the event we had to go to the expo and get our race packets, our bibs, our bracelets, get body marked, and we later then racked our bikes in transition. The expo was exciting, there were a lot of vendors to talk to and look at all things triathlon related.

A Letter To the Person I Was A Year Ago

Dear Self One Year Ago,

We meet again. In fact we've been together and more in tune and balanced with one another this past year than ever before. And when I say "we've" I refer to me as I am now and me as I was a year ago. One year. Three hundred and sixty-five days. Fifty-two weeks. Twelve months. 8,760 hours. 525,000 minutes. 31,536,000 seconds. Self, I have so much to tell you.

Revving Up the OCR

In triathlon there are three major components: Swim. Bike. Run. It seems pretty obvious, no? The most obvious for the bike portion is you need a bike. While I have seen people out on Cruisers with wicker baskets right alongside competitors with several thousand dollar Triathlon specific bikes, I fall somewhere in between. I ride a bike. It's not my bike. The bike is on loan. The bike gets the job done. The bike has been sworn at. The bike has been mocked. Combined the bike and I get the job done. Period. Thanks, OCR.

It's Not A Rant ... It's A Reality

A friend recently shared 10 Things Not to Say to A Triathlete. I'm still new to the culture, the sport, the community, the whole process. What I will say is that despite my only being into Triathlon for 8 months now, in that 8 months I've heard things. I've heard things, I've rolled my eyes, I've tried to defend, and then I just think "Yeah, no I am wasting my time here."

The Kindness of Strangers

I lived in the South for a decade or so. Now we're not talking deep south where I said "Well, bless your heart", but then again I thought of saying that a couple of times when I came across people. We are talking South in the sense that people knew I wasn't from around there. In fact, having had stints in Orlando, Florida, Carbondale, Illinois, Marion, Illinois, and Durham, North Carolina ... one very important thing I learned is that I have a Chicago accent. And just as soon as I figure out what that actually is ... I'll get back to ya'll on it. See what I did there, huh? Bless my heart, right?

Re-Committing

Don't let the title fool you. I've not fallen on the wayside, lost my way, or given up. In fact, I can pretty proudly say just the opposite: I've stayed on track and then some.

This re-commitment goes back to the beginning; or near the beginning, but definitely the beginning of this year for sure. The first race I trained for was the Commitment Day 5k on January 1st of this year. Will and I ran side by side, him finishing one second ahead of me; literally.