Confession

I have a confession…

Giggle

…I did not become a triathlete 3 years ago.

I became a triathlete 10 years ago…gasp.

This is taking the definition that once you have done a triathlon (no matter the length), you are therefore a triathlete.

I did my first triathlon 10 years ago…it was a super-sprint (as I’d call it)…so maybe it doesn’t really count as being a triathlon…but I swam, I biked and I ran. I only swam ¼ a mile, biked 6 and ran 2 miles…but it was a triathlon…body marking and all. I even took second in my category the next year. Ohhh, I had two ‘seasons’ back to back.

Hahahahaha.

It’s not like I trained for either event…in fact the second year I got locked out of my house and ended up running in pseudo-sneaker/running shoes that you’d wear around, not run in. I didn’t even know I got second til they mailed me my ribbon.

Again…does it count to say you placed when…ahem…there were only two of you in the category (giggle).

Anyway…I’ve been thinking recently HOW I got into this nutty sport. And as I think back I realize that the seed that was planted of even knowing what a triathlon WAS happened in 8^th grade. It was after some boy I had a crush on in one of my classes signed my year book and wrote across one of his pictures: IronMan (including the M-dot)…and I just thought…WHAT? I’m not sure if it was that year that I figured out what an Ironman was, but the memory still sits with me.

It’s funny because after those first two ‘seasons’ I didn’t think about triathlons for another…errr…4-5 years. The thoughts of triathlons surfaced again when I was working in New Zealand and one of my colleagues was training for IMNZ. Before his training, he had never done a triathlon…and he just decided he wanted to do an ironman. My initial reaction: OK Mr. Wack-o

But somewhere along the way, I thought I wanted to do a triathlon, but not of the iron variety. But something triathlon-esque. It wasn't summer at the time when I decided to try this out...So I started with a duathlon…

and I discovered….um…the biking part…not so hot. I was the slowest biker on the course. But I did manage to pass a couple of people on the run and not come in last. Mildly demoralizing…but I’m still here…so obviously not too scarring.

And I wasn’t too traumatized because I still thought I’d do a triathlon. I thought an Olympic would be a good place to start…um…yea…not so much. I got through about 5 weeks of the training, and then ended up moving back to the US, moved cross country and my thoughts of triathlons faded for another 1.5 years.

And then…I did my first sprint in 2004

And then I did 3 sprints in 2005

And then I got a new bike

And then I was REALLY hooked

And then I did two “Oly’s”, and two sprints in 2006

And now…I’m starting to think that I will be a triathlete for as long as I can.

So…I’ve started thinking…interesting and entertaining thoughts. Who knows what the future holds. ;-)

So yes, I confess…