How it all Began

In my mid-20s I worked summers at a camp for kids, and their main fundraiser was an August sprint triathlon we were all required to work at. It was the most fun weekend of the summer, but precisely because we were working--not participating. Whenever I had the fleeting thought that I maybe could do a triathlon, I remembered the story of one of my camp worker friends. She was flagging and cheering on the bike route when she encountered an especially surly athlete who responded to "You can do it!" with a growly "Damn you straight to hell!!". We laughed at the anecdote, but I secretly decided that any sport that prompts you to spontaneously wish a total stranger to Hades was not for me.

Fast forward eight (or so) years. This whole time my main (and only) form of exercise was running. I even trained for and completed the Chicago Marathon in 2003.

(Sidebar: There are several different types of Marathon runners out there. There are the kind who run marathons over and over and over. Those people are crazy. On the other end are the kind who want to say they did a marathon, so they train for it, they do one, and then never do it again. That's me.)

Besides the marathon and a few 5-8K "fun runs" here and there, I ran in an attempt not to wax. As you may have read from the previous blog entry, it wasn't entirely working. It was a slow waxing, but waxing nonetheless. So that discouragement, coupled with the fact that running (by itself) was starting to get boring, prompted an exercise change.

Enter Candice. Candice and I worked at the kids' camp together, and had both been lamenting for a couple of years about our waxing bodies--hers because she had recently given birth (twice), and mine because I liked beer and cake. So Candice announced one day that she was doing a triathlon to help motivate her to get back in shape, and asked if I wanted to do it with her. She had already picked out the Danskin Triathlon in Pleasant Prairie, WI on July 8th--plenty of time to train (it was winter at the time).

I thought of the woman who damned my friend to hell.

I thought of my waxing body.

I thought of my need to have a Motivator (i.e. a race looming in the horizon), or I'll never get out there and put in the miles.

I thought of the fact that I do not own a bike, and have not swam competitively in sixteen years.

And I told Candice I'll do it.