Why Tri?

I received an email from the PR woman for TrekWomen asking "Why I Tri". She is looking for information on why the participants in the next TrekWomen CA race signed up in an effort to raise awareness of the event.

Now I'm happy she sent me this email as it made me look up info on the Sprint I signed up for. I was thinking it was mid Nov which means I had a month before my training should begin. WRONG! The race is early Oct. which means my training should have started last weekend. Oops. Well I did a 5K so I suppose that kinda counts. Time to brush of the cobwebs on my bike (i hate the bike) and get a new pair of daytime swimming goggles. Thurs. morning Bar Method will have to be pushed for swimming and the heat is coming which means weekend hikes with Riggins will be harder. Easier to force myself to go biking when it's hot then to worry about poor black Riggins dying of heat exhaustion.

So back to the question ... Why Do I Tri? Sadly I don't have a good story. Nothin'. No dramatic reason why I was driven to sign up for my first, second, and now third race. One year my friend Martha did the Tri with her Step Mom. She loved it and I was more than slightly jealous that she had completed something so cool. I swore I'd sign up with her the next year and she held me to that. Martha dragged me to the Rose Bowl Aquatic center, which became my second home as I love swimming more than any other exercise. (Can't wait to get back into the pool. Although it's packed now so I'll have to arm wrestle some small children and H2O team members for a lane.) I'd call my mom and dad after each swim to announce, "I didn't drown!".

The weekend of the race a mutual friend, Martha, and I went down early to sit through orientation and race. We had a blast! My time wasn't fast but I did it and could now say I had completed a Triathlon (sounds more impressive when you leave off the "sprint" part of it).

This year (just a week prior to my 36th b-day) my friend Giovanna and I signed up for the Pasadena Reverse Tri (run, bike, swim vs swim, bike, run). Again my time wasn't fast but I had oodles of fun and felt like I did something really great for myself. Even with my horrific Easter Egg colored tri-suit on.

I don't want to admit it but the Pasadena Reverse Tri is a shorter distance than most sprints which means for my one in Oct. I better start running, swimming & peddling to get ready --- now (well actually last weekend)! Still I know I'll be happy I did it.

Remind me I said that in about a month 1/2 when I'm in pain from trying to train and "brick" training keeps me from going to see the summer movies and I'm near tears.

So why do I tri? I guess because I can!