Had a blast at my first Tri..but was I wrong? (Page 2)

For me, races are fun.  I am focused, but I always make time to encourage others, and especially THANK THE VOLUNTEERS.  On the bike at every intersection I always give a quick thank to those who give their time so we can race.

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I do this in every race.  It makes me feel happy to see so many folks out racing.  I always enjoy a race better if there are friendly faces so I try to make friends with everyone.  And, I keep track of who passed me (or I passed) on the bike so I have something to say for the run.  I also like to yell encouragement to the other racers to (1) distract from my own discomfort, and (2) hopefully give them a little boost. 

ifoundit921 - 2009-08-26 12:20 PM Right on, good to see I'm not totally alone in just being happy to be there and wanting to share the love.

And again folks, I was not striking up convos on the bike leg...I was passing a ton of people so I thought I would give a shout out to their efforts as I went by. (And on one incredible climb I looked over at a girl i was passing and we said "Holy Sh@#" at the same time. )

And that is exactly why you should talk!  You are going thru the same challanges and it's fun to share your misery or observations with others. 

On my last race we went out 10 miles mostly into the wind.  After we made the turn and were heading back, as I passed someone, I commented "Wow, sure feels better with the wind at our backs doesn't it?!"  She smiled and seem happy that someone actually spoked to her and said "I know!!  It was about to kill me going out!!" 

I pulled on ahead.  A few minutes later she pulled up beside me and ask "What mile are we at?"  I said I had 12.45 miles and she thanked me.  I noticed she had a cable for a computer but the computer was missing.  I asked "What happened to your computer?" and she said "I bought this bike on Ebay and it the computer has never worked.  I guess I  need to get one."  And then we parted ways. 

Later on I passed her at about 17 miles and as I blew by her I called out "17.25" and she smiled, laughed and said "Thanks!!"

Had I not made the earlier comment to her about the wind, she probably would not have asked about the mileage. 

~Mike

It's a running joke on the board.  Some folks will use a bucket to sit on in transitions to change shoes.  The hard core competitors tend to scoff at the use of buckets as transition areas are usually crowded and they are not really needed (according to some).

~Mike

Hey, it just occured to me, you should have called this thread "Triathlon Talk". 

~Mike

I never talk during the swim either but at my last race I really wanted to talk to someone.  I bit my lip but what I wanted to say was "Hey, moron, watch where you're going!  If you are going to swim backstroke (during a sprint), you need to look around often and see where you are going and who you are swimming into!"  But I just smiled at him and got away from him as quickly as I could.

~Mike