So why is it???? (Page 4)

Why is that so hard to understand Todd?  You ask why not just exercise?  LOL  OK, pull up  a seat and I'll tell you a little bit about this old BOPer....

I'm 6'3" and was 293 lbs this past Sunday at my last triathlon.  I haven't always been this heavy but  I've always been tall.  When I was a kid in school and we'd chose up side, I'd often get picked first because people ASSUME that, becuase I was big/tall, I must be good in basketball or football or whatever.  But I sucked at backetball.  I sucked at football.  I can't hit a dam slow pitch softball much less a fast pitch baseball!  So participation is sports was non-existant.  I didn't play ANY organized sports in grade school, jr high, high school or college.  Nothing! 

Years later I found myself at a slow pitch softball game with the guys from work.  I showed up to drink beers aftwards but they expected me to play ball first.  I stuckout at my first at-bat and someone laughed and said I 'threw like a girl'.  OK, this was a mistake, I'm never doing this again!

Then when I was 33 years old I was in the gym lifting weights and walking on the treadmill.  A good friend encouraged me to run on the treadmill and said there was a 5k at the airport on the runway that many poeple did for a PR since it was such a flat/easy course.  So I set a goal of running 3 miles.  I trained for months on the TM - never once getting out on the road.  Finally race day came and I ran my heart out.  It nearly killed me but I ran the entire 3.1 miles.  I don't know what my time was and didn't care, my goal was simply to run the whole thing and not have to walk.

About a month after that I saw a flyer in the gym for a sprint triathlon...the Rocketman.  It was a triathlon!  OMG!  I had heard about triathlons...I thought they only did that in Hawaii.  I had no idea they had shorter ones.  It had a 5k run and I was confident I could do that since I'd just run a 5k.  Bike ride of 12 miles didn't sound to hard - I'd been riding a bike since I was kid!  The swim had me a little concerned but I grew up around the water and swimming came easy.

And so I became Rocketman.  I did the Rocketman every year for the next 5 years.  I loved the Rocketman becuae I had finally be able to participate in a sport and not have to feel bad about letting my teammate down becuse I had no athletic talent and sucked at all sports. 

I still can't hit a baseball and can't make a free though to save my life but I do triathlons.  I love to run.  I love to bike.  I love to swim.  And I'm finally able to participate in a real sport.  Yeah, I still suck at it but that's ok.  When people see IMKY poster on my wall and asked if I did that, I just nod.  They don't ask "how fast" or "what place did you come in" and I don't volunteer those. 

So for me, it is about the participation not the podium.  I don't care if I ever get faster.  If I busted my arse the best I would ever be would be a MOPer.  I don't swim intervals or use buoys or paddles.  I just jump in and swim and enjoy being one with the wate.  I don't run intervals or do speed work or hill work or repeats.  I just go out on the road and run and enjoy being outside in the fresh air in this beautiful world we live in.  When I ride, I just get on my bike and ride.  Sometimes I weave between the reflectors on the road like I used to do when I was a kid.  And maybe once or twice a year I'll show up at a race with real athletes and act like I belong in their club.

~Mike

The only elite triathlete I've had an encounter with showed me that there are some cool people in this sport.  A short distance out of T2 at the Oceanside 70.3 this past spring, I saw that the men's pro winner was running directly towards me as he approached the finish.  He had a good lead and was looking pretty celebratory with the crowd lining the street, so I reached up to high five him on the way by.  He did the same, but unfortunately we missed because I was running so fast .  Still, I can't imagine another sport where a pro champion and a weekend warrior could interact like that.

Now, I might occasionally kid one of the FOP posters around here about being so fast, but it's all in good spirit.  It's a big roof around here that accommodates people from every corner of this sport.  Mostly people are nice to each other.  Sometimes not, but that's the internet for you.

Yeah, we'd all be admiring Bryan's gold medal. 

Just a joke Bryan...contraray to what you think, I have a great deal of respect of you FOPers.  I have a great deal of respect for BOPers too....but for different reasons.

~Mike

You need a date brother!

~Mike

Interesting discussion

I think it's too funny that we are so easily putting people into these buckets based on their position in "the pack."  When I race, I pretty much do the same thing. I swim about 2:20/100 yd, bike about 18.5 mph, and run about 9-10 m/m (depending on distance).   In this year alone I have earned two medals, finished 2nd to last in my AG twice, and had a handful of results smattered in-between.  So, not only am I subject to people misunderstanding my intent on any given race day, I am also like a totally different person depending on which race you meet me at - if you're trying to categorize me. 

There's a competitive race series in the area where I predictably do very poorly on a few races in June and July.   Then I entered the YWCA women's tri in August and finish in the top 15%.   Since there's no way you can say I am FOP, MOP, or BOP, how can any of these assumptions possibly be true?    There could be two people on the BT board right now in Minnesota who see me as two totally different people!   What can you really know?

I try hard to avoid assumptions.  You know what they do, right?