Triathalons and Anna Nicole Smith

A few weeks ago, Chad and I went to the new 1/2 Price Books in Lexington with some friends. I didn't really expect to find anything - but while browsing in the running section, I came across Becoming An Ironman: First Encounters With the Ultimate Endurance Event. It was one of those situations where I picked the book up, thought it looked interesting, but then I put it back. I walked around a little bit, browsed a little more, and then went back and picked up the book again. This time, I held onto it. Chad was so sweet - he put back one of the books he had picked out so that my book wouldn't put us over our pre-set "book budget."

This book is so motivating and inspiring. It contains about 20 or so stories of people's first experience with the Ironman. I've watched the Ironman several times on NBC, had two professors (a husband and wife) in college who completed the Ironman Florida together, and have talked with my twin sister for years about how we would love to compete in an Ironman competition some day. It seems like an insane event: a 2.4 mile open-water swim, a 112 mile bike race, and after all of that...a 26.2 mile marathon.

If I had access to a pool and was a decent swimmer, and if I had a road bike, I would love to compete in triathalons and duathalons. But for now - I will master the cheapest leg of the triathalon - running.

When my sister and I were freshmen in high school, we would spend our summer days practicing lacrosse or competing against one another. One day, we got the bright idea to create our own triathalon course. We established the course: first we would run a mile loop around the neighborhood, then we would bike the same loop, then finish with a swim in our pool. We decided that it would be best if we started at the same spot, but ran and biked in opposite directions so that we wouldn't kill each other along the way. We got to the starting line at the end of our driveway and started the run. We finished the mile pretty quickly, and reached our house at exactly the same time. Megan reached the bikes a few seconds before me - taking this time to kick over my bike. I laughed as I picked up the bike and started on my way. We finished the second leg at the same time, dropping our bikes in the yard as we scrambled towards the pool. Neither of us are very good swimmers, and as we thrashed along, we realized why the swimming leg is always first in triathalon competitions - it is so people don't get exhausted and drown during the swim. I don't even know who won that day (it was probably Megan) but I will always remember how much fun we had.

On a completely different note, I was sad to hear about Anna Nicole Smith's passing today. I am a total glutton for B-List celebrity reality shows, such as Growing Up Gotti, Breaking Bonaduce, Hogan Knows Best, and of course...The Anna Nicole Show on E!.