PART 1: what is triathlon?

At the behest or request of my blog manager, lone subscriber and reader not to mention lone father of mine, I am starting a series called "what is triathlon?" as I have come to realize that those not living in Boulder, CO may be completely oblivious to this sport and all its various subtleties, complexities, and vagaries...

OK, so what is triathlon?

Let me start by saying that triathlon is a siren, a harpie, a gypsy, a devilish woman who enchants, frustrates, fascinates, inebriates, and absorbs you, taking away your ability to function without her while slowly revealing all her cruel tendencies, creating a body that needs what its conscience and more importantly its wallet can't ascribe to! I know this may seem harsh, even bitter, but what the reader must understand is I am a poor man and this could be the only logical conclusion for those, like me, who don't aspire to $100,000 a year jobs in advertising, (and don't have the background for it anyway) but for whom life still must have a purpose and a meaning.

In short (for I feel I could go on a write a novella on this philosophical slant), triathlon is a sport that requires considerable "resources", both in time and money, money being the more important of the two since money can always buy time but the reverse cannot always said to be true. If you, poor reader, have fell as far as I have, you are probably eating a bowl of Rammen noodles in the dark with the heat turned down, freezing your ass off to save precious coins for your next bike tune up, gear purchase, nutrition need, gym membership, race fee, bus ticket, plane ticket, travel bike case, new pair of running shoes, new bike shorts and socks ( since most you own have holes in them!), etc, etc, etc.... The good thing about this situation is you learn how to be resourceful and make the most of what you have even if it means running and biking barefoot in see through tri-shorts with a hole in the crotch...

Since this is only part one I will end this now. Triathlon is for those extreme talents who discover the sport at a young age and continue with the sport and become pros, and for old middle aged people with too much money to burn and no idea what to do with it. My advice for all of you in between is to give your extra money to charity before you get hooked in to deep, and end up like me, considering compromising my principles to make money to support my "habit".

For me, triathlon is a great way to find purpose both physically and spiritually, but the eventual reward may have to great a dollar price, and that's the greatest shame of a sport I have come to love. I do not say this for pity or as a cry for help but just as a way to illustrate that triathlon really is an elitist sport sort of like skiing that not everyone should, could or would aspire to taking part in, a cautionary tale...