My triathlon was the past Sunday. The challenges of the race can only be appreciated if you know about the preceding 72 hours so that is where we will start ... try not to be jealous:
Thursday - When it rains, it pours.
I had two invitations to happy hour Thursday night. Knowing that socially my weekend was going to be a wash and still smarting from my antics with 2X, I thought a few beers in a public place might do me well. I even wore nice work clothes in anticipation. Around 4:45 the boss showed up in my doorway with a project. A long, involved project that he wanted by the end of the day Friday. Happy hours were cancelled but all was not lost - one beer was had in my apartment at 12:30 when I got home.
Friday - Isn't it ironic?
I get in early (well, on time, but everything is relative) and get to work. I am borrowing my parents car for the triathlon and they live in the 'burbs. Getting there involves a bus ride that I loathe unless I can hitch a ride with Dad who drives into the city everyday. Consequently I am on a mission to finish everything in time for Dad's 6 pm ETD. I don't look at anything on the internet, I don't smile at people walking by my office and for lunch I eat cereal at my desk all in an effort to get the project done by six. Its 4:30 and I'm nearing completion when the boss again appears in my doorway and doubles (DOUBLES!) the size of my project (and readjusts the deadline: half due Sunday morning, half due Monday morning).
So much for skipping the bus ...
I call my mom (logically, I have just received a bizarre amount of work and in between all of it I have to drive, spend the night in Sandy Hook and participate in a triathlon - what else would I do?). I tell mom that I'm screwed and she helpfully exclaims "FUCK!" Hmmm, d'ya think? But then she offers to bring me a car in the morning sparing me the bus or a long car service ride ... at least there is a silver lining.
With hopes of a 6pm departure shot, I decide to get some 'fresh' air at Starbucks. Latte in hand and craving chocolate in a bad way I stop at the newspaper stand and grab some chocolate covered peanuts (chocolate is ok if its covering a nut because nuts are good for you). THIS WAS THE BEST DECISION I MADE ALL DAY. These nuts, they were salted. Seriously, these nuts are better than ... well, than a lot of things, and at the time they were better than pretty much anything else that had happened in the past 24-36 hours so ... I ate them all and just as I was finishing the phone rang ...
Fine, I'll admit that I recognized the number as a Chicago exchange and I was sort of excited when I answered it. But, as anyone with half a brain could have guessed it was not 2X. It was, however, a headhunter. In my 5 years of working in an office I have gotten tons of headhunter calls but NEVER one for a job in Chicago. Ironic. I told her to send me her info in case I ever do really decide to move ...
And 9 hours later, at 2:30 in the morning, I went home.
Saturday - Will someone please shoot me, or at least tell me I'm on crack?
After gathering my triathlon gear I headed to bed at 3:30 and was NOT HAPPY when the alarm went off at 7. I did almost 2 hours of work and submitted the portion of my project that was due Sunday morning. I ran out to get a bagel and coffee and awaited the arrival of my parents (who, as promised, delivered a car) and my triathlon friend. At this point I was so tired I was nauseous. But for the fact that I was giving someone else a ride I really think I would have gone back to bed and forgotten the whole thing (despite the 8 weeks of training). This, however, was not the case, triathlon friend was relying on my so upon delivery of the car we headed south.
Registration was in Asbury Park, home of Bruce Springsteen. I had read in the papers that Asbury Park had seen better days and was undergoing a revitalization. Either they have not gotten very far with the whole revitalization thing or it really sucked before because, well, I'm surprised we left with our bikes. Registration and the expo were in a hotel that was probably lovely in 1970 and hadn't changed its decor since.
Triathlon friend and I picked up our numbers, bought matching shirts at the expo and found an old ballroom where some of our tri-teammates were passing the time until the team party. I promptly found a couch that hadn't been cleaned since 1970 and snuggled right on into it for a nap. Sometimes I disgust myself.
***
Now, we need to take a time out here so that I can tell you about my tri-team. First of all, between my awesome office job and logisitcal issues with getting my bike to the park by 6:30 pm, I was unable to make any of their week day workouts (although I did go to most of the weekend workouts). Maybe if I had been more involved, I would have caught on to the enthusiasm. But this was not the case and I still do not get why we were having a graduation party before the race, why we had to shout and hug and come up with slogans and give eachother high fives. These people really and truly believed that the goal was to have fun ... and yes, this is about having So.Much.Fun and I obviously didn't expect to win, but isn't the fun in knowing that you gave something your all, left nothing on the course and did the best you could which turned out to be better than you ever, in your wildest dreams, thought it would be? Personally, if I wanted to go for a leisurely swim/bike/run I wouldn't travel (much less get up at 4 am) to do it ... but, I guess that is why I'm type A.
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Anyway, we attended the tri party and, 17 hours before the race we began, we graduated. All I could really think about was that I probably had 10-15 hours of work to do before Monday morning so when the party was over we left and headed to the lovely Extended Stay America where I continued to disgust myself by actually staying there. I did some work, which turned out to be much more fun than a certain college football game that was on tv ... we went out to grab some dinner and at 11pm were in bed with the alarms set for 4am so that we could wake up and become triathletes ... despite my utter and complete exhaustion, I tossed. And turned. Thought about the bizarre amount of work I still had to complete. Wondered why on earth I was getting up at 4am to do a triathlon. And tossed. And turned some more ...
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