Try-Athletes

I'm happy to report that our ragtag team successfully completed its first ever Olympic distance triathlon. My brother and sister came to visit last week and, just in case we couldn't find enough to do between a trip up to Chicago, the Balloon Festival and the Pandemonium Family Field Day, we decided to enter the Evergreen Tri as a sibling team. Our name: Fat, Dumb and Happy. Our goal: Finish.

I swam. Slowly. It was the first time I'd attempted a 1500 meter swim in the open water and I had to do it without the extra floatation of my wetsuit/security blanket, but I did the whole distance without stopping and finished in under 45 minutes.  That makes me Happy.

Sam rode 40 km on my bike. His rigorous training schedule consisted of riding no more than ten miles no more than once a week on his mountain bike, so he was pumped and ready to go. But he finished faster than his arbitrarily targeted pace of 18 mph and that made him Happy.

Sally ran. By the time she started her 10 km run the thermometer was flirting with the hottest day of the year and her fellow runners, most of whom had just completed the swim and bike parts of the tri, were slogging along at a not-so-Olympic pace. She slogged along with them and finished with her slowest run of the year. Oh well, she's still Happy.

Here's the crew, happy to be fat, not nearly as smart as we look.