TRIATHLON V. OTHER SPORTS

I work in a law firm where there is an ongoing effort to recruit new, young people to come into the firm. So yearly they come and go. Its been interesting to note what sports these young people are involved in when they come to the firm and what they get involved in once they are established. Oddly enough, over the last 10 years, not one runner and certainly no triathlete, not even as a hobby or one-time-only thing. I was under the impression triathlon was the up and coming sport.

So then they find out I, one of the firm's relics, do triathlons, they are wide-eyed impressed, equating it to like skydiving or something else equally as exotic. I tell them, I just swim, bike, and run, and if I'm lucky, I find a race I can do. I never think of it as anything unusual.

When the mention of Ironman comes up, no one has a clue what that's all about, except a few younger guys who say, "isn't that where you go to Hawaii and do a triathlon?" Yeah, that's right (I wish!).

So what sports are these "kids" involved in? Soccer. Volleyball. Basketball. All team sports. Nothing they do by themselves. Weight lifting is how they "keep in shape" when not participating in their other sport or sports.

It makes me realize once again how truly small the triathlon community is, even if worldwide. We need each other for support and motivation. That's one reason I read the blogs I do, but I also find that after reading and communicating for a while with people, you feel closer to being part of their world, and keeping motivated from that as well. I am obviously partial to the "older" women, because we didn't have all the other options to choose from that they do now, and for the fact that if not for triathlon, who knows what or if we would be doing anything but running.

Triathlon was a new challenge to take on, and it was an easy transition to make once I even knew about it, since I already swam as well.

That got me thinking that if I were independently wealthy, one of the things I would like to do would be to establish a scholarship for girls i(and boys) n high school who were interested in triathlon. I know some of the colleges have triathlon teams, so its not an impossible thought.

Yeah, I'll keep dreaming.