Triathlon: A Funny Way of Life

Article written by Niki Dobbyn.

The idea for this article came to me when I found myself outside preparing my overgrown front yard garden for the summer. I trimmed some hedges, pulled some weeds and then planted about a million marigolds. They seemed to be the only plant I couldn't kill at that point. I got the seeds in the ground with some sort of cheap garden tool that kept bending as I dug and remembered my hose didn't reach the area. So I went inside, got some water and began watering my marigold seeds. A couple of people walked by and chuckled. I gave them a strange look, of course, because what's so funny about watering my garden. Then it dawned on me. I was watering my garden with the water bottle from my bike. Yep, that's what was so funny. The thing is, I used the water bottle to water all the plants in my house too. It was a normal occurrence in my life, that is, now that I was a triathlete!

I started thinking about all of the other habits that had slowly come to be a part of my life. I decided to take a walk through my apartment and view it as if I were a non-athlete to see if I could find any new strange habits that might have creeped in while I wasn't looking.

When I walked in my front door, things seemed to be very normal. There was a mat to wipe my feet on and a small table for mail, oh, and a spare key with a whistle for when I run and my ipod all charged and ready to go. Then there was my very average living room with average living room things: a couch, TV, coffee table, and piano, oh, and a Trainer, some hand weights tucked behind the couch, gym bag and two remote controls (one for when I was on the trainer and the other for when I was on the couch).

With no real clues that an athlete lived here, I headed on through the doorway to visit my very run-of-the-mill kitchen. There was a sink, stove, fridge, table and cabinets, oh, and a bike, helmet, gloves, water bottle and sunscreen -- all normal things for a kitchen. My cabinets were filled with energy bars and there was a Tupperware of oreo cookies, but that's what's in everyone's cabinets, right? The fridge was perfectly average too. There was a half filled Gatorade jug, a water jug, a few cans of Pepsi, unidentifiable leftovers and some mustard -- nothing out of the ordinary. My tiny back room was filled with regular back room things: three pairs of dead running sneakers, a drying bathing suit and a few spare tires for my bike, oh, and my magical bending gardening tools.

I thought about my daily routine to see if I had any athletic-minded tendencies. No, not really. Before breakfast I always checked my email and read my Active.com Newsletter. Then I responded to Triathanewbie.com emails. After breakfast, I checked weather.com to see if I would swim, bike or run and then I started my computer work for the day. When I headed off for errands in the afternoon, I would get super pumped up when I saw a runner or geared-up cyclist doing their thing. I always wanted to beep and and give them a big "YEAH" but thought the runner would give me the finger or the cyclist would crash, so I would just smile and sing louder. Didn't everyone have those feelings?!?!

I really thought about how triathlons could potentially take over my life. Hey, if it hadn't happened already, then it probably wouldn't, right? I'm just a normal, average, everyday person with a normal average everyday life....yep, that's me!