Tuesday, July 28, 2009

That's What Friends Are For

JAG

Running a triathlon is not an idea that I would come up with on my own. The first time that it was brought to my attention was last year when my father worked as a volunteer at the Cicero Triathlon and saw my good friend Alex competing. My father then joked about the two of us training to compete the following year and I replied by saying that there was no way I would be able to do such an event.

The second time that the idea was floated my way was when I was getting together with two of my best friends, one of them being Alex, to simply catch up and see how our lives have been. Alex has always been an athlete and participates in events such as the Indianapolis Mini Marathon, so in passing I brought up the Cicero Triathlon and asked how his training was going for this year. After that things get blurry.

Alex had somehow convinced both Gary and me to participate in the event along with him this year even though it was a little over two months away and we had never done anything such as this before. Being a swimmer in high school, Gary had persuaded me that the swimming portion would be a piece of cake and that the only real hurdle would be the three mile run at the end of the event. So by the end of the night, we are all in for an experience I am sure we will never forget.

Above I posted a picture of the three of us, from left to right Gary, myself and Alex. It isn’t the best picture as it was taken at my bachelor party probably thirty minutes before everything went black and there is severe memory loss for the rest of that night.

These two have been very gung-ho about participating in the triathlon while my other friends have reacted slightly more realistically to my announcement. It’s not that the others doubt my desire to complete the event, but when a guy does little to no physical activity for the majority of his life it is reasonable to doubt in my ability to do so. I know that they are simply worried about my overall health and would prefer for me to be alive seeing that a dead guy doesn’t make for a very good friend. But surprisingly I haven’t come across any people that are completely unsupportive about the idea.

Obviously this blog was meant to be a humorous approach to the fact that an obese man such as myself would attempt such an event. But I have to say that the overwhelming support I have received from my friend and family has meant an awful lot to me. Only eleven more days to go.

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