Humbling things in triathlon......
Cheryl6162
Posts: 356
in General Chat
What have you seen during training or racing that made you proud or humble to be part of this great sport?
Today, during my event, there was a man in his late fifties or sixties doing the swim (600metres) doing doggy paddle he whole way! Clearly, by his technique, swimming was not his strong suit but he was prepared to put himself out there, without thought of humiliation or riddicule, to participate in that section in order to move through to whichever was his stronger discipline.
Up to that point I was worried about the embarrassment of possibly being the last out of the pool but that was a very timely reminder that triathlon is not about what you look like, its about the heart that goes into it.....
Today, during my event, there was a man in his late fifties or sixties doing the swim (600metres) doing doggy paddle he whole way! Clearly, by his technique, swimming was not his strong suit but he was prepared to put himself out there, without thought of humiliation or riddicule, to participate in that section in order to move through to whichever was his stronger discipline.
Up to that point I was worried about the embarrassment of possibly being the last out of the pool but that was a very timely reminder that triathlon is not about what you look like, its about the heart that goes into it.....
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He just about has the use of one leg, the other one is useless. He gets tired if he doesn't eat 6 times a day, hot & humid days wipe him out and he spends more time at the doctor's than anybody would want.
He has a hand powered bike and comes out with us even if we decide to do a hilly ride. He is bloody slow up a steep hill, but he doesn't EVER stop and it just means that we have to keep repeating the same hill until he gets there. He is always ready with a cheery "Pedal harder you lazy git!" as you pass him and is not at all intimidated or put-down by the fact that Imight do a hill three or four times while he works up it. As he says "Yeah, but I did it with my arms."
He is a demon downhill with his low profile recumbent position. I've raced him in the past and chickened out at 45mph as I've watched him disappear around a corner with one of his three wheels off the floor.
He also swims 3 miles on a Friday lunchtime, religously does at least one mile (often two) before our coached 1 hr session, and has now got a Lurcher that needs about 10 miles of walking everyday - Paul chases it on his walking sticks.
Not strictly a triathlon story, as he won't do triathlons. Problem is that he can do the swim and bike, but the convention is for athletes like him to do the run as a chair stage and as he says "I ain't sitting in no wheelchair". I wouldn't have met this character if I hadn't joined the x-training club where he mixes it with the tri-ers though, so it is on-topic.
Amazing.