Intensity

I'll just get it out of the way early. By far, the funniest moment of the weekend was watching one of the later finishers of the Trideltathon run across the finish line with her helmet in hand. She was so intense and focused that she forgot to take off her protective headgear after cycling.

We could all learn something from her single-minded determination to get to the finish line as quickly as possible, with total disregard for the conventions of triathlon. Cold? When everybody else is shivering in little more than glorified, sweat-wicking skivvies, wear stylish pink and black sweats.

Of course this is in jest. She is just one of the 325 people who entered the race, each of whom has some fatal flaw which is probably deserving of its own blog post, a la Stuff White People Like. I should mention that triathlon is just begging to be on that list; the above competitor might have been the only non-white person at the entire event. Triathlon is dangerously approaching the whiteness level of tennis, pre-Serena and Venus Williams.

This weekend also saw Collegiate Nationals come and go -- and I don't regret missing it at all. The swim course was cut in half; water temperature was 54 degrees; heavy rains flooded (and rerouted) the run course and caused confusion on the bike. For the people who built their seasons around this race, it was surely a disappointment as two relatively unknown athletes claimed the titles.

Meanwhile, in Tennessee, the TriVols were dominating the Trideltathon. Matt Robbins took second; Ashley Quinn, Leslie Cagle and Emily Mitchell destroyed the 20-24 age group; Victoria Moss raced her first triathlon. I finished third overall, a pretty solid improvement from this race two years ago when I was competing in my first triathlon. All I have left is the REV3 long-course triathlon . . . and graduation. I'll take the race.