Hannover triathlon 2013

I competed in the Hannover triathlon yesterday. I did pretty well - 9th place of women overall. I've been doing triathlons for about 10 years. And it still isn't easy. I started to think today about why I do them in the first place. Why don't I just go for a jog like a normal person?

Brian has long argued that white people invented the triathlon so there would be a sport that they could dominate. The same goes for the entire winter Olympics. Triathlon is a good sport for people like me who are not great at throwing and catching things, and the complexity (I won't say 'skill') comes from combining three sports into one. It's also (though I don't like to admit it) an elitist sport. It starts with three very simple activities - swimming, biking and running - and adds fancy bikes and high-end running shoes and wetsuits and and entry fees until it's not so simple any more. Triathlon is not as exclusive as downhill skiing or tennis or golf... in terms of costs. It is exclusive in terms of people wondering what sort of crazy person you must be to do one.

I think triathlon attracts people because it has a very controlled element of risk. There's some adventure in it. There are high speeds. You can get hurt, you can save time or lose time in any number of ways and everyone in the race has a weakness. People with real struggles and challenges in their lives don't need to do triathlons. No one in Syria or Afghanistan right now should be worried about how fast he can take off a wetsuit.

Yesterday was my second appearance in the Hannover triathlon, which takes place in our big man-made lake, the Maschsee. You may have read my posts before about how there are huge man-eating carp in the Maschsee. The main thing I was worried about before last year's race was getting devoured by them. But since I survived, and got 4th place, I decided to sign up again. This year I also managed to escape the carp during a very full-contact swim (We probably all looked like salmon swimming over each other to get upstream. Wearing goggles is important so you don't come out of the water with a black eye). The short story on the rest of the race was that it was kind of hard but I did pretty well. This year I only got 9th, though, and 3rd in my age group. I know that's good since there were 120 women, but it would be better if I had placed as well as last year. I should add that there were 370 men in the race... I guess most German ladies would rather just go for a jog like normal people.

So why do I do triathlons? I'm an active person and I like the variety of doing different stuff every time I train. Maybe that little bit of risk is exciting for me. But to tell you the truth - I like the competition. A lot of people do triathlons just to finish. That is all wonderful, but I like to beat people. It's a side of me that doesn't come out to play very often. I like it when I can set my sights on someone ahead of me and close in until I pass them. I like it when some big guy named Jorg watches me go by and realizes he got passed by a girl.

In a week or so, the Hannover triathlon people will email me some photos from the race. I am not going to buy one, but I'll post one on the blog for you to see. I don't look particularly mean in my '90s era triathlon suit and my bike helmet. Maybe I'd be more intimidating with a black eye.