You might be a back of the packer if...

<------ Not me!

So far, I am adding lots of biking and running to my training! I am doing all three sports instead of mostly swimming like I have been lately. Yesterday morning, I ran 3.5 miles in about 45 minutes. I then went to yesterday evening's swim practice and swam for an hour.

The reason I only swam for an hour this time is because we had to get out early due to thunder and lightning. I decided to spend the last half an hour of swim practice (what would have been practice anyway, if there were no thunderstorms) riding on the stationary bike in the gym.

The funny thing about this ride: I didn't bring sneakers with me, thinking I was only going to be swimming. All I had with me were my flip-flops. I ended up peadeling twenty-five minutes on the bike in my flip-flops without the shoes falling off. I was pretty impressed.

The only thing that was wrong with the flip-flops is that I could feel the little harness on top of the pedals that you put your shoes in (don't know the exact name, but you know what I mean) digging into my feet. Another huge accomplishment, I ended up with no red marks on my feet! Yet again, I was impressed.

Although I discovered last night that I am great at bicycling in my flip-flop, I much prefer bicycling in my sneakers. I will definately remember to pack sneakers in my swim bag next time there is a threat of a thunderstorm.

I actually ended up swimming, biking, AND running last night. The swimming was great, but you know what? The biking and running weren't so bad either!

I was looking through one of those triathlon forums I like to read yet again (It's summer. I'm bored) and came across a funny thread titled "You might be a back of the packer if..." and of course I thought of plenty of things to say in that thread. I also thought of plenty more ideas that I didn't write down. Here are some of my thoughts:

1. You try to race people running... while still on your bike!

2. Everybody's packed up and leaving, and you are just about to start your run.

3. You consider it a huge victory when you finish second to last.

4. Many people finish Olympic distance triathlons in less time than it takes you to finish a sprint.

5. In all or most of your races, you finish dead last.

6. You get passed by ten year olds, eighty year olds, and 300 pound men- all in the same race.

7. You actually have people tell you to "fix your gears" while on the bike section of the race.

8. You have had a lifeguard ask if you were okay during the swim (Yes, this did happen during a triathlon in freezing cold water. My body does not do well with the cold at all. I wasn't wearing a wetsuit, and I started hypervenilating).

9. You have expierenced riding your bike or running all by yourself, with no one else in sight...in the middle of a race with over 200 people registered!

10. You do a sprint distance race and have people doing the olympic distance race pass you on the run. Never mind their race started half an hour later that yours and they swam and biked twice as far before passing you!

11. In the back of the pack, there is an intense competitipn not to get last place. In one triathlon, you lost that competition and had the "winner" (second to last) brag about beating you!

12. You have never onece said "on your left" on the bike...but have heard it said to you so many times it makes your head spin.

13. Besides the date and location of the race, one thing you have to take into serous consideration when choosing a race is the cut off times.

14. You scroll up from the bottom to read the race results instead of down from the top (I didn't make this one up, but read it on the triathlon forum. I found it SO true).