From the archives…

I’ve been trying to clean out a “virtual file cabinet” – my computer hard drive. In the process I’ve come across come interesting stuff from five or six years back when I was just getting into running and triathlons. Here’s the text I submitted online when trying to be on the “Ultramax Triathlon Racing Team”. This was in 2002, the inaugural year of the Ultramax Iron Distance Race that was being put on by Race for Sight Events (now Ultramax Events). I don’t know if there ever was an actual “Racing Team”, if there was I wasn’t invited. I did get a discounted “Ultramax Racing Singlet”. I suspect the whole thing was more of a marketing tool than anything else…

“I don’t have the most impressive race history mainly because I have spent the last 12 years or so playing soccer. Through that time I continued to bike occasionally, but it is only within the last six months that I have started running seriously. Yet despite my lack of results, I am quite confident that I have the ability to be an above average triathlete. I am an extremely competitive and determined individual. I might never be an elite triathlete, but I will be competitive in my age division.”

I followed this up with a list of 23 events that I was planning on doing in 2002. I think I actually ended up doing about 18 of the actual events I listed. I didn’t end up doing the Ultramax Iron distance race which is a good thing, I probably would have quit that year if I had!

It’s fun to find these kinds of things and look back at them, see where you were and where you’ve come since then. That’s why I recommend keeping a workout log and always writing a complete race report following all races.