In Indiana high school (class of 1979) I ran track and cross-country beginning in my freshman year (1975). I was really intrigued by endurance athletics. I ran my first full marathon my junior year. (Since then I’ve done a dozen-plus, some marathon (10k+) swims, and century rides all separately.) Yet, in the late 70s/early 80s road races weren’t as prolific as they would become just a few years later as a result of the running boom of ‘79. And “triathlon” wasn’t even ‘a word’ yet. At team practices we began to talk about an article that I think appeared in RUNNER’S WORLD magazine about a crazy event a small group of military guys were doing in Hawaii “the Ironman” — a combination of what they considered the most difficult event in each of their own favorite sport…the Waikiki Rough Water Swim, a “century” in bicycling, and a full marathon road race. The distances that would become the standard for “Ironman” triathlons. Then there were features about it on Wide World of Sports. I continued running competitively after h.s. In the year after h.s., I ended up in Florida working as a lifeguard at a large YMCA aquatics facility. I had always been a strong swimmer…but never really had any interest in being on the swim team (mostly because of training for winter/indoor track). My initial lifeguard training came as an elective class my senior year of h.s. The instructor was the school’s swim coach. I remember him asking me after our qualification swim for the class “Why aren’t you on my swim team?”
Anyway…that first summer after h.s. that I worked at the YMCA, they put on a “tri-athlon” (run-bike-swim (50m pool) was the order of events). I was expected to work it, but asked my supervisor if I could instead compete. He said yes…and also provided me with his road bike to train on. I was already in good swimming shape because of lifeguarding requirements. But I’d have to concentrate more on cycling. This was still a few years before the establishment of TRIFED, the predecessor to USAT, or any standardized distances for the event (nor any triathlon-specialized equipment). By today’s standards, the distances of that first race I was in would have made it longer than a sprint, but a little shorter than an Oly. I think it was a 5-mile run, 20-22 mile bike, and a 500 meter swim. I ended up finishing in the top five overall. But I was hooked. Other organizations began to put on triathlons. I bought a road bike, and began to split my training time from all running, to include more swimming, and road cycling. I never did a full Ironman…triathlons in general, but especially IM/HIM were very few and far between back then. But I did do a few races that were essentially HIM distances. However, I found that I liked the sprint and (what would become) Oly distances better. Eventually I was doing five or six races per season until I was in my 50s…with an occasional overall placing, and frequent age group placing. Then I began to have hip and knee problems…eventually receiving artificial joints in my late 50s…so any real opportunities of competing (especially in longer races) evaporated. Like Jen, I always kind of used excessive endurance exercise as an excuse for eating whatever I want. I still do all three disciplines on a regular, frequent basis. And also maybe one tri race per season. But they (especially the running) are dreadfully slow. — Dan