Podium to podium - 27 years

In 1984, at the tender age of 23, I somehow finished 7th overall at the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon World Championship.  I was the youngest of the top seven, the only non-Californian among the Americans.  Twenty-seven years later, in October of 2011, at the decidedly less tender age of 50, I came out of triathlon retirement and managed to finish 5th in the 50-54 age group. This time I was the only person in the race who had traveled from Saudi Arabia, where my family and I currently live and work. I was perhaps the only Kona finisher ever to train through an Arabian summer and fly 13 time zones to get to the finish line on Ali'i Drive. These podium finishes at triathlon's hallmark event, one coming early in life, the other placing itself squarely at the half-century mark, have bookended a life of fitness and activity, a life for which I'm tremendously grateful.

Being a part of the fast-growing sport of triathlon in the early and mid-80s provided many lessons, some of which I'd like to share in this blog. Coming back to the sport now, after it has achieved Olympic status, with national, world and Ironman championships beckoning from every page of the calendar and hundreds of thousands labeling themselves triathletes the world over, also lends valuable perspective, and in entries to follow I'd like to share some of those thoughts as well.

However, it's the overarching punctuation of life, ideas gained in the years preceding that first Kona race, and especially the lessons learned in subsequent years away from the sport, that have informed and instructed and which should make themselves known through future entries.

So, if you're intrigued about the sport of triathlon and want to get one athlete's feel for the "then and now," this might be a blog to follow; I will try to update regularly, and I thank you in advance for reading.  Stay tuned.

David