The other day I was talking with a runner. When she found out that I was a triathlete, she said, “Oh, you’re one of those…”
I don’t know what she meant by it but I started to think about the perceptions of triathletes. Here’s what people have either said to me or said to someone I know:
Non-Triathletes:
- “Wow, you are a super person to do triathlons!”
- “I can’t even walk down the block, let alone run….”
- “I wouldn’t attempt that, I have bad knees” or “I have a bad back…”
- “You are absolutely crazy. It’s not normal to do what you do.”
Experienced triathletes:
- “You’re not really a triathlete until you do a 70.3 or a 140.1”
- “No one knows what it’s like to be an Ironman unless you’ve completed one.”
- “If you didn’t finish within the allocated time for a half or full distance triathlon, then you can’t say you did one!”
So what’s my takeaway from, “oh, you’re one of those,” to “you’re not really a triathlete because you’ve never done an Ironman?”
I’m just an ordinary person who likes to swim, bike and run and I don’t think I would like it any other way. And yeah, I guess I’m one of those…
