Why no fishing?

Last week my dad competed in the Columbia, Maryland Olympic Triathlon with his Iron Man buddy Mike Halstead. This was his very first Olympic distance tri.

On the way to the competition, my mom said, "Do you know what sports Dad will be participating in today during the race?" "Yes," was my reply, "Swimming, biking, and running." "Wow, great job," my mom said, then she went on to explain that Tri meant three and there were three sports in this race.

While I accept this concept in theory, I had a serious question that needed an answer, "Mom, why isn't there fishing in this race?" "Fishing???" she asked. "Yes, fishing. Why don't they fish during the race?" "Ummmmm...good question....I guess," her reply. And that was it, I had stumped her.

The race included a mile swim, a 25 mile bike ride, and a 6.2 mile run. The weather was kind of misty rain, so everything was slick and we watched a lot of wipe outs, luckily, none of the wipe outs were my dad's or Mike's.

There's a little time during a tri between sightings of the

competitors because they cover a lot of ground. Luckily I found big, muddy, grassy hills to log roll down, puddles to jump in, and fields to run in. By the time the race ended, I looked like one of the competitors!

Mike is a sponsored Iron man, basically, he's only part human, the rest is of him is an indestructible fitness machine. He placed second in his age group for the entire race. My dad tore it up and finished in the top 1/3 overall - impressive, huh!

We met up with Pete and Sue, some high school buddies of my dad's and Mike's, after the race and headed to lunch. And in case there was any doubt, Olympic-distance triathletes can consume A LOT of calories too!