Questions and Answers

Note: This entry was started on Sun, Oct 16 and finished on Oct 25.

I feel oddly inspired today. I watched several hours of the live Kona Ironman Championships and the fire inside me to begin training has been rekindled. Even the difficult run I had yesterday is offering me encouragement. Training for an Ironman is hard. If it weren’t then many more people would do it. I am glad I stuck through my discomfit yesterday and ran until I passed the 20 mile mark. Now that I did one, I know I can do another. I am setting my sights on doing two more 20 mile runs before the NYC Marathon. This would give me two weeks to taper. I may not be fast, but at least I will have the mileage in.

Today I received an anonymous message from a reader of my blog. The writer wants to know:

How my kids and wife deal with my obsession?
Do I have a job?
When did I first become consumed with exercise?
Do I have any other hobbies?

The writer went on to state that my tales of intensive training make the person want to eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and hide under the covers.

I think my children are inspired by my pursuing endurance athletics. My son likes to say how he is my coach. Both of my children are looking for me to bring home awards. Hopefully, my training will encourage them later in life to be physically active. I feel that the time I’ve devoted to training has for the most part has not had a negative impact on them. I always make sure to be home with them on the weekends and I am always home in the evening. I do not hesitate to sacrifice a workout to be with them or make other arrangements in my schedule accommodate my training and my children. On the weekends, even after my longest and hardest training days, I am the one who takes them to the playground, bike riding, etc. Of course, a vicodin and a caffeine pill make this task a helluva lot easier.

My wife tolerates my training. I think she likes to complain about it at times, but in truth, it does not impact her either. It has been on occasion a source of contention between us. She complains that I go to bed too early. The truth about this is that secretly I think she is happy I am in bed well before her. We don’t like to watch the same things on TV and my being asleep allows her complete control over the remote. This is my opinion and I am sure she will deny it. The fact that I am not in heavy training now and staying up later, while she leaves the room is proof enough of this for me. It is also probably proof that not all is perfect in this endurance athlete’s marriage. But then again, whose marriage is perfect? She isn’t into endurance sports and doesn’t understand the appeal for them.

I do have a job. I am the Chief Technology Officer for major real estate brokerage company. I am responsible for the design, delivery, and maintenance of all computer, network and telecommunication systems for around 4000 agents and staff.

10/25/05

Like the incoming and outgoing tides, I have spent periods where I was obsessed with exercise or gone for several years where I let myself get out of shape. This has been going on since I was a teenager. Each one of these cycles lasts longer and I am hoping that this period of being in shape can be sustained for at least the next couple of decades. I feel as though this time around, I have made a fundamental change in the way I pursue health and exercise. Triathlon and fitness has become more of a lifestyle than as an obsession with becoming fit.

I have had several other hobbies throughout my life, each of which was pursued with zealousness. I’ve done scuba diving, golf, fishing, fencing, kite flying, hunting (never killed anything), cycling, mountain biking, photography, model trains and others that I don’t recall. I pursued some of them with intensely, while some were momentary blips in my life.

I think that answers everything. It is time to put this post to rest and start on something else.