Monday, December 16, 2013

Party like a triathlete: End-of-Season Soiree


Two weekends ago I attended the third annual triathlon season wrap-up party at the home of multi-Ironman and uber-planner Scott Moir. It's an event I very much look forward to, and because preparations for it start in early fall (did I mention someone is a planner?), there is a lot of time for anticipation to build.

What do I mean by preparations? The party is part celebration and part "roast". Scott puts out the call for our season recaps then assembles a program to highlight each athlete and their accomplishments. In addition, each person is given a nickname, and the stories behind the nicknames are often hilarious!! Mine this year was Cortney "blog, blah, blah, blah, blog".  Yeah, OK...with nearly 800 posts, I suppose that is deserved. Coach Jim's was "Clark Kent" since he is super-speedy in transition - into that phone booth/transition area - on with the cape - and out!!


In all seriousness, it was really nice to see the varied types of races in which folks from our region participated - cycling, road races, triathlons, duathlons, aquabikes, aquathalons, relays, open water swims, and swim meets. We raced every distance! I may have this wrong but I think the group had 19 iron distance races among them and I have to give a special shout-out to some of the women in that group: Nancy Hans, Donna Williams, and Karen Bowers. 



And of course conversations were predictably triathlon-y...gear, off-season, next season, physical condition. Above we see Mark Taylor sharing his patella x-rays with Mark Long. That's perfectly acceptable at a tri party!

The athletes in the room included working folks, moms, dads, grandparents, kids, and students. We all have busy lives, but we each find fulfillment in multisport so we just make it work. Thanks to Scott for hosting this end-of-season celebration and to all who make up this tremendous group of local athletes! It's been another fantastic year!