training day

anyone who knows me well knows that i have a love-hate relationship with exercise (although i suppose one could argue: don't we all?). my ambivalence on this issue manifests itself in a few different ways, but none have been so pronounced in the last few months as my on-again-off-again triathlon debate.

fortunately for me (and my expanding, sagging, 30 year-old backside), fate stepped in quite definitively a few weeks ago... like it or not i'm doing the chicago triathlon because, well, i got off the waitlist and it seems like the right thing to do.

there are, of course, positive and negative aspects of this development and its ongoing impact on my life. they are as follows:

pro: overwhelmingly enthusiastic show of support by my more triathlon-gifted friends (namely my blogmate, ck, and bikemyers)
con: overwhelming guilt at the sad reality that i will most likely have a heart attack on race day (probably before i even get in the water), thus disappointing my awesome fan club

con: overwhelming sense that i'm not a good swimmer, cyclist, or runner
pro: overwhelming sense that it might not actually matter

pro: lots of fun new toys
con: credit card bill for fun new toys

con: ravenously hungry all the time
pro: eating all the time

pro: abundance of cute boys on the lakefront path
con: thinking about how i must look, sweating like a pig on the lakefront path

con: apartment a mess, tons of laundry, bike tire tread marks on the walls, sand and bicycle grease everywhere, entire contents of lake michigan in my bathtub
pro: complete absence of guilt about apartment being a mess, tons of laundry, bike tire tread marks on the walls, sand and bicycle grease everywhere, entire contents of lake michigan in my bathtub

con: drunk after one beer
pro: drunk after one beer

so i guess it all evens out in the end. see you at the finish line.