Excellent goals. That is how I started out...just taking it easy and having fun. Triathlons are a funny thing though. They start out as fun, but you join a site like this one, start reading triathlete magazine at Barnes & Noble, and before you know it, your training has taken on a new operational tempo and purpose. We have a saying in our house, "we don't do movies or bowling, etc....we train. That is what we do."

It all happens in little baby steps so you never really see how drastic the transformation is...both to your body AND your mind. But the next thing you know, 6-12months have passed, your new lifestyle is firmly cemented, and you ARE competitive. Maybe not against fellow athletes, but against yourself and the clock. And invariably, that competitiveness bleeds over until you are wanting to see how your training measures up to other competitors.

Now, if your experience is anything like mine, you get thoroughly spanked and find yourself looking at someone else's splits asking yourself, "how can someone swim/bike/run that fast???"

Well, back to the drawing board. Time to read more books. Ask more questions. Find more time to train. Eventually, most of your waking hours are devoted to the pursuit and contemplation of the sport of triathlon.

Now imagine that your kids want to do triathlons and are good at it. That is where it REALLY starts to get insane.

Welcome to triathlons. I hope you have as much fun later as you do now.

Jeremy

So tell us - where is bum *** Egypt. I live in the eastern part of that location right next to NOWHERE. Rural Good City Bad as long as you are 100 miles from an airport.