two day marathon

I am not a triathlete.  I do occasionally ride a bike, and I am a competent swimmer.  I enjoy doing both of them.  But I have never raced at either of those activities.  So the idea of doing a full triathlon has never really appealed to me. I can, however, be convinced to do the triathlon as a relay, as long as I get to do the running leg.  And that's my plan this weekend.  The Accenture Triathlon is such a huge event, it's great to get a chance to be part of it.  Fortunately, I have friends that are strong cyclists and swimmers.  The picture is from last year's Tri.  It's pretty inspiring to see all the swimmers in the water.  I have all the respect in the world for triathletes.  They are real warrior athletes!  This weekend, however, will be an athletic endeavor of my own.  I have to run a 20 mile training run on Saturday, and then come back on Sunday and do the 10k portion of the triathlon.  That amounts to a marathon, spread over two days. It would not be a good idea if I were planning to run either of those as a race.  That would be an injury waiting to happen.  But I want to run a steady 20 miler, and run the 10k for fun.  I hope my relay teammates aren't disappointed with that.  They will probably get me the baton in a good position, and I'll end up slowing us down.  But, like I said, I am doing it to have fun.  I am not exactly an expert on the triathlon, so I thought I would include part of the press release they sent out.

CHICAGO; August 21, 2007 – More than 8,500 Olympic, professional, disabled, amateur and first-time triathletes will compete in the 25th running of the Accenture Chicago Triathlon on Sunday, Aug. 26. With the largest triathlon field of Olympic distance participants in the world, the Accenture Chicago Triathlon has received official designation as “World’s Largest Triathlon” from the Guinness Book of World Records, with last year’s event documented as having the largest number of participants to complete a triathlon. “We have grown tenfold in size and technology since our first race in 1983, when we had fewer than 800 triathletes,“ said Jan Caille, president of CAPRI Events, the owner of the event. “The 2007 Accenture Chicago Triathlon is a great celebration of 25 years, and Chicago is the place to be for a triathlon on August 26!” The Accenture Chicago Triathlon features both an International Distance competition, which includes a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer bicycle ride and a 10-kilometer run along Chicago’s lake front, and a Sprint Distance competition, with each of the three legs approximately half the distance of those in the International Distance competition. Pro field includes best in the world Among the elite professionals scheduled to participate in the 25th Accenture Chicago Triathlon are: • Michellie Jones (Australia), Olympic silver medalist and seven-time Accenture Chicago Triathlon Winner; • Becky Lavelle (U.S.), 2005 Accenture Chicago Triathlon champion; • Samantha McGlone (Canada), 2006 Accenture Chicago Triathlon champion; • Matt Reed (Colorado), 2nd place finisher in 2004 Accenture Chicago Triathlon; • Emma Snowsill (Australia), 2004 Accenture Chicago Triathlon champion; and • Craig Walton (Australia), three-time Accenture Chicago Triathlon champion. Enhanced technology allows fans to follow the race from home Accenture, the title sponsor of the Chicago triathlon since 2003, will again be providing innovative technology solutions to allow fans to follow the race as it happens. Among these are the Athlete Alert system, which sends real-time race update messages to racers’ friends and families using voice and text messaging. The system can be used with any telephone, including mobile phones. Also, by logging on to http://triathlons.accenture.com during the race, users will be able to track an athlete by name or bib number on an interactive race map and watch a live Webcam view of the finish line. In addition, by logging on to the website after the race, users will be able to view and download, free of charge, complete race results as well as 30-second clips of every racer crossing the finish line. see you on the roads....