LOL it's probably run by scientology, the thought police will be spamming us shortly :-)

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"on your Left"

I am extremely average, in everything I do. But I do lots of things too.

too extreme. just watch me watch the super bowl this weekend. i have extensive lists, including: top 10 movies, athletes, games attended, etc. it is kind of wierd.

and by the way, if you are not on the elite list, please don't call my house on sunday. that list is only 4 deep.

GO BUCS!

I get extreme about whatever I'm doing at the time. Maybe I burn myself out on hobbies. For a while I hunted and fly-fished a lot. For a while I played a lot of tennis. For a while I sailed a lot - 20 or so regattas a year. Now there's this triathlon thing. I enjoy getting into better shape and going to a few races a year, but I'm trying not to get obsessive about it.

The good thing about being a gadfly is that you get good enough to enjoy a lot of things. The bad thing is that you don't get great at anything.

I would have to say when I get involved in something I have to try to be the best I can be. When I bowled, it was a huge number of games per week of practice until I could average over 200. When I skied I was going 50-60 days yearly until I got really good at all the really difficult terrain. Softball-played almost daily.

Now it's triathlon and running. I only started running a bit over 2 years ago and my first tri was less than two years ago. I worked hard on all aspects last year and improved my swim greatly, my cycling marginally and my running hardly at all. But it was enough to allow me to win my age group in 2 of the 9 tris I did last year and finish in the top 6 in AG in all but one event. This year I'm focusing on improving my running and hopefully maintaining the same level in swimming and cycling.

I've got a friend in my tri club who is my age (47) and he regularly wins the overall title in events. I'd like to get to the same level or beyond.

I don't know if all this makes me an extreme personality, just very focused on my goals. I tend to be a rather quiet and reserved person who likes to be recognized by what I do rather than by what I say.

Don

Reading that made my day! Never thought anyone else had the MOPers daydream! Now to try to think of the MOPers sponsers name......

"have constant thoughts of quitting my job and turning pro even though I'm a MOP triathlete" Never had that fantasy about tri because I went thru something similiar in another life. About ten years ago I almost chucked my job, mortgage etc. to head to the Caribbean to be a full time dive instructor/boat captain. Would have paid a whopping $1000. per month plus a free room at the resort. The side benefits would have been diving every day, unlimited free rum drinks and a constant tourist flow of women in bikinis. Was going thru a divorce at the time so going there didn't seem as illogical as it does now. Just as well I didn't because that winter a hurricane went thru the island and severly damaged th dive operation and resort. Demonstrates that somethings are best kept as fantasies.

i dont think i should even be in the same sport as you guys. i am as lazy as one person probably, probably lazy enough for 2!?

i havent trained enough for anything ever, i havent worked hard enough for anything to actually pay off, and yet i expect to see results and rewards.

i dont know how you guys are able to live the lives that you do, and do everything that you do, juggling 5 or 6+ priorities, and still manage to be happy and successful. i really admire you people, especially that age groupers, the ones who are almost as fast as the pros, and yet, have so many other things in life to do that that should be going crazy and dying from sleep deprivation. I also truly admire those athletes who were not "gifted" to begin with, but work their asses off to fufill a dream that they have.

you guys are my heros, and i truly mean that.

-kevin

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"Anyone can work hard when they want to; Champions do it when they don't."

The extreme image that my family and co-workers have of me works for me.Knowing some of you guys personally, my exploits pale by comparison.I know the truth about myself.Many fears.I view you guys as extreme.Especialy lousy Bass players.

Fears? you want to talk about fears? I can jump out of an airplane in the middle of the night from 600 feet with 80 pounds of combat equipment, run 152 miles across the desert in Africa, navigate the Vietnamese jungle in the middle of the night with tigers and snakes, fly into the west bank during the biggest suicide bombing campaign since WW2- but I am too paralyzed by fear of loosing someone I love to have any kind of a real relationship. that is not just fear, it is cowardice. And it's cost me everything in my life that was ever real. Extreme? yes. Stupid? Definately.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Difficulties in being able to commit to relationships seems to be a characteristic of many people who live on the edge. Don't know the reason for it. Just an observation. If you were married with family then you wouldn't likely have done all that fun stuff unless the woman was exceptionally tolerant or passive, or best of all, into it herself. Unfortunately such women are quite rare. I've lucked in this time around by finding a gal who is genuinely into my three hobbies of triathlon, scuba and old British sports cars as well as being a great step mom to my kids. Hang in there my friend. Somewhere out there the right gal is to be found.

Don't know your exact situation but have been in one before that was terrible for seven years of my life. What it boils down to is that we are who we are. We do want we do and sometimes people who we "think" we love are really just a person in our life at a given time. If you changed who you are for someone else then that's a problem too because then you will not be happy as well. Sometimes we are all meant to be alone for awhile and then happiness is just around the corner. The one thing I learned in that seven year relationship is that things will happen not because we want them to or that we force them to but because they do. The old theory is that you can not force someone to like you or you can not force yourself to like them.

Good luck Tom--remember that tommorrow is another day to get it right or to get it wrong again but there is another day after that to try again.

Be Happy!

I took the test. I'm a "Guardian". :( Good grief, I didn't know I was such a stodgy old beast.

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

After a few tri's is when I think I figured out who I really was and what I needed and wanted from a person. It's after you find out what you need and want from yourself that helps you along that way, and hours and hours of training alone provide plenty of think time. Gave me time to figure out that my ex husband truly wasn't the person for me and the relief I got after making the hardest decision of my life has helped me to focus more on technical aspects of training.

Tom, when less than .0001 of the population participates in a sport, I would consider that sport extreme. There will be more people in the stadium for the Super Bowl than compete in triathlon all year long. Those who compete in iron distance events are even more extreme. Those who continually compete? and cannot break 15 hours are more extreme than extreme. These are the people who are running(walking) from something. It's like climbing Mt. Everest until you finally fall into the crevasse.

Bob Sigerson

Being afraid of loosing a relationship or something that matters to you isn't stupid.

Stupidity is not caring enough to be scared.

Stupidity is seeing that something is worth it but not facing up to your fears.

You should know as well as anyone that through great struggle comes great triumph...

Good luck... I know that the majority have us have never met you but you can take comfort knowing that this odd community is behind you and willing to talk anything out.