ah yes the caste system
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Can you come up with a system that takes into account the AWA status?
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I was sure that back in the 90’s the thing was you could only get the red M-Dot tatt if you did Kona. Blue was for the other six Ironmans.
No 70.3’s back then so you were an Ironman…or not.
I managed to resist the M-Dot and the Cramping Man (Ultraman) tatt’s an am glad I dud.
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Isn’t red mdot for full and green for half?
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Getting a tattoo was one of the list of things that motivated me to do my first tri. I’m square as a square thing and so wouldn’t have the ability to just get a tattoo, and I thought it would make me less boring (note 20 odd years ago they weren’t mandatory across the population…).
The desire for one disappeared as I literally ran over the finish chute ramp. That said, I’ve seen some really good ones, including ones with the flags around the world of the races people have done.
But, a word of caution. I knew someone that had the traditional M dot one in red. He emigrated to Taiwan and after a few months asked why people were pointing and looking confused. Turns out that the logo is much more commonly recognised over there as an aircon brand, and so some confusion as to why he loved that specific supplier so much he felt the need to get a tattoo of it.
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I knew a guy who got the M dot tattoo because his name started with ‘M’ and his wife ‘I’. He was a special sort of guy (Italian 
) and did eventually trot himself over the line of a 70.3 so he kind of justified it in the end.
There’s those that will argue the tattoo should only be for people who KQ at the very least but at the end of the day people can do with their body what they want.
Hadn’t heard that combination before.
Why not combine both?
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Can we add the BQ unicorn somehow? Or is that reserved for the other calf?
No… I’m glad they have a sense of achievement, that’s healthy. I think it’s overboard to then brand yourself with the M and the connotations that implies. Be real here, way too many triathletes self-worth is tied up in their “triathlonness”. But whatever. I do think it says something.
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Not hard to understand why though. A lot of people spend much of their “spare” time training/preparing for their next event. It can also be all consuming when you factor in how much time people additionally spend thinking about every other aspect of their life in regards to their training (diet, sleep, recovery etc). It truly does define a lot of people.
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I guess depending on your status it could be gold or silver but I guess it needs to include the year ,
All reasons why I mostly trained alone and didn’t have many friends in the tri community. I don’t give a fuck about your training. The friends I do have within the community are people I can have actual real world conversations with.
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After moving out to a very rural area just before covid, I was surprised when I met people out here that didn’t know what sports make up a triathlon. Never mind the correct order of swim, bike and then run. We are less than 1% of the population. A tiny niche. It may not feel like that when we’re at an Ironman branded event (full or half). But most “regular” people are clueless about triathlon. And most wouldn’t even know what the M Dot logo signifies.
I looked up Caleigh and she’s young. (F24-29 AG). She did a 6:17:50 at Musselman 70.3. I think that is a great job for her first 70.3 at that age. Women peak much later, sometimes early 40s. And it was a hot day. Those hot days even in Upper state NY are tough. I did Syracuse 70.3 during one of the miserable 90F days.
Being in my mid 50sF I feel like these younger generations are very different from us in many ways. So it’s harder for me to throw stones at them, even the influencers on social media. I’m much more critical of those around my age who do questionable stuff like this.
I have a 10 yr old neice who has her own youtube channel. And she’s glued to her devices. It’s very different compared to how my sister and I grew up. Maybe it’s wrong of me but I feel like I have a bit more empathy and let things slide for the younger generations. Especially when everything in the world is mostly going to sh*t for them. But getting off track a bit…
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How did you deal with mechanical issues during races tho
I make sure my bike is in tip top shape so haven’t had one. (knock on wood)
I wish i hadn’t gotten them 25 years ago, but i did. Sleeve on right arm and sporadic on the left arm. The reason i did back then was to weed out judgmental people i didn’t want in my life. Having visible tattoos kept those people away. Now everybody has tattoos and I’m part of the cool kids club, which is so cringe it makes me want to rage, bruh.
There was a video of this lady at Musselman having an epic meltdown when she flatted her tire, including her begging someone on her phone (not even sure how she got one) to bring her another bike while the mechanic calmly fixed her tire.
She then had the video taken down because it obviously didn’t go along with her curated instagram posts
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I wasn’t there so can’t really say too much on this. Anyone can have a meltdown. It’s learning to handle it gracefully. But again, I wasn’t in her shoes and haven’t been in that situation. It does sound like a “yikes” to me though…
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Attention seeking. Keep calm (block her content) and carry on.
Don’t let IG clout seekers take away from our sport while they complain about gatekeeping and inequality. Some people need to go pound sand 
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