Even though the Free Press devoted nearly three full pages to the story, there is so much more that could have been told. Conyers comes from an upscale family. His father is a retired professor of sociology at Indiana State University (Terre Haute), while his mother is president of a chamber of commerce in the Flint (MI) area. The parents were divorced when Conyers was young and he split his time between the two homes.
As near as we can tell, Conyers has made his way as an adult by mooching off first one parent and then the other. He has become quite a bully, and my guess is they give him some money just so he will go away and give them a period of peace. Conyers is just a few hours shy of a college degree, but he has never had (nor, apparently, even seriously sought) a real job.
He also appears to be extremely thrifty. His black Camaro (with the Indiana vanity plate “TRI PRO”) is basically his home away from home. He sleeps in it, carries all of his “equipment” in it (including a 20±year-old bike and ancient Monarch full aero helmet), and eats primarily at Mickey D’s. And his mother told me that he got a good settlement from being bit by a dog while on a training run.
Conyers wasn’t a BAD athlete as a kid - in triathlons done as a 18 and 19-year-old, he would generally finish in the top 20% of local fields. But he imagines himself as much, much more, and has gradually constructed a rather elaborate fantasy world - and to understand why he takes various acts, you have to project yourself into his “world”.
The first thing to understand is that he craves validation of his “elite athlete” status - but, he is doomed to forever be denied this validation by any sort of real-life performance. He just is too old, too fat, and too slow. So, the first thing he does is construct elaborate reasons for his athletic failures. His resume is peppered with excuses like “forgot my wetsuit”, “was directed off course”, “was late for the start” - and if none of those fit, “everyone else was on drugs”.
Which now leads to my guess on your original question (sorry for the digression). If he signs up for events that are far away from his home in Michigan, he gets to live - unchallenged - in his fantasy world for the entire length of the drives to and even from the event. Why did he sign up for the Headlands 50K Trail Run north of San Francisco in August of 2002 (which he failed, as is usual, to finish)? Probably because of the three-day drive to the event.
The drive for validation probably explains his obsession with women like Sheila and Kathy Tremblay as well. If he can’t get what he needs on the playing field, he’ll get it by association. “She is my girlfriend. I coach her and train with her. Her success is therefore mine.” Interestingly enough, there’s a little of that sort of drive in all of us - it just rarely takes complete control of one’s life.
Lew