Free For All Friday- Triathlon Edition- Giveaway!

In the summer of 2008 I decided something crazy.

I was reading way too many articles about triathlon in Endurance Magazine and thinking, "I could do that."

But then my low self esteem would kick in and I'd think, "I've never been able to run fast. They'd probably laugh at me. I'm sure I'd be last place." and then I'd forget about it for a day or two.

And then it would return, "I could TOTALLY do that."

When I sat down and thought (well come on now, we all I know I don't sit down)about it I couldn't think of any reason not to try...except that I was too slow, too fat and too scared to show my face at a "real" triathlon.

By this point though, I started to feel a glimmer of something. Something my dad calls my "meaness." My meaness is a level of stubborness and willpower that grabs on to things like a bull dog with a bear trap for dentures. My meaness wouldn't let this go.

So then I decided, "Darn it. I'm going to throw my own triathlon." When I told my husband he laughed but he knew I would do it. (And this was before I sold our house because I was bored! Idle hands and what not....)

I read an amazing book called, Slow Fat Triathlete to nail down the basics. I wanted to make sure it was a "real" triathlon so I researched the traditional lengths and set up. I collected the necessary gear and combed blogs to glean tips from seasoned athletes. I looked into renting the neighborhood pool, found a waiver online, and mapped some routes on Bikely.com. Then I took the plunge and emailed 20 of my friends to see if they wanted to try something like this. Eight of them did. I emailed a request to my neighborhood list serv and a bunch of them thought it sounded like fun too. Soon we had 32 people, t-shirts, a pool, a race course and the first ever Grueling Triathlon of Doom. Sure it was guerilla style and people driving by kept thinking we were having a yard sale but it was pretty swanky for an event put on by one nutty girl with a $200 budget.

I trained with my friend Phippsy for months. We ran laps around the Museum of Life and Science parking lot in the dark and the rain. We scheduled "meet and train"s so people would get to know each other. We made signs at Elmo's Diner.

The day of the race was drizzly and cold (it was October) and I was amazed at the crowd of wonderful people who showed up to make my crazy dream a reality. That day all of us crossed the finish line and became triathletes. Looking at all of those proud and smiling faces was one of the highlights of my life. Sometimes you just know that you're looking at history.

This year the DOOM is bigger than ever. I feel like the entire community is involved in this kooky event. It's so very, "Durham." The course runs through all of my favorite parts of downtown and our prizes are solely from local businesses.

On race day only six participants will get prizes. The guys and gals in first, middle and last place will receive an awesome prize package. The giving doesn't stop there!
I've found some extra t-shirts squirreled away and I'd like to give them out. In the comments tell me your name, your shirt size and why you signed up for the DOOM. I'll do a drawing for each size and the shirts will be available for you on race day. In order for me to have time to get ready please submit your comment/entry by 5pm on Saturday!

Personally, I didn't do this to lose weight, get active or anything like that. (Those are all good reasons and a natural side effect of triathlon training.) I created my own triathlon because I don't think that being scared is a good enough reason to not try something. Deep down, I knew I could do it and I did.