Ok for those of you that want to finally know what I did in the pool that day with the "elite" triathletes-well, it was #3.
yeah, I guess I am a cranky old lady.
But the whole thing was wrong. And the Pool manager agreed with me.
It just so happens that Tucson, in the spring, becomes a mecca for triathlon camps and we are bombarded with hard-bodies on the roads, trails and in the pools of our fair city.
I say when you are a guest somewhere else, you had better be darn sure you are playing by the rules of that place, or you just may not be "invited" back. Which would never happen of course, but you sure aren't winning any points with the locals if you are acting all "high and mighty" and believe the rules "don't apply to you"-just because you are WHAT? Some 7th place "elite", in some race no one has ever heard about.
The incident I am speaking of just reeked of "lazy" planning on the coach's part as I found out from our city pool manager, if clubs and teams visiting from out of town call ahead, and pay a fee, they can actually reserve a whole pool during non-lap hours for their people! This guy didn't, and acted all "put out" when the manager reminded him that he was bringing his group at the busiest time of the day, to one of the busiest pools in the city.
It's not just at the pools where I have seen this "better than thou, so move" behavior. The last time I rode out at the monument, I was putting my bike back in the car and a large group of cyclists blatantly and loudly swarmed the parking lot, rode up on to the sidewalk area, where there are signs clearly saying "no bikes" and were just annoying as hell to the other visitors who were there to run, hike and maybe trying to find some peace and quiet outside the bustling city. This park has constructed a bike area for cyclists to park, sit in a shaded ramada area complete with drinking (chilled) fountains, with easy access to the bathrooms. I witnessed rude and "group-think" behaviors which I don't wish to be associated with.
But others DO associate me with them, because I ride a bike.
I recently attended a memorial service for a woman who taught 5th grade for many years at one of my schools. The church was packed with friends, former students, fellow educators, neighbors, and of course family.
Many got up to speak about this woman who was a wonderful wife, mother, teacher, neighbor, friend and colleague.
Had she any outside interests, they were never mentioned.
Had she been a triathlete, or a runner, or a cyclist, it would not have been mentioned.
Had she ever won a local or national race, it would not have been mentioned.
My being able to swim, bike and run is a celebration every time I lace up, climb on or pull that cap over my hair.
I am not quitting, fully, my day job.
(But for the record, I kept up with one of their guys on his 100s.)
Monday, April 6, 2009
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4 comments:
I think open swim is a first come, first serve situation. You can wait for someone to finish and then consume their lane- but if someone is there first, you deal, you respect their lane and their time as long as they are actually there to swim.
This is the reason you don't go to kona during IM. Elitists everywhere you turn.
I get why you didn't concede the lane and why you told them you thought they were rude. They were.
As for this woman - did she have any outside interests? Maybe none were mentioned because there weren't any. I'm guessing that if she did all she did AND was an athlete people would have talked about it just the same way people give us so much credit for doing this stuff while we are alive. At least I get a lot of credit - don't you?
I can certainly understand why you did #3 now. We came out to TriSports when we did hoping to avoid most of those folks coming in for TriFest and those spring camps so we could get the attention we needed at the store. Some day in the not too distant future I'll have to deal with the same thing when we move to Kona. There's only one pool in town but at least the ocean is pretty big.
No I don't get "credit"-because it's just playing and doesn't really mean anything.
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