Backpacker Today...And Forevuh

A brief explanation for the name of this blog seems in order. I have rendered the description of someone who finishes at the back of the back into someone called a backpacker. In the triathlons I have finished to date, I have been, by every definition (overall and age group-wise), a backpacker. Since I do most of my training in an urban environment, voila, Urban Backpacker.

This may strike one as slightly self-denigrating. But I enjoy the irony because in many (if not most) publications or programs regarding triathlon, there is a focus on the elite athlete and then a nod to the mid-packer who, through insinuation, should at some point become closer to the top of the pack, if not elite.

Of course, there is the occasional weepy, sentimental story about someone who, by no fault of their own, had a personal tragedy and overcame it, were super fat and lost a thousand pounds or are just super-old and only getting older. I, too, become weepy when I hear their stories of triumph and count my own blessings. But when these people-without legs or mistaken for sea mammals in the past or held together by dust and Metamucil-are passing me on the course, I’m thinking, maybe I should be getting some press. Where’s my parade?

I suppose there aren’t many sweeping documentaries about people who are mediocre at their chosen hobby or profession. But really, there should be more. Who doesn’t love Ed Wood? Or Reno 911? It would be kind of cool to be known as “The Ed Wood of Triathlon.” To be famously awful…you have to dream the dream.

I have reason to hope that in the upcoming season, I should graduate to “midpacker” status. And if I did shorter triathlons, I may even finish in the upper quarter. But since I have an affinity for Woody Allen and the underdog, I will always identify with the able-bodied (by no fault of their own) person who finishes at the back of the pack. Besides, I can’t rename my blog every time I make an incremental improvement.

And as my hero has famously said, the heart wants what it wants. And I want to do triathlons. Well I do.