Bike

Biking, what a wonderful thing to do on a small Italian island where there are no cars and just as many people.  Strolling through the open dirt roads, zig-zagging without a care as you take in the mountain on your right and the sea on your left... a fond memory from a recent trip with my girlfriend to Ustica Islands off of Sicily (highly recommended).

How about, struggling for breath, foreign pain shoots through legs, steering left, then right, out of control, "COME ON MATE, PICK IT UP, THE GIRLS JUST PASSED"...or maybe shear humiliation as you see your cycling partner in the distance coming toward you having doubled back to let you catch up after he originally pulled away as you struggled to keep pace... one a memory from my first group triathlon race (fun but obviously my bike speed didn't match the rest of ABC Tri) and the second a frequent occurrence when Alan (training partner, ironman in training and all around good friend) and I head out together.

Very different experiences but good examples of the dichotomy that is my life on a bike.  While I always thought my legs were strong (for my size at least), it took biking to make me realize that there is a ton of improvement to be made and given most of the Ironman is spent on the bike, I look forward to the challenge.

As I read in Fink's book, "befriend the enemy."