Life had just really started. I arrived in Houston Texas fresh out of Arizona State University and began work with IBM on designing the Space Station for NASA. Sounds like a very cool job right? In reality, as a junior engineer I was given small insignificant jobs to get my feet wet. Even after a few years I felt dissatisfied with my contributions to the projects. I was never good at office politics and I was never going to stay at work until midnight. I was not going to be one of these IBM workers that live to work. One of the promises I made to myself during grad school was to get back in shape once I got a real job. During grad school I dedicated all my time to get the best grades possible. That also meant my waist was as big as my GPA. At some point in my life I realized that I could not have everything. I would have to prioritize and my priority in school was getting good grades.
Once in Houston I joined a local soccer team as my first attempt to fitness. That was no fun. No one showed up at practice and all they wanted was to get drunk after the Sunday games. So I kept on looking for the right thing to do. One afternoon I was reading Sports Illustrated and I noticed an advertising for the US Triathlon Series. Then I noticed that one of the races was right in Houston. In fact, the race was going to take place in Clear Lake which was no more than 5 miles away. Very cool this is what I want to do. I immediately tried to recruit my roommate to train but that did not work. He was always late to our sessions and he hated swimming. I kept plugging away not sure what the hell I was doing. I knew how to train for swimming and for running but had no idea about the bike and how to combine the whole thing. I bought my roommates used Motobecane bike and my first ride was around the neighborhood. There was a one mile loop so I did it 10 times I think. I figured if I could get my riding to about 25 loops of the neighborhood I will be ready for the race. Can you believe that? Talk about a beginner! Later I met some real bike riders and they showed me some real bike routes.
One day at IBM I met a couple of young interns. I met Matt who was a swimmer and Rudy who was a runner. They said that they would be interested in doing the triathlon. We talked a bit and decided that yes we should train together. Great, now I had some good training partners. We went on a few rides and runs and one day made a small trip to Pearland where there is this 3 mile loop around a golf course community. One of the people at IBM lived there and it seemed like a nice place to run. The Clear Lake area was not the best place for training when I lived there. Everything was either cement or pavement. Plus the traffic is heavy and the roads do not have much room for bikes. The best riding was up and down I-45 on the access road. The traffic is reasonable and cars can spot the riders easily and move to the other lane without much trouble.
At one point during our training Matt and I learned that we had to do some bike/run sessions so that we could learn to run off the bike. How in the heck are we going to do that? We wanted the transition to be fast but were afraid to leave our bikes anywhere. Someone will steal them. We could not set up a transition at the house since riding to and from there was not safe. There are too many small busy roads. One of us had the perfect idea. What if we go to Pearland to that 3 mile loop? One of us starts riding and the other one runs. The rider will eventually lap the runner at which point the rider dismounts and gives the bike to the runner who then starts riding while the rider starts running. Great idea! I can ride your bike; it is just a little bigger I said. Matt and I did this workout one day and we must have done 4 or more transitions. Surprisingly it takes a long time to catch the runner. It is not that easy. All I could think at the time was "where the hell is he?” If you are wondering about shoes and cleats; remember that this is 1986. All professional riders used cages, we did not own cycling shoes yet so all we had to do was wrap the cage around our running shoes and go. Matt and I still talk about this workout. I would be afraid of doing that brick workout today. Don’t try this at home! But this is a real story.
I went on to complete the US Triathlon Series Houston race. My training partners came out to watch. A few weeks later Matt, Rudy and I all did the Galveston triathlon which was their first race and my second. There are some great stories about our races but will save those for another day. Matt and I are still friends and we both competed in the Hawaii Ironman in 1996. He reads this blog so I hope he posts a comment. Rudy is now a lawyer. He always said he wanted to help the poor people and he did. After graduating from Law school he turned down great offers from huge Law Firms and took a very low paying job as a public defender in a small Colorado town.