Ben Collins

Treasure Island Triathlon is now a Duathlon. I have to say, the ecological damage the oil spill is doing means a lot more to me than the fact that I now have to run 6.5km really fast in order to get into a good group on the bike. All the poor birds!

A little knowledge for you: The oil kills the birds because their feathers are hydrophobic, meaning they repel water, and that helps them stay above the water. When there’s oil on the surface, they don’t float too well.

I could whine all night about how stupid a boat pilot has to be to crash into a bridge, but it was foggy, and the tanker was huge and people make mistakes. If we want fewer oil spill, we should use less oil.

Invest in technology (I say as tech stocks drive the DOW into a pit of despair), and maybe we can get alternative fuels to get us around. Alternative fuels that don’t have to be hauled around where they will inevitably cause tragedy because of human error.

For now, I’m going to sleep. Tomorrow at noon I get to run 6.5km, bike 40km and then run another 10kim. It will surely be much harder than a normal triathlon, mainly because I have done nothing to train for such an event. No expectations, just two hours of max effort to see what happens.

One last thing for all the people who told me “good luck”: I always say I don’t need luck, but maybe this is an exception.

I’m back in San Francisco for a week. I flew into Oakland last night because Southwest is super cheap (even the bike fee is less than most other airlines). Loren picked me up, gave me dinner, then said goodnight because (like most athletes with real jobs) he had to run at 5am this morning. I on the other hand, slept in until 9:30, made oatmeal, and have done nothing but study for my Organic Chemistry midterm in the morning.

Saturday is the Treasure Island Triathlon. It will be my second draft-legal race since I got my elite license in October. I’m a bit nervous because it means I can’t fake the run. The draft-legal bike leg means my swim puts me into the front pack on the bike, then I have to outrun the rest of the guys I ride with. On the plus side, I’ve been running much faster than ever before.

(Much faster than when Tim Marr ran me into the med tent at Lavaman)

This is the last race of the season, and I am stoked for an off-season. Here’s a quick rundown of the last year of races:

13 triathlons: 3 sprints, 11 olympic-distance, 11 domestic, 11 amateur, 1 as a “seeing-eye-dog”.
4 running road races: 2 10km and 2 5km.
2 bike races: 1 road race, 1 time trial
2 swim meets: 1 real one, 1 not-so-real.
# of girls that beat me: 1 -> Andy Taylor was 15 at the time, and she beat me by almost a second in the 800m free.
First race: February
Last Race: November.

It has been a great season, and Treasure Island is the gold at the end of the rainbow. Hopefully I’ll have something else to add to the list after this weekend.

This is the Historical Fremont Bridge in Seattle.

My mom didn’t take up rowing until she was 50, but even with a late start she’s still at the top of masters rowing. She races against former Olympians at FISA World Championships, and makes mothers all over the world go home with tears in their eyes. Our hallway is lined with the medals she has collected recently, including a gold from Head of the Charles.
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I’m not sure this picture even deserves a caption

We had close to 200 trick or treaters at my house last night. We live in what you might call a “destination spot” for Halloween. Parents put their kids on buses to come to our neighborhood. I didn’t have a costume, so I turned an old swim parka inside out, put pom-poms on my head, and spent the night by the door warning kids about the risks of Diabetes, Childhood Obesity, and Witches. I wanted to give out apples (poisoned, of course), but discovered that my budget only allowed for Mars Brand candies from Costco.