It has been a very long year.
I am about to mark the anniversary of when it began. It is easy to remember. I know exactly when it started.
Last September, my friends and I competed in the Kayak, Bike, Run, or KBR, triathlon in Cassadaga, a rural town between Buffalo and Jamestown in western New York.
The race went well. We did great in the kayak and then spread out during the bicycle and run portions of the event. We all finished in the top three in our age groups and received nice running caps with the event logo on them. The only exception was one friend whose race was interrupted by a flat tire.
For me, the only disappointing part of the race was the run, as I had some trouble breathing. I thought it was just a bad day or I was tired from the earlier parts of the triathlon.
But more than a week later, I had back pain and a lot of trouble breathing. I ended up in a hospital for a week in North Carolina, where I was visiting for a wedding.
That basically brought my regular exercises to a halt for a while. When I resumed, I was just getting back into a routine when a bunch of projects at home again paused my exercising to an end for months. While I finally began running again in recent weeks, the KBR Triathlon is Saturday and I am nowhere near ready. I will probably give it a try, even though I have not biked or paddled a kayak since last year’s event.
In the days after the race last year, I was excited when they offered a discount for this year’s event. Still excited, I plunked down the money and committed to the rental cabin again this year.
Worst case, I will just plod along as best I can. The problem is that I usually get swept up in the crowd and try to do too much. Maybe this year I will let my head do the driving and put my ego in the back seat.
It could happen.
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”Working It Out” is a column by City Editor Kevin Conlon that runs every week. Disclaimer: This is not an advice column. I am not an expert at anything. I rarely do things the easy way and the last thing you should do is follow my example.
