Over the last month I’ve become increasingly tired of the training.

Last week I swam for 2200 yards in a pool. Backwards and forwards did I go. Like a goldfish encumbered with memory.

The experience was painful. And then there was the run. And the bike ride. And the strength exercises. And the… And man this video was too painful … Especially the parts about time and being full of energy and not knowing what body glide is…

Mech.

The whole adventure had this aura of pointlessness to it. I was almost ready to give up.

Today, I attended a triathlon clinic that included an outdoor swim at the venue.

And then I went for a swim, and I was like – woah… this is fun. And then we did a whole bunch of transition training with warnings about being *that* triathlete… And I was like … I can do this… I CAN do this…

And then when I swam… It was like… wow this whole swimming in open water is easy. A lifetime of swimming in Santorini means that sighting is easy, and dealing with people bumping into you is … easy.

The whole experience was exhilarating. I was bouncing off of walls because it was so much fun. There is this moment when you realize that you’re going through water,faster than you ever did before and then you’re going to be going on a bike, and you’re actually able to do this thing. And then there is this run, and all you can think about is when does the damn race start.

All this training makes it possible for me to do this insanely fun thing… How super-cool is that?