Zipp Wheel Essay Winner - Mark Evans

Original essay by Mark Evans:

It's Friday March 5th at 2pm. The HHH airport has once again put forth it's best effort at replicating my own personal airport. Boarding pass? - check. Bike box? - check. The enthusiasm to hit the open road that only a MN winter can bring? - check. Five of us have hopped a ride on Minnesota's own Hometown Airline and are bound for a long weekend of running, biking, eating and unspoken  - yet very spoken -  friendly competition in Tucson. Among us are three multiple-times-over-ironmen, two Clearwater qualifiers, one Worlds 70.3 participant, two six minute mile runners and all LTF triathlon finishers. We are five slightly tweaked guys with a passion for wattage, race day nutrition and training regimens who look like they could use another sandwich or two. We're triathletes. With this, I saw your essay competition and realized that this trip, these friends, and the LTF Triathlon were a few things I could share some thoughts about from seat 28E.

So how has Triathlon changed my life? Five years into the sport I can certainly say that it's been nothing but positive.  Triathlons for me have meant a lifestyle shift at the base level of who I am. Today my participation in the sport touches all of the elements that are important in my life:  family, friends, health,work, travel and a sense of adventure.  Yet, it's the definition of why it has been positive that reinvents itself with every new season, race and triathlete I meet.

One of my fellow Tucson travelers identified years ago that "...people tend to find triathlon - not the other way around. So many people new to the sport arrive with something in their life that's either slightly off or just plain broken". I agree. For my part, I was broken. It was 2005 and my life had taken some unexpected and unwanted turns and I was angry. As a former collegiate cross country runner I had always considered the sport of triathlon but never jumped at it. I'd even watched the LTF Triathlon speed by my house in previous years while thinking "I should do this...I should do this...". That fall I decided it was time to try. As I worked towards the 2006 season, training allowed me a constructive and focused outlet for some pretty negative energy. The initial goals were easy: work out like a freak, learn the sport, work out some more and then move on to something new. A pretty simple set of goals for that first year. So much so that my bike was purchased already estimating the possible resale value at the end of the year. Clearly this sport would be a single season endeavor and move on.

The Buffalo Sprint Triathlon was my first race in the spring of 2006. Standing knee deep in the water at the starting line I chatted with a competitor next to me. He told me his name was John. As chance had it, it was his first race as well. We exchanged some small talk, a few pre-race nervous laughs and wished each other the best. That summer, after five sprint distance triathlons, a few running races and the support of an incredibly enthusiastic family my inaugural season was complete. I knew I'd be back for another year, more races and longer distances. I also realized that I needed training. Real training - not the anger management training course I'd been putting myself through (d'oh!). That fall I found a dedicated, focused and fun group. I arrived my first day and lining up next to me to start the workout was - who else? John. It was the Buffalo Sprint all over again. We laughed as we recalled what the season had been for each of us. John introduced me to Karl. It was then that the sport of triathlon reinvented itself to me for the first time. It had become more than me, more than the training and more than the race. It was about camaraderie. John is sitting in seat 27C. Karl is in seat 14A.

The years following that inaugural season have been spent continually learning the ropes, adding distance to workouts and races, crazy-fun training with peers, and participating in races all around the region from Buffalo, Liberty, LTF, Turtleman, Chisago, Land Between the Lakes, Lakes Country and more. Locally, race day has become a great time to catch up friends, cheer on fellow racers and meet great new people. In this way it was two years ago triathlon reinvented itself to me for yet a second time. Having competed in most races around the MN region it was time to go even further. Sitting at my computer one night I signed up for St Croix USVI 70.3 on a whim. I had no bike box, had never done a 70.3, and no real knowledge of anyone who may even be going. No matter. Like so many races I'd participated in I had confidence in my abilities, knew I'd meet someone new and the journey in itself would make the adventure. And sure enough, once on the island I met two triathletes who like me had also come down from MN. Triathlon had become a destination sport. An exhilarating adventure. Today, whether training in Colorado or Arizona, racing LTF NY, LTF Chicago, or St Croix USVI - it is all about pushing boundaries. And the transfer to one's personal and professional life is infectious. Joe is in seat 16B and Rick is right behind him in 18A.

So, with all this travel to new destinations, meeting new people and the thrill of new races - what does LTF Minneapolis mean to me? It means home. It means the first race I ever watched and said to myself "I think I can do that". LTF Minneapolis was the focal race to a change in my lifestyle. It's been four years running now and to this day it remains my favorite race morning each year of any race. It's the race where the top pros share the same course with first time triathletes. For all the training and race preparation that a year may hold - LTF Minneapolis is the race where I get to throw on the back pack, bike the two miles down the parkway to Lake Nokomis and really enjoy a top notch day of racing.
 
In closing, the sport of triathlon is now a lifestyle for me - hell, I get cranky if I don't work out. I enjoy watching what I eat. I also enjoy eating whatever I want. I enjoy talking nutrition. I enjoy training with my daughter. I enjoy it all. In the end, triathlon has meant a number of things to me: personal development, a tighter bond with my family (my best cheering section!), lasting friendships and new growth in personal relationships . Best of all, it is a constant that will continually reinvent it's meaning in my life.

Ok, we've landed. Me, John, Karl, Joe and Rick got some riding to do. Mt Lemmon isn't gonna wait...

- Mark Evans