How can I say this?

Last Saturday my wife and I volunteered at the Aflac Irongirl Triathlon here in Las Vegas. It was an inspiring, tiring, slightly confusing experience.

It was inspiring watch so many athletes put their heart and soul into an event and complete it. The two 70+ women who completed the entire triathlon were inspiring. The 15 year old, whose bike was parked under our watch eyes, completed the race in good time and was inspiring that she did it so young. The woman who was 9 months pregnant and still completed the swim and the run was inspiring. (She chose not to do the bike for fear of falling). Seeing all of these women doing something that I probably couldn't do right now, was very inspiring.

It was tiring in that we were course marshalls stationed at the transition area and were responsible for directing the athletes the correct way out of the transition depending on what they were going to next - the bike or the run. Because of our stationing in this area we ended up standing there for over 4 hours. Now I have to admit it has been a while since I have stood ANYWHERE for over 2 hours at a time.

It was confusing in that as we directed the athletes in the right direction and clapped and gave them encouragement, a large number of them thanked us! It was something I just hadn't expected to happen. This is what I'm doing a horrible job of expressing: the emotions I felt for being thanked for doing something I thought was simple a small piece in a much bigger picture.

The good news is that Michele has said she might do this event next year. There is a lot of work to be done to get ready for it, but I would be very excited, proud and happy for her if she really did do it!

On a side note, I have been reading many articles and other online information for beginning triathletes and I have decided to change my diet due to the needed carbs for sustained activities. I have been doing a very low carb diet since last September and I have to say there has been a good deal of success on the weight loss front (this morning I got on the scale and it showed 409), but I realize that if I am going to start training harder and for longer periods then my body is in need of more complex carbohydrates. Therefore I am going to start following the weight watchers point system and guidelines.