Published: July 19, 2008 10:28 pm            

Column: Triathlon can be a bit scary and fun

Yes, many runners do get tired of running and look for another diversion.

It often comes in the form of triathlons. This involves swimming and biking — along with running.

“Anyone can do a triathlon,” recently said Dr. Barry Klein, a Dalton chiropractor who lives in Chatsworth. “If Oprah (Winfrey) can run a marathon (26.2 miles), anybody can run a marathon.”

That might appear a little simplistic. Please do not rush out to a triathlon event or marathon race with no training and expect to survive.

Klein, a small (5-foot-4, 135 pounds) but versatile 41-year-old athlete, participated in the recent 27th annual Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon. A 1.5-kilometer swim (about one mile) commenced proceedings down the Tennessee River, followed by a 42K bike race (25 miles) that stretched from downtown to Highway 153 and back and finished with a 10K run (6.2 miles) down the Tennessee Riverwalk.

For those people who envision nothing but pain, Klein insisted, “I did it as a fun thing. I don’t swim well. I’m still bothered by a separated shoulder from two years ago. It was my first time in the water in a long time.”

Klein, who finished well back in the pack of an original 1,200 participants, the maximum number allowed, showed much grit in the swim.

“I had to swim the breaststroke most of the way,” he said. “Then I cramped up. Then I had to use the backstroke.”

By the time Klein got to the cycling competition, Mother Nature had reared her ugly head.

“It was raining so hard,” he said. “You couldn’t see coming downhill. I was kind of squinting the whole way. It was a little scary but still fun.”

Klein, a native New Yorker who wrestled at the University of Buffalo, is one of those “never met a stranger” types.

“I was a Georgia Bulldogs fan even living up north,” he confided. “That was during the Herschel Walker years.”

With running as his best event of the three, Klein was able to relax on the final leg.

“I was handing out jelly beans and gels to the other runners,” he said. “I was making it a party. I was able to pass a lot of people though I was not running that hard.”

At the more serious front, Michael Lavao, 34, of Boulder, Colo., and a world-class performer, completed the competition in 1 hour, 58 minutes and 38 seconds. Jessica Jacobs from Green Bay, Wisc., paced the females in 2:15.21.

Rodney Allison, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s head football coach, stopped by a water stop next to Scrappy Moore practice field where I was a volunteer as the PA announcer.

“This is impressive,” Allison said as he watched sleek, well-conditioned athletes go past him in the running competition. “They are accomplishing a lot.”

Somebody jokingly suggested to him, “Maybe you should have your football players do this.”

With a chuckle, he said, “They’re not tough enough.”

Allison’s Mocs will need to be extra tough for the 2008 season. They open the season at Oklahoma and play at Florida State in their third game.

UTC will receive a reported $950,000 as sacrificial lambs on those two dates. That will take care of the bumps and bruises they will incur from the Sooners and Seminoles.

For people from this area now all fired up about participation in an upcoming triathlon, there is the Sports Barn Triathlon slated for August in Chattanooga. Shorter distances include a quarter-mile swim, 8-mile bike and 2-mile run.

Really serious people, who can qualify, have the legendary Iron Man Championship slated Oct. 5 in Hawaii. Just the thought of these distances would wear out many people: 2.4-mile swim in the ocean, 112-mile bike ride and marathon run.

NOTE: Many Dalton area runners are anticipated for the first John Bruner Memorial Race scheduled Saturday, Aug. 2, as part of the 35th annual Missionary Ridge Road Race in Chattanooga. A former Dalton High distance runner, Bruner, 19, tragically died following last year’s race. He was diagnosed with a rare artery defect.



Doug Hawley, a competitive distance runner for more than 50 years, can be reached through Dhawley@optilink.us

        

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