Humble Beginnings

As I enter my 22nd year in triathlon, I am somewhat reflective on how I got here and how it all went by so fast. I first started in 1986 when I was attending college in San Diego. Prior to that, I was a pot-smoking surfer without a whole lot of ambition (duh!!!!) working as a bartender and skating by in junior college.

I had just broke up with this girl who I worked with at the bar. I kinda got wrapped up a little too tight on this one and made myself miserable wondering what she was up to...and with whom. So, I decided to take up jogging as a means to run by her house and check up on her. I think they call that "stalking" nowadays. Anyway, it was on one of may many treks by her apartment that I ran into one of my surfing buddies from San Clemente. My friend Craig Neher was going to SDSU and I had not seen him in about a year. He was running the opposite way and recognized me as we passed. He mentioned that he wasn't surfing too much anymore because he was doing this thing called triathlon. He invited me to come run with him and some of his friends in Pacific Beach. I took him up on his offer as I didn't have too many friends yet in San Diego.

The next week, I showed up at his place at 6AM on a Tuesday morning. There was this whole group of guys all milling about in front of his apartment. Funny thing was, no one besides Craig was talking to me...they pretty much ignored that I was even there. I would get dropped and Craig would drop back and pace me back up. This went on the whole run. For some strange reason, I came back on Thursday, and the same thing happened. This went on for about 2 weeks!! Finally, the guys figured I wasn't going anywhere and started to warm up to me. This proved fortuitous for me as most of these guys, unknown to me, were some of the early pioneers in the sport and taught me an awful lot about training and racing that I still use today over 20 years later.

For starters, there were these two brothers...twin brothers named Wally and Wayne Buckingham. If their names sound kind of familiar, they were there racing at Fiesta Island on that fateful day in 1974 when our sport was born. They were local legends within the running and triathlon community and some of the fastest guys in town. Then there was Emilio DeSoto, before he became a world-famous clothier. I think he was still lifeguarding and going to school getting his MBA. Next, there was Rob Bistoudeau, another lightning-fast runner who could drink as hard as he could run. Doug Roberts, the human cartoon character, was there too...the guy who started Reynolds Composites and developed the Ouzo Pro fork. Next was Carter Goodnough, who I probably owe as much to as anyone. Another tall, lanky guy that always kept me honest in hanging on to the back of these really fast guys. Bill Hippe, Barry Culp, Drew Renick...so many good guys.

I miss those days as I start the downward side out if my 5th decade of life....half of it in the sport of triathlon. As I reflect about the past, I get excited for the future, because with all those guys I mentioned above, only Emilio and I are still racing competitively. It has become a lifestyle for me...one that has seen many transitions as I have matured, started a family, career, divorced and right back to where I started in 1986.