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Perspective

Breakfast in Kona, Naked in Transition

Monday, March 3, 2014

Dan Empfield at the Ironman in Kona, Feb., 1981

For Mark Montgomery (Monty on the Slowtwitch Forum, and my next door neighbor), Scott Tinley, Scott Molina and I, it was our first Ironman and very near all of our first triathlons.  That was Kona in 1981, the first Ironman on the Big Island and when I say it was the first time we all attended that race I don’t mean to imply we knew each other.  We didn’t.  I don’t believe I met any of them until 1986 or later.

Why I Continue To Race

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Scott Molina at the Nice Triathlon in 1983. He's still racing hard, 31 years later. (Mike Plant photo)

For me the act of signing up for events is the key to continued motivation to find the best version of my athletic self. I don't actually need to do the races; they are almost always anti-climactic. I know that but it does not deter me. Signing up and knowing I have events is enough to help me find the urge to prepare, and it’s that process of preparation and all that's involved with it that keeps me in the game.

Doing a Sport’s History

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Mike Plant photo 

The history of sport is the history of civilization; an appropriate and focused lens through which to observe, dissect, detail, and discern the ways in which humans interact as social beings. And the short history of triathlon begs for a longer lens on which to scan the landscape that rides beneath our modern feet.  For me, anyway, there are few things more engaging and more revealing than an historical sociology of sport.

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