Today was a swim-in-the-morning and lift-weights-at-lunchtime day. I had a great swim at the Greenlake pool as I met my friend, Robin, at 6:00 a.m. lap swim and we made up a workout as we went along with 2 other dudes in the lane. It was way better than a solo swim and a good filler in lieu of "real" swim team...though I'm counting the days till S.U. swim team re-opens (that'd be 12 days, are we there yet?).
So then...went to the gym to lift weights a little while ago. I had already listened to today's theme song (The Clash, "Train in Vain,") about 5 times and had finally let the ipod shuffle onto something else when I saw a woman walk by that I knew I recognized...super tall, skinny legs...yup, I bet that's her...Stanford basketball shorts...yup, definitely her. Now, a few years before Sue Bird was the Seattle basketball celeb, the basketball "bird" in Seattle was Kate Starbird and that was her, sure enough. I'm sure nobody else in the stupid gym recognized her, but I was all over it. I pseudo-stalked her upstairs where I saw her get on a hamster machine (how relieved am I to know that a very recent professional athlete does that damn hamster thing, too...I feel so much better!) and I talked to my friend, Phi, a trainer, just to make sure it was actually Starbird and to look casual and scope her out for a few minutes. I decided not to bug her while she was on the hamster, finished my workout downstairs, and waited for her to go into the locker room...where I then stalked and tried to look like I wasn't (completely transparent, I'm sure). Here's my conversation with Starbird:
Me: You're Kate Starbird, right? I'm a big fan of yours...
Bird: Well, I was Kate Starbird, now I'm just 'Kate.'
Me: You're still Kate Starbird! Do you still play?
Bird: I played in Europe for a few years, then came back and took some time off. I just started playing again recently. My back is finally better...
Me: Well, I was definitely a fan (dumbass, didn't I already say that?)
Bird: Were you around for the ABL?
Me: Yeah, I was a season ticket holder, 4th row (double dumbass)
Bird: Yeah, I recognize people who were around then...
Can't remember how the conversation ended exactly...but hey, at least I talked to one of my heroes, and I don't think I was TOO much of a dork...OK, I take that back. But what the hell, I figured she might like to be recognized and get a little fan adoration. I ditched out on my abduction/PT exercises to chase her around the gym, but my case of "lunge butt" from Wednesday is still very apparent and this seemed more important. And I did everything else!
The other momentary distraction today was a hilarious race report that Julie sent around this morning. The quote at the beginning is so good, I copied it and hung it in my cubicle:
“Blessed are the flexible for they shall never be bent out of shape.” – Ancient Xterra Tribe Race Director Proverb.
The rest is a must-read and a total crack-up. After that classic quote above, the guy leads off with, "This is a chronicle of the evolution of triathlon fear, and a big hairy, then shaved, then once again hairy moron (that would be me) who tried to conquer it. "
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=689
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