The Joys of Passing People in a Triathlon by Jimmy Chion

I squirt some water into my mouth. It's vaguely lemon-lime. As I go to return the water bottle to its cage on my bike, it slips out of my hand, hitting the pavement and bouncing into the bushes. Agh. Rookie mistake, Jimmy. I get back on my bike, but some people I passed a few minutes ago zoom past me. “Just pass them. Again,” I tell myself, getting back on my bike. I had just finished the swim portion of Lavaman, an Olympic-distance triathlon, and I had some catching up to do. For those that keep score, I swim a mile in 40 minutes. If the swim was the entire race, according to the official results, I would've ranked 923/1074, or, the bottom 15% of competitors. As a 27 year-old, I was ashamed. I'm a turtle in the ocean, and not the rad, fast kind. 

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