why tri?

This is a question that Active.com always insists that I must answer before I register for any race. I find myself typing in some inane answers, such as "because I love pain" or "for the challenge" or "it is an illness." But at a writers' retreat this weekend, one of the pieces of advice was that we should look at our lives and think about what it is we are doing that we don't write about--and then write about it.

This is not the first time that someone has suggested that I write a book about