On Second Place:

This weekend at Camp Yuba Triathlon, I took second place. Overall. Out of sixteen women. It was a small race, but I am pretty happy with the results. I got to take home one of the coveted silver platters I have been watching other overall winners get all year. I tend to take home medals in age group wins, but overall wins are more rare. The woman who beat me was, as is often but not always the case, about 15 years younger than me, still in her 20s. She beat me by about 150 seconds. No one was holding out timers to see who won, but it was close as Olympic triathlons go, which last 2 ½ hours generally for me.

This was in some ways the perfect race. I didn't make dumb mistakes. I didn't go off course in the swim. The swim wasn't too long. I got through transition perfectly, faster than any year previously. I am really pleased with how fast I am able to get out of my wetsuit these days, in under 10 seconds, I think. My bike time was good, but not too fast. I have become slightly suspicious of people who go fast on the bike and then are surprised when their runs are slow. It isn't about your running, usually. It's about pacing yourself too fast in the beginning of the race. I always think about this in the swim in particular, when people are zooming past me, hitting me in the face with feet that are kicking wildly. Seriously? This is a long race. And I pass tons of these energetic early swimmers in the second loop at my rather steady pace.

I was under 40 seconds in the second transition to bike, another thing to celebrate for me. I was in second place still, losing a few seconds more to the top woman (though I beat her in both transitions). And then I hit the run. This is where you really see if you are as good as you thought you were. It was a hilly bike and a hilly run, especially for the middle of Utah, which is supposed to be a desert and super flat. I paced myself evenly throughout the run, and sure, I wish I'd been able to go faster. But every time I saw the first place woman pass me, did I think, oh, I'm going to try to chase her? No, I never did. Because this was my race. It wasn't about other people being better than me. It was about me proving who I was to me. That was it. That is all any race ever is for me. Now maybe that's because I'm not a professional triathlete, but I wonder how many of those have the same attitude. It's not about who wants it the most, as one of my coaches in high school once told me. It's about who has trained the best and who woke up that morning with the best physical conditioning.

I crossed the finish line about 150 seconds back from first place. And I was thrilled with myself. I really was. Sure, I've taken first a couple of times and that's nice, too, but you know what? It's not that different. Because if you take first and you think you didn't do well according to your own standards, you are always disappointed. And if you take second to last and you are improving, you are thrilled to death. And I think that's what counts.

So I got to Comic Con that afternoon a little late to my panel because of the race and I explained what I'd done that morning and showed off my cool medals. And one of the other panelists ended up mentioning that he came in second place in audio books to JK Rowling. And he was mad about it. He looked at me and he said, Mette, you came in second place in your race today. I bet you would have been happier if you came in first.

This produced a frustrated feeling in me because I was so happy with my second place. And first place isn't everything, no matter what he thinks. If I came in second to JK Rowling, I guess I would be pretty happy, just as I was happy to come in second to someone who was 15 years younger and who knew the course better than I did. She deserved it more than I did. And also, second place is damned cool. And also, we are all in our own race. To always feel like you missed first place is a recipe for being unhappy all your life. I am really trying to fight against that. I don't know if it was because this panelist was male and in our culture, being male is all about hierarchy, or if it is just who he is. But I am really trying hard not to be that person.

One interesting other fact was that after the panel, this panelist came up to me and mentioned that his wife is doing her first triathlon soon, and wondered if I would be at the race. Maybe I will be. And I won't be unhappy with second place there, either. I bet his wife will happily stand second place on the podium, and I bet he cheers loudly for her. I hope so, anyway.