TRADITION

suggested reading here is to watch the video below in its entirety first before moving on. if you can, great. if not, we will chalk it up to either internet attention deficit disorder or else incipient anti-semitism. neither is nice. 

welcome back. i hope everyone enjoyed the video above as much as i did. if you can see the connection(s)/metaphors between triathlon, ironman training and fiddler on the roof, then you are as without marbles as i am and there is no need to read on. just make your own connections, and thanks for visiting.

if you don't quite get it, then here is my (admittedly somewhat loose) set of associations around the topic:

-first, a second musical reference. theodore bikel singing russian gypsy music. 1/2 of my personal, genetic/cultural tradition. and a reference for a reader in guatemala. (hola joseph).

-second. i attended a wedding this weekend. the wedding was very non-traditional, in many ways but it caused me to reflect upon this idea: what more "sacred" and pro-life tradition is there than marriage? do we need a reference to endurance? how much endurance does it take to stay married, to keep things going, to accept ambivalence, moments of discordance, moments of great togetherness, all part of the kind of russian-love blues that bikel is singing here. 

-attending weddings (especially within my family) makes me think about my dead father. hence the russian gypsy music. he played mandolin in a russian gypsy band. i miss my dad. celebrating his tradition makes me feel closer to him. i like tradition. 

-3. i am, once again, racing an ironman this year. i will be using my race to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. this is a new tradition. i like it. i would not be here to race, blog or anything else, if it weren't for the wonderful treatment i recieived many years ago. if it were up to me, i would race an ironman each year, and raise funds for the LLS each year, until i die. let's see what happens. here is my fund raising page

-4. lance armstrong has been dragged through the dirt, denied access to the holy grail of kona and virtually burnt at the steak (another tradition). doping in cycling and people being stripped of titles are also traditions. who said all tradition was good? i have flirted with the idea of blogging on this all summer. but what could i say that would add anything to the plethora of written words on the net about this topic? just my own personal experience. 

lance is a tradition. he is like the ten commandments. don't fuck with him. he gives hope. he is a hero. he is still the official winner of 7 tour de france titles (go check the tour website, or did they just forget to update it???, tradition!) and travis tygart should be ashamed for suggesting to the general public that he has stripped him of these titles when he has not. not yet. not in the eyes of the uci or the organizers of the tour, as the, still official results indicate.  thank G-d. 

history is full of examples of small men who toppled a giant. often those men themselves become giants, heroes, kings. not so travis tygart.  i doubt anyone will remember travis tygart in 20 years, other than as a footnote to lance armstrong. he is jerk out on a witch-hunt. lance will be remembered in history for all of his achievements, on the bike, and off, and there is nothing that usada or t.t. can do to alter that. so, shame on you  travis. thanks for robbing us of the chance to see the race/spectacle of a lifetime in hawaii this year. thanks for robbing all those families that would have benefitted from the 1 million dollars that would have been raised for livestrong. thanks dude. you forgot to respect tradition!

evil imperial cop who eats, drinks and dances then destroys nice peasant wedding

the fiddler on the roof

-5. ironman canada has been sold to the challenge series of races and so can no longer be called ironman canada. this is ridiculous. IMC is one of the three oldest races on the planet. what is happening to it is like if mecca or the vatican were moved, or forced to change affiliation to some other religion. you just can't do that.  these are sacred spots.places of pilgrimage that have meanings tied into their geography. so is penticton. it is a legendary place that hosts a legendary race. the richter pass, yellow lake; these are synonymous with ironman in canada.  and it NEEDS to be called ironman to have all the power and richness that tradition can bestow. names are important. places are important. tradition!

triathlon is a sport that, for better or for worse, is steeped in tradition. IMC survived for 30 years. i am glad i got to do it, while it was still that traditional course, that had that mythical badge of Ironman Canada. i am sorry, but Challenge Penticton just does not have the same appeal to the psyche. what is challenge penticton??? what are they gonna say at the finish line? "so and so....you are a challenged man?" doesn't sound right. 

how can you "brand" something as traditional as ironman??? 

this is the real problem. the race should always be ironman canada regardless of who owns it. you don't own something like this. and to make it own-able is to diminish it in serious ways. when an event grows in people's minds like that, it becomes a tradition. and traditions remain powerful precisely because they don't change. at least not much. 

death of IMC in penticton= death of a tradition. not a good thing. this is a case of economic tradition and trademarking tradition messing with athletic tradition. 

tomorrow, i wake up early, drive through the dawn to lake wilcox, swim all alone as mist rises from the water, which is warmer than the air...walk past ducks and geese to my car, get on my bike and ride through some of the most beautiful countryside anyone has ever seen. this is now, a tradition. it punctuates my life. it is part of what defines who i am. 

TRADITION!