Enough about me, tell me about you

Of all the advice given by Dale Carnegie in his book, How To Win Friends And Influence People, one of the most important is to be genuinely interested in the other person. Talk about the other person's interests, talk about what he wants to talk, and be genuinely interested in what he has to say.

The concept of blogging smacks in the face of all this. It's all about ME, ME, ME, ME, ME.

There I go, week after week, harping on about what I've been getting upto. About what interests me. Only the occassional 'well done' to my friends for their various achievements, but predominantly it's all about me. Tut tut.

So, this week, it's all about you, or, rather, them. Because this weekend was probably one of the busiest on the triathlon calender and there were umpteen of my friends scattered around the globe participating in various races, at various distances.

There were Jim and Rob from my triathlon club racing at Ironman Austria. Jim posted a brilliant 10:10 to earn himself an Hawaii spot which he declined (fool ;-)). Rob posted 10:50, with a 5:04 bike split which was well there amongst the big boys.

Then over to Germany and there was my mate Jev who posted a PB at Ironman Frankfurt of 10:39 (well done mate - brilliant stuff - I caught you on the internet finishing in what can only be described as a desperate lunge for the line (I subsequently found out that Jev had collapsed and ended up on an IV drip)). Finishing ahead of Jev was Martin, a friend who I met recently at the Italian triathlon training camp and who had already qualified for the 70.3 World Championships a few weeks ago at Austria 70.3. Martin was disappointed with his 9:49 finish time - a time which I could only ever dream of. Some people are never happy!

Then up to Holten, Holland, where there was Dave, another friend who I met at Club La Santa a couple of years ago, who was representing GB in the European Championships at Olympic Distance. Dave came 19th - enough said. Well done, fella.

Back to the UK and I took the oppurtunity for a training bike ride with Paul and Maurice from my tri club to a very busy Dorney Lake where there were loads of girls from the tri club competing at the women's only day on Saturday. Special mention to Anne-Marie (the world's best supporter who comes to watch my every race!) who stormed the bike on her beautiful Cervello Carbon Soloist. Others who battled their way through soaring temperatures and a non-wetsuit swim (first ever as far as I can remember in the UK) were Beth, Mitten, Tracey, Rats and Naomi.

At the same venue on the Saturday morning was Charlie, son of Russell (another tri club member), who competed in the kids race in the morning, winning his heat and coming second overall in the final. Top racing, Charlie, and one to watch for the future, no doubt - especially if he emulates his father who completed IM France the previous week and who is running (if that's the right word) the Marathon De Sables next year.

The following day saw the men's races where two more friends from Italy, Dave and Andrew, and Peter (a friend from the Old Thatch Cinema Society) were racing, again without wetsuits. Well done to all for some great times, but especially to Andrew who won his age group (but then as a regular in the GB team one would expect nothing less) and to Peter for whom this was his first open water swim race (and without a wetsuit - that's brave!).

So, as you can see, quite a busy weekend, and my fingers are tightly crossed that I haven't missed anyone out.

Anyway, I'm beginning to get withdrawal symptons from not talking about ME, so give me a minute and I'll post up details of my training this past week (to follow).

Next week I will be doing some more short, fast stuff. There's also my tri club's kids triathlon on Sunday which I am very much looking forward to. Am sure that if Charlie is racing then he'll get a podium place again - and that'll of course have nothing to do with the fact that his mum is organising the event!

Cheers.

C