Saturday, February 2, 2008

Neoprene....the fabric of superheroes

When I was little I used to tell people I wanted to be Wonder Woman when I grew up. In fact, I was so convicted that I apparently felt compelled to announce my ambitions to an entire congregation one Sunday morning during a children's sermon. Or so my parents tell me. I don't remember doing it, but I do remember a couple years of churchgoers asking me "how's wonder woman today"?

Well today Wonder Woman got a superhero wardrobe to call her very own. I'm that much closer to a life of fighting crime and looking hot...or whatever it is that Wonder Woman does when she's not trying to keep her boobs from falling out of her teeny tiny top.

Fleet Feet was selling off their rental wetsuits so I decided to bite the bullet and get one. I'm guessing Wonder Woman's little bustier wasn't made of neoprene....but she didn't have to battle it out in the open water with 50-60 of her fellow age-groupers for 1.2 miles. I think the superheroes of the future will all wear neoprene.


I guess that means I have now spent the obligatory amount of disposable income to consider myself a real triathlete.

The hard-core triathlete will wear a wetsuit in any race that its legal. (there are water temperature restrictions to avoid athletes overheating during the swim) They say the buoyancy helps conserve your energy and makes you faster. Since speed is not the driving force in my race strategy, and the water was too warm in the Florida 70.3 to allow them, I didn't really felt like spending the money last year.

I did rent a wetsuit for the Spirit of Racine race, since I didn't really think hypothermia sounded like a lot of fun. The swim was in Lake Michigan and the water temps were predicted to be very chilly (62 degrees, or something chilly like that). But at $35 for each weekend rental it's not long before you start thinking you might as well just invest in one of your own.

So this year I decided to do it. I need one for the half IM anyway. And now I'll have one for those dreaded early-season open water swims. (Ugh...I hate lake swimming....but this is a topic for another time)
All part of "the making of Wonder Woman"! Bring on tri season!

1 comment:

70.3 or bust said...

Oohh another thing we have in common. I too aspired to be Wonder Woman as a child and am totally going to be wonder woman for Halloween this year. We better not go to the same party... er, except your the only person I know that might actually have or invite me to a Halloween party. Makes me sound lame huh? Oh well. :)

congrats on the neoprene... it won't be long before we are using them regularly!