Thursday, May 24, 2012

An evening with Chrissie Wellington

Alternate title if I were a schoolgirl meeting Justin Beiber: Chrissie Wellington touched me!!!!

Last night the g/f and I went to see Chrissie Wellington talk while she was in St. Louis. Surprisingly they said it was one of the larger crowds...I wonder why her tour didn't include DC or NYC. Maybe no one there pushed for her to come. I heard a rumor that someone in St. Louis kept bugging her agent or publicist until they agreed to St. Louis.

I only had my iphone so this was the best picture I could get


Chrissie seemed genuinely happy to be here and was tweeting about what foods she needed to try while here. Frozen custard from Ted Drewes and toasted ravioli made up almost all the replies. Sadly, I don't think she tried either of them. We considered inviting her out for Frozen Custard but, I doubt she had the time.

The talk was about 20 minutes, she talked about her life leading up to triathlon and how she ended up getting into the sport. As everyone knows, she won her first Ironman. What people might not know is that she used a road bike with clip-on aerobars and a borrowed tri suit. I suppose that proves it doesn't matter what kind of bike you have...assuming you train your ass off.

She also mentioned that her first super sprint tri lasted about 10 seconds for her as she couldn't swim in her wetsuit and was pulled from the water. See, even the best triathlete in the world had problems at first.

After she talked, she answered questions and then went to make her hand and eyes sore from all the signing and flashes.

There were two people taking pictures but I have a weird look on my face in the other picture. 

It was a great experience and she truly seems like a great person. She also cried when we gave her a standing ovation.

Hopefully, I'll finally get my two race reports up tomorrow.

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