Carroll, assistant director of Latin American Programs at The Carter Center, and fellow triathlete Chris Brown, assistant controller at The Carter Center, thoroughly enjoy participating in local and regional triathlons. But they also enjoy occasionally poking a little fun at triathlons, which are noted for the unusually high level of physical endurance they require of participants.
Triathlons, which include swimming, biking and running in that order, have gained a great deal of popularity in recent years. An increasing number of local businesses, athletic clubs, sports shoe stores, bottled water companies and other organizations are sponsoring local and regional triathlons.
Brown, on the other hand, participated in his first triathlon last May at Earlham College near Indianapolis. "I had never been really good at any of the three triathlon sports," Brown said. "I grew up playing basketball, and later played a lot of volleyball." Brown, who came to the Carter Center about 18 months ago, became interested in swimming when he worked for Arthur Andersen & Co., which sponsors an event called the Corporate Sports Battle. In order to participate, Brown had to pick up another sport in addition to volleyball, so he chose swimming.
Both Carroll and Brown have used the P.E. Center extensively since joining The Carter Center staff. In fact, the two met at the P.E. Center and began talking informally about the possibility of participating in triathlons together. Those discussions became a reality in late July, when the two participated in a triathlon in Gainesville, Ga. That event included a one-mile swim in Lake Lanier, a 26-mile bicycle ride and a six-mile run. Carroll said those are fairly common distances for most regional triathlons. (The well known "Ironman" triathlons feature much greater distances and require much more endurance.)
For Brown especially, the much larger and more competitive Gainesville triathlon was an eye-opening experience in comparison to the very small, slower-paced event in Indiana. "At the Earlham triathlon last May, there was a physics professor from the college next to me in the pool. He was probably in his mid 50s, and he finished right behind me," said Brown, who is in his late 20s. "I passed him on the run, and we even talked for a little while. But the triathlon in Gainesville was a lot bigger, and I felt like such a novice. Most of the triathletes had buckets of water set up so they could wash their feet quickly after the swim. They stand in the bucket, get out, dry their feet off really quick, put their shoes on and hop on their bikes. I just had my stuff lying on the concrete ready to go."
"There are a lot of people who are way more serious about this than either of us," said Carroll, who finished about two minutes ahead of Brown's time in the Gainesville triathlon. (Brown finished 239th out of about 260 participants.) "This is just kind of a fun thing to do for me. But when you get into the actual races, you see people whose lives must be consumed by it, at least in the short term. They really put everything they have into it, the best equipment and all kinds of time, and a whole support team."
"Sometimes you kind of get lost in your thoughts," explained Carroll, who is continuing his training in all three sports with an eye toward participating in more area triathlons next spring and summer. "There are times when I'm not focusing on the fact that I should be pushing myself and running or swimming harder. All three sports lend themselves to meditating and getting lost in your thoughts, because they are so repetitive and you're doing the same motions for hours. But that's one thing I like about all three."
At times, though, the environment along the triathlon route can be more distracting than meditative.
"In the triathlon we did in Gainesville," Brown recalled, "there was one part of the bike route where we were going through what was basically farm country, cornfields and the like. We passed a bunch of houses, and the roosters were all crowing at the same time. It was about 8 o'clock in the morning, and there was a five-minute stretch where I was really distracted because of those roosters. Meanwhile, everybody else was passing me."
Roosters, cornfields and infamous north Georgia hills will not be a problem for Brown in his next triathlon. He is hoping to travel to St. Petersburg, Fla., to compete in a triathlon there. The land is flat, so the biking and running routes are faster and easier. The swimming portion, however, takes place in St. Petersburg Bay, where hammerhead sharks are frequent visitors.
If he survives that experience, Brown will continue his efforts to persuade Carroll to participate in an international triathlon in Thailand. Wryly echoing his sentiment about drowning in the swimming competition, Carroll's response to the Thailand adventure is, "We'd be sure to finish last in that one."
--Dan Treadaway