I was looking through photographs from my 2019 races, and came across one of my favorites.
This photo was taken a few hours after I finished Ironman 70.3 Oceanside, in April last year. I guess it’s now easy for everyone to figure out which age group I am in.
For some reason, when putting on my sunblock that morning, I completely forgot to put it on my calves. I obviously put it everywhere else, because I wasn’t sunburned anywhere but my calves. It’s also pretty clear that TriTats are effective at blocking out sunlight.
That 57 ‘tattoo’ stayed with me for the rest of last year. If I look closely, I can still see it today. It was the source of some good laughs with my teammates and also led to a new nickname for me. Being from Pittsburgh and the number being 57, I was called “Heinz’ all summer.
In all seriousness though, using sunblock is important. Long course triathlon, means you are out in the sun for a long time. Getting sunburned is no joke; both in the short term and also the long term. Nobody wants to deal with skin cancer….
Quick footnote : My website is pretty basic right now. I chose to start sharing first, rather than spending time making the website complete before launching the blog. I’m looking forward to building the website over time into a useful resource for you .. just another part of my ‘life’ that you will get to read about.
