Personal Space.....Where have all the boundaries gone?

How do you feel about your "personal space". If you have been out shopping for ANYTHING..food, Christmas stuff, etc the past few days then chances are you have had some issues with this topic.

For me...generally I don't have huge issues with people in my personal space but I generally prefer that the people "inside" my area of close operation are people I desire to be there like friends, family...or other really cute peeps. Hee hee (jk)
Its when complete strangers place themselves close enough for me to feel their breath on my face that I HAVE A PROBLEM!! BACK THE "H" UP! So how do you feel about it? Do the Holiday's tax your good nature? I mean really people do you really need to fight over a scarf or who gets to check out first??? CRAZINESS!!!

How Do You Know You're A Triathlete?

You know you're a triathlete when:

• When asked how old you are you answer 35-39.
  
• Your idea of a great b-day is to run your age in miles with a couple of friends.
  
• Your idea of a great date is to go for a 10 mile run with your date.
  
• You try to impress girls/boys with your marathon time after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 miles.
  
• When asked how long your training was today you answer: three to four hours.
  
• Your training is more limited by available time then how far you can run.
  
• Your first thought when you wake up is how high your rest HR is.
  
• You go for a run event even though there's a thunderstorm and you enjoy being wet and dirty.
  
• You think an Ironman is easier then a Marathon because you don't have to start by running fast.
  
• You think it's natural to do your 'business' behind a tree in the woods.
  
• Nobody believes you when you say 'Never again'.
  
• You get a speeding ticket and you're happy about it! (especially since you were on your bike when you got ticket)
• You take part in the corporate challenge to improve your base speed.
  
• You go for a 5 km cooldown run after a 5 km race just so that you can call it a training session.
  
• You consider work, regeneration time between training sessions.
  
• You co-workers don't ask you if you're going to train this weekend, but how long and how far.
  
• You have a water bottle when you drive your car.
  
• You spend your 2 weeks annual vacation at a training camp.
  
• During vacations, when everybody else is partying, you go to sleep at10:00 pm because you're going for a long ride the next day.
  
• You know inside out how much Protein each energy bar has.
  
• You seriously consider applying for citizenship in Tonga, Jemen or Tschad so that you can participate in the Olympic games.
  
• When people praise you for being able to run 15 miles you're feeling insulted.
  
• In the summer your legs are smoother then your girlfriend's.
  
• Your kids grab water bottles and energy bars when you suggest a family stroll.
  
• Your significant other is not worried if you left for your run 2 hours ago.
  
• You need a picture for a job application and you only have race pictures.
  
• You use running T-shirts to clean your bike.
  
• You are up everyday by 5:00 am, but never in work before 9:30 am!
  
• That charming "cologne" you wear to work is chlorine.
  
• You take more showers in a locker room than at home.
  
• 6:30 am is sleeping in.
  
• The dog runs and hides when you get the leash!
  
• You think there are only two seasons during the year, racing and off.
  
• You can't change the oil in your car but you can completely rebuild your bike in 45 mins.
  
• You spend more $ on training and racing clothes then work clothes.
  
• You spend 7 days going to 8 stores in 4 malls before buying a pair of running shoes but you take 1 afternoon to go to 1 car dealership and walk out with a new car 4 hours later.
  
• When you see some lady watering her flowers and ask her if you can borrow the hose for a minute so you can fill up your water bottles.
  
• You clean your bike more often than your car.
  
• Your car smells like a locker room.
  
• You tell your co-workers that you are going to "do a long brick" on Saturday and just expect that they know what you are talking about.
  
• When a co-worker asks if you are racing this weekend, you say "yeah, but I'm just running a 10K, so that is not REALLY a race".
  
• You have more water bottles than glasses in your cupboard.
  
• You consider you bike saddle your "couch".
  
• You consider Clif Bars as one of the four food groups.
  
• You are sick to your stomach at 2:00 in the morning and check the back ofthe Pepto Bismol bottle for caloric content and grams of carbohydrates,fat and protein.
  
• You have plenty of water bottles, safety pins, and t-shirts.
  
• You have trouble keeping lunch under 2000 calories.
  
• Your bed-time reading on your night stand consists of a pile of: DeSoto catalogs; InsideTri; Triathlete, VeloNews, etc.
  
• You haven't bought work clothes in two years, yet you own tri/bike shorts made by every manufacturer under the sun and can recite the merits of CoolMax, Supplex, etc. in your sleep!
  
• Your car has at least one Power Bar wrapper and two sets of work out clothes!
  
• You wave at other cyclists, because all triathletes are friendly and if they are not, they are probably purist cyclists trying to get into triathlons and they do not know that triathletes are friendly. (wink-wink)
  
• You can't decide what tee shirt to wear to your next race.
  
• You no longer take vacations but weekend triathlon junkets.
  
• You have far more pairs of shoes in your closet than your non-tri significant other does in theirs.
  
• The one "suit" you own has a QR, Zoot ,Orca or Ironman on the chest.
  
• You're tempted to do your long rides in a Speedo so that you don't have a stupid tan for your next race.
  
• Your bath towel is never dry.
  
• You bring bottled water to a party so that you're properly hydrated for the next morning's long run, everyone else at the party also brought their own bottled water because you don't have a social life outside of triathlon. Oh yeah, and you all showed up by 7 pm and left by 10 pm.
  
• Your company announces mandatory unpaid shutdown days - every other Friday throughout the summer - in order to cut costs and stay in business, and your response is "Great - now I can do two long workouts on the weekends and still have an easy day."
  
• Somebody hands you a cup of water and you have to restrain yourself from pouring it on your head.
  
• You forget that talking about daily LSD [Long Slow Distance] and speed freaks some people out.
  
• You have no FRIGGIN idea what to do with yourself on your off day. Damnit,I mowed the lawn, cleaned the house, washed the car, and there's STILL 4 hours of daylight left! Aarrgghh!
  
• You return from your *Mini-vacation* more exhausted than before you left!
  
• You feel like you took the day off because all you did was swim 3000 yards.
  
• You never have to buy trial size lotion or body glide because you already have so many from race packets.
  
• You get done with a hard workout and drink a recovery drink while on the toilet or in the shower.
  
• At any given moment you know exactly where your heart rate monitor andyour swim goggles are, but cannot remember where you left you car keys.(turns out 90% of the time they are in your bike bag)
  
• When non-racer friends tell you they ran/rode you automatically calculate their pace to see if you're still in better shape.
  
• Cars pass you on the road when you're driving and you either drop back to get out of draft zone or speed up to attack!