What's wrong with me - and anyone else reading this?

Yesterday I was at the gym on the treadmill (aka machine of unending doom). The guy next to me was doing hill intervals and making noises that people only make in times of great pleasure, or great pain; either way, not noises normally made in public places. Turns out this gentleman has just qualified to represent New Zealand in short-source tri, and is aiming for representation at Olympic distance, too. He outlined a racing and training schedule that made me even more short of breath than I already was, then asked what I was training for.

At the word "Kepler," I swear his eyes bulged, then changed to a look of pity. He shook his head and said "wow, 60 km - you're crazy!" Well, I'm pretty sure he does more kilometres every week than I will do on course in December, and he works across three disciplines, balancing training, nutrition, and wetsuit wrangling. My hat goes off to him! But the question is why something like Kepler is seen as something really, really scary? Is it the topography, the distance, the training required, all of the above?

These are the moment when I wonder whether I've totally overestimated my ability to do this, and/or over underestimated the challenge and that I must be a bit off the margins! I reckon I've got one major advantage, one thing to fall back on: having been at the race briefing, the finish line and the prizegiving when my husband's run the race, I've seen the people of all ages, shapes and sizes, finish times and reactions to completing the race. They're incredibly varied, and incredibly encouraging. And I guess I'm keen to find out what it feels like. And I don't means DOMS so bad you can't lift your feet above ankle level!

So what's wrong with me, and maybe you? I guess we all choose our punishment one way or the other - the tri guy does his hill repeats and I'll do my long slow runs, and we'll continue to wonder at each other's choices. Nice though, that even at the gym, there's camaraderie as we pursue our chosen form of madness. And hopefully have the breath to compare notes!