7th ranked Ironman in the world

Yes that's right you heard/read right I'm 7th ranked..... Or so one of my fellow employees still thinks, I didn't feel like correcting him. I just didn't know where to start. This exactly what I found on a msn message one morning;

Hi, Daryl...
Yes... I remember now... Congra to your 7th ranking as the Triathlete Iron Man in the world...
Bravo to you...

I'm sure you've all heard many different variations of this. I have no clue where he got 7 from, I certainly didn't place 7th in my age cat. not even close. Even if I did how would that make me 7th in the world. Anyways I don't want to make fun of him, well maybe a bit, it was hilarous at the time, it certainly did cheer me up.

My main point is I"m sure all of you have met people that have absolutely no concept of Ironmans, marathons. If they realize you spend hours training a day, or if they heard you went for a 6 hour ride on the weekend they automatically think you must be a pro and or training for the olympics. I guess they associate the long hours with being someone hardcore. Hardcore = Professional. Then you(I rarely make this mistake anymore, it's a waste of time) explain that no I'm just an amateur/age grouper and yes I do train lots but I still have a regular job. Most of the time they loose interest at this point, if they haven't they certainly will when you explain that you have to actually pay to enter these crazy events. If you haven't already, please stop here, do not give them actual numbers. This will get you the craziest look on their face and some comment like, "You actually have to pay HOW MUCH to go out and swim 3.8km, 180km bike, then run a friggen marathon of 26.2 miles and you only get a stupid medal?!?!?! Man you'd have to pay me to DRIVE that far in one day." Not everyone's like this, I've gotten better at knowing how much I can say to whom.

Cheers, and happy training I hope I won't have to explain why I couldn't improve on last years ranking,

Darryl