Apocalypse?

Something is not right with the world. Saturday I did not ride my bike. That might not sound shocking to normal people - but all you triathletes out there probably just gasped. I believe this was the first Saturday since June 2006 where I did not ride - and it was weird. But that isn't the only craziness going on lately. It's also raining and cold here in San Diego, which makes us go insane. You'd think a blizzard had hit from all the complaining people do when it rains, and we apparently can't drive worth a crap on wet roads. If global climate change causes more rain here (or god help us ice) - we're all going to die in highway accidents long before the rising ocean swallows us up.
But the strangeness of this week gets even deeper. I have two dates this week. Real, actual dates with women who apparently don't know yet how messed up I am. And on top of that, a friend and I were being hit on at a restaurant yesterday by some cute girls who were impressed with our "Ironman Finisher" shirts. This is a odd situation for me. To say that I don't like dating is an understatement - I'd rather run a marathon. And somehow, I'm worse at dating than I am at running - those of you who have seen me run might find that hard to believe. I don't seek out relationships, I'm actually very happy by myself. How does someone like that end up in this situation? Because the world is nuts.
I spent 14 months sequestered away from the world training for my big race. My days consisted of an early morning run, then driving to work, sitting in a cube by myself for 8 hours, driving to a bike/swim/run workout, home to make dinner, then straight to bed. I didn't do anything social. I missed my best friends birthday parties, I skipped labor day on the beach, and even spent 4th of July riding my bike up Mt. Palomar. I did everything I possibly could to avoid meeting someone, and was successful for over a year. But despite my best efforts, I met an interesting girl on a bike ride, and ended up hanging out with her for a while. It didn't work out, but I mention it because it directly relates to my current messed up situation. There are two reasons why my social calendar has filled up, neither of which make any damn sense:

1. I met girl #1 while I was not available. I was interested in the above mentioned bike ride girl, and didn't want to juggle multiple situations at once - I can't even handle one. But girl #1 was attracted to me because I was not available - had I been single when we met she would have had no interest at all.
   
2. Girl #2 I met at a party this weekend and she asked about my triathlon exploits. Most normal people think triathletes are insane, and so I try not to talk about it around them, but she just kept asking about Ironman. Did I find an Ironman groupie? She obviously doesn't yet know how ordinary triathletes really are, or how completely f'ed up our schedules are. Normal people don't understand "I can't go out Friday because I need to swim and then get up early on Saturday, and Sat is booked with a long bike ride and a nap, plus I need to run Sunday morning. Maybe we can hang out Sunday night? Oh, and it's going to be this way for the next 10 months."

Pretty f'ing weird, right? My training schedule is light right now so I have time to pursue these possibilities, but pretty soon that will change. Luckily, it won't take long for these ladies to realize that I'm completely nuts - and I can get back to normal. It's a lot to think about, but honestly the only thing on my mind is guilt for having not gone on a bike ride on Saturday. Is it possible that the world is sane, and I'm the crazy one? Nah...