My astute readers will notice that the blog looks distinctly different from its original gangsta look since I launched it in 2008. I was never thrilled with the old blog theme and decided it was time for a little Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition. The new design is more visual than Mediocre Athlete 1.0 — each post has a thumbnail that displays all purdy-like on the homepage. Also, I finally figured out how to add threaded comments, so now you can respond to a comment someone’s posted. It’s the wave of the future! Hope you like the new design — I still have to work out a couple of...

Hello, loyal fans (all two of you)! It’s been a while, I know, but that’s what happens when actual work gets in the way of updating my hobby blog that doesn’t help pay my bills. Oh well. I’m back now, with a goal to keep this darn thing updated more often. Here’s what’s been going on since my last post: The back is better… I got some TLC in the form of massage, chiro work and foam rolley goodness, so huzzah for that. …but the hamstring is not. A combination of weighted one-legged squats (curse you, Eli! *shakes fist*) and lots of run mileage has led to...

Thus far, Mediocre Athlete has been lovingly read by a whopping dozen or so people: me, Jason, Jason’s parents, Jason’s aunt and uncle, our trainer, and some training buddies. In a nutshell, our readership consists of a handful of people who know us in person. This is unsurprising — it’s not like we expect a giant devoted following of people who eagerly await our posts about how sore our asses are after long rides or how much we stink after lake swims. Thus, imagine my surprise when I received this email a few days ago: Hi Rebecca, My name is Sebastian, I’m 24 yrs old...

After a freshman season of triathlon races, countless skipped workouts, and entirely too many late night pizza deliveries, MediocreAthlete.com has finally arrived. This site will serve as a diary of sorts for two casual athletes as they experience the joys of long workouts, grueling ice baths, soggy runs in Capitol Hill, smelly swims in Greenlake, numerous bike mechanical failures, diving headfirst onto snowy mountains, tripping on trails, and everything in between. We’ll do our best to provide updates on our workouts, race reports, and anything else we can share in an amusing, self-deprecating...