At some point in his late twenties or early thirties, basketball just stopped being fun. I needed something to fill the void and a good friend mentioned that he was running a sprint triathlon in Staten Island next month. The swim was parallel to the shore; it wasn't like we were swimming out into the middle of the ocean. How hard could swimming be? My friend had loaned me a wetsuit and I jumped in the water with 200 other very serious-looking triathletes.