This is the face of bacon

Team in Bacon, that is. You see, we all know how much I admire and seek to emulate the Purple Masses, aka Team in Training, aka TIT. Oh sure, they call themselves TNT, but that hardly makes sense in the world of acronyms. So I go with accuracy and refer to them as TIT.

Anyway, there I was in Galena earlier this year with a bunch of tri friends, gazing off into the distance as I was cooking up a couple of packages of bacon for the house – or at least the early riser or two – wondering how I could show my admiration for those bepurpled clans who run/walk 10 abreast, who stop on a dime when their watches beep, who have their own support on race courses because they’re that special. But how?? Suddenly, my mind latched onto the obvious: bacon! What do people love more than anything? Bacon! What’s known to be a perfect food with antioxidants galore? Bacon! What says “hey, we’re serious people” like nothing else? Bacon! Thus did Team in Bacon come about, with the motto of “Because there is meat in team.”

Flash forward to this fall, when a dear friend suggested a bunch of us run in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Chicago, sortofinmyname. Which was beyond sweet, but there was going to be a death (not mine) if we, say, got t-shirts with anything about me on them. Enter Team in Bacon. One logo later (thanks Karin’s sister!), the t-shirts were printed up (thanks Erin Menvielle!) and off we go.

The day of the race was a beautiful fall day, and you could feel the sportsmanship in the air. Colleen was running under a mantra of “step aside, Baldy!” – hoping for a PR. Deanna had her elbows ready to shove people into a cement culvert, and told me she had reserved a seat for me on the “too enfeebled or undertrained to run” trolley. Kimberly, pictured above, was sunshiny and smiley as usual, acting for all the world like this was some tea party that she’d stumbled onto. That was before she smoked everyone and came in 2nd overall. We’d hate Kim for this, for being so fast, except that she’s one of the nicest people out there, damn her. Sulk.

And in spite of all our efforts, we did NOT find a cure for cancer during the run. Apparently this is not unusual: 6,000 runners fail to find a cure. Still, one must have hope, so maybe someday, perhaps during a Triathlon for the Cure? A girl can dream......