In today’s Meet the Officers, we have Dustin Richmond!

1. Officer Position: Male Team Captain, Sponsorship Coordinator, Email Writer in Chief (just kidding)

2. Year: Fifth year PhD Student

3. Major/Minor: Computer Engineering/CSE

4. College: JSOE: Graduate students aren’t part of the college system

5. Athletic Background: Tennis, cyclist, runner, before I started doing triathlon. I destroyed my body playing tennis, so I picked up cycling to keep active. I got bored cycling so I fixed issues in my running form and started running. I got sick, injured, and a little bored running every day, so I started to think about triathlon. Eventually, I worked up the courage to take one of the swimming Rec Classes, which got me enough confidence to start swimming regularly by myself. One thing led to another and I started doing Triathlon about two years ago. Haven’t had a boring day since.

6. Why You Joined Tri: Boredom. Injuries. Community. Competition (Adrenaline). I’ve always been an active person. As I said, when I started running every day I started to get injured. I started to take cycling more seriously so that I could diversify my workouts, but why only be two thirds of a triathlete? So I picked up swimming to round it out. Plus, my dad has always been a swimmer (and a cyclist), and always talks about the community Triathletes have.  Finally I’ve always been an adrenaline junky, and it’s addicting. I’ve always loved the thrill of chasing someone down at the end of a race, destroying someone on a hill, crushing someone on the run course. There’s nothing like the adrenaline boost you get when racing. Triathlon seemed like a logical avenue for all of that.

7. Favorite Tri Experience: I love the community. I’ve always been a sucker for good communities. We’re a pretty close-knit community, we hang out a lot and we know who puts in the time, and who is really involved. The workouts and races are all outgrowths of that.

8. Advice for New-Comers: Community. If you join triathlon you’ll have a social group for life. No matter where you live, how you train, what sport you enjoy the most you’ll always find another triathlete willing to train with you. When joining, it’s important not to get overwhelmed by the training. Come to a few practices a week (swims and group rides recommended), not all of them. Come to the ones that fit best in your schedule and then stay active when you can’t make it. Think of it as learning how to manage your time. The dirty secret is that I respect someone who shows up once a week more that being a freakish athlete who shows up maybe once a month.

9. Fun Fact: I was a unicyclist before I started playing tennis. Some day, I’ll buy a unicycle and pick it up again.