Yesterday, I completed a triathlon. A mini one. Nothing by the book. Just my own version of the combined swimming, cycling, and running events. Only took me 11 hours to finish. Hey, I said it was my own version, right? Here's what I did.

In the morning, I ran and walked for about 2.5 miles. Took a short break and then swam 20 laps in my neighborhood swimming pool. Then ate lunch, did some writing, some shopping, ate dinner, and then rode my bike for about seven miles -- to my sister's house where I visited for an hour before heading home. What started at 10 AM today ended at 9 PM. My own 11-hour triathlon. I feel accomplished.

OK, let's talk real triathlons. Taking top honors is the long-distance or Ironman Triathlon, which makes my event seem like not even a warm-up. Here's how it goes: swim 2.4 miles, bike for 112 miles, and run for 26.2 miles. Ouch.

There are other triathlon variations. There's a half (half of everything mentioned above), an Olympic event (.93, 24.8, 6.2), a Sprint (.5, 12.4, 3.1) -- I may actually be able to tackle that one -- and more. Impressive, not just that people actually conquer such physical feats all the time but that they do it without pause -- events are placed back-to-back in immediate sequence and a competitor's official time includes the time required to "transition" between the individual legs of the race. Need to change clothes or shoes? That time counts too.

Obviously, my triathlon today wasn't really a triathlon -- for one, I took a six-hour break between my final two events, which didn't even occur in the correct order. I may have completed three exercise events in the course of one day, but I'm a long way from earning triathlon bragging rights. Maybe one day, though. Maybe for you too.