Feeling seriously annoyed this evening at the lack of gay men in my chosen sport. There’s maybe two other gay men that I know of in the club, and neither shows up to anything with any regularity, so I tend to be the lone, token fag. And heaven forfend there might actually be other gay men who might want to challenge themselves athletically. And heaven forfend there might actually be another triathlete to date.
We had a club happy hour this evening, and while it’s great seeing my friends in the club, it also drove home a bit of alienation I feel at being the sole out gay man at any of these events, social or training. And mentioning ‘triathlon’ to many non-triathletes ends up scaring them off as potential suitors because they feel like they won’t measure up (the usual reaction is some variation on ‘I could never do that’, ‘wow, you must be really fit,’ or a simple ‘oh’ as they slink off). It’s not like I feel like I have to date another triathlete, but it might at least get rid of the intimidation factor related to the sport.
I guess this is just a long way of saying I’m feeling lonely at the moment and I’d like to have someone else to share some of my life with, in more than just a friendship, who I wouldn’t scare off with my hobbies (we won’t even go into the looks I get when I mention that I knit).