Book Review: Scott Tinley's Racing the Sunset

RacingTheSunset
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If, like me, you open straight to Scott Tinley's back-page column when your new copy of Triathlete magazine arrives, you know he always has explored beneath the surface of triathlon, searching for more than a tastier recovery drink or speedier transition times. A few years ago, when the sport's philosopher-king finally relented to the staggering amount of miles he had placed on his body's odometer and retired, he had no choice but to "grow up" and discover life after triathlon.

"I had been so busy doing things that I stopped being anything," writes Tinley.

What’s next for an ex-champion with an arthritic hip whose main connection to the world had been through his body’s gifts and an otherworldly ability to suffer? What happens when the sun sets on the clarity of the 40-hour-a-week training plan and the battle of the Big Race? Racing the Sunset is Tinley's brutally honest attempt to answer those questions both for himself and for any ex-athlete seeking meaning and purpose.

Through interviews with hundreds of pro athletes and frank accounts of his own highs and lows, Tinley depicts the emotional pain and loneliness experienced by the casualties of our "disposable hero" society. The book compels us to look at the Mark McGwires and Darryl Strawberrys of sport with a more compassionate gaze.

Racing the Sunset takes readers on a journey that will resonate with anyone dealing with the trauma of change: from the jilted lover to the parent struggling with empty-nest syndrome and the downsized executive wondering who got his parking space. The book also offers inspiration to any thinking person who chooses personal growth over stagnation or finding his or her true place in the world over merely existing.

Tinley observes that he didn't choose triathlon — it chose him. Sound familiar? But he didn't just accept: He poured his heart and soul into the sport for a quarter of a century. And then, when his body balked, triathlon moved on like a fickle ex-lover and broke his heart. Racing the Sunset describes Tinley's courageous attempt to not only mend that heart, but to build it up stronger than ever so it can carry him well beyond the finish-line tape.

Would you expect anything less of ST?

Racing the Sunset: An Athlete's Quest for Life After Sport, by Scott Tinley, 2003 (The Lyons Press).