I Wanted To Mock…

But in the end, I couldn’t.

I was mildly outraged a few weeks ago when Jennifer Lopez started receiving all kinds of media attention because she was training for a triathlon. There are hundreds of thousands of new moms and regular women out there who juggle work, families, and training — and they don’t have the financial resources of J.Lo… they don’t have the luxury of a personal trainer or stylist or publicist or full-time nanny to help them.

Sure, J.Lo. is beautiful and famous, but surely we could instead celebrate a non-celeb woman who’s tackling sports training, right?! (like Carey or Julie or Nicole).

But then this morning I saw the photos of J.Lo. in her wetsuit at the Nautica Malibu Triathlon ( and between you and me, she looked pretty much like everyone else: sea lion). And I saw her time of 2:23:28 for an Olympic distance triathlon. And I read that she came in third.

And you know what? I gotta give it up for her. Because the personal trainer and the publicist and the nanny didn’t swim the laps for her or cycle the hills for her or run for her when she was tired. She did. (Although her trainer was at her side during the race for “support.”)In her photos, she looks like a fabulous “regular” woman: fit, proud, maybe a little tired.

And that’s really beautiful.