On a similar subject - what is it with the ironman tattoo on the calf ?
I've noticed that. Definitely seems to be a cultural thing for triathletes.
Yes. I think there's quite a long history but I don't know anything about it. I don't have one, neither does my O/H.
Women don't tend to go in for large calf tattoos (yet); you do see small ones (I remember when I was running the only other marathon I've run (rather illegible t-shirt) I slowly caught up with a woman who appeared to have a red mark on her ankle; "Oh dear", I thought, "she's hurt herself..." then I got near enough to see that it was an Ironman tattoo).