CHICAGO — Rishan Mohideen drew the line at dress shoes.
The West Town 31-year-old completed a mini-triathlon Saturday wearing a real wool suit — pleated pants, collared blue shirt, green tie and coat. His only deviations from the standard businessman's workday attire were a lack of a belt and the addition of running shoes for the biking/running portion of the event.
"It was a lot harder than I expected," said Mohideen, a veteran triathlete who's completed one IronMan — a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run — and several other smaller events. "It was probably because I was wearing three times the amount of clothing as anyone else. But I looked good doing it."
In humid conditions and temperatures in the high 70s/low 80s, Mohideen finished Saturday's SuperSprint version of the race — a .23-mile swim, 6.2-mile bike ride and 1.5-mile run — in 1:02:54, 37th overall of 73 competitors. The course started at Foster Beach and hugged the North Side of the lakefront. As in past SuperSprints, many of the competitors, including Mohideen, rode provided Divvy bikes.
Chicago's Rishan Mohideen completed the Chicago SuperSprint - a smaller version of a triathlon. Mohideen wore a suit and rode a Divvy bike in the race. [Transamerica Chicago Triathlon]
He also finished the longer Chicago Triathlon on Sunday — wearing regular athletic clothes.
The biggest issue he faced Saturday was a flapping tie that was flying "everywhere" during the event. He didn't want to risk wearing dress shoes because it could hurt his feet.
"Weirdly, that's where I drew the line," he said.
Mohideen is the manager at Live Grit, a West Loop-based store that caters to triathletes. A lifelong swimmer, Mohideen been participating in triathlons since 2008, a year after his mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The sport has kept him close with his brother, sister and sister-in-law, who also compete regularly in the three-pronged competitions.
Mohideen paid $18 for the suit from a Goodwill Store. He has plans to give it a deep-clean wash, then return it.
"I wanted to make sure I didn't ruin a suit I cared about," said Mohideen, who noted the suit fit well, and he chose a tighter set of pants because he did the triathlon without a belt.
He has worn zany costumes in running events before and wanted to do the same Saturday. Mohideen was excited to ride a Divvy bike because he'd never done so before, and he hoped to look like a "commuter in a suit going to work."
"I heard a lot of jokes saying I was late for work and that I forgot my briefcase," he said. "And a lot of people didn't want to get beaten by the guy in the suit."
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