So here's an interesting bit of confessional trivia for you -- Hines Ward never ran a mile in all his years of football training.

The all-everything former Steeler holds nearly every team receiving record, was the Super Bowl XL MVP, a blocker so ferocious they made a rule because of him, a 4-time Pro Bowler and multi-year captain who outworked everybody, by his own admission never once ran one mile continuously when he played football. 

Clearly he's making up for that now, because he's getting plenty of miles behind him as he trains for the 2013 Ironman World Championship Triathlon in Kona, Hawaii, in October as part of the BECOME ONE team sponsored by Got Chocolate Milk. 

The Kona Ironman is the mother of all triathlons -- a 2.4-mile swim followed by 112-miles cycling and topped off with a full 26.2-mile marathon. Ward's been training under the tutelage of 8-time World Triathlon Champion Paula Newby-Fraser -- dubbed the "Queen of Kona." 

Recently he completed his first event, the  SEAL Sprint Triathlon (500m swim, 20K bike, 6K run) in Coronado, Calif., on St. Patrick's Day. He finished 92nd overall out of 264 overall competitors (male and female) with a time of 1 hour 27 minutes and 45 seconds. 

I was able to catch up with Ward at before an autograph appearance Saturday at the Westmoreland Mall with Steel City Collectibles and ask him about his training.

Q: So how was your first race?

WARD: I had a blast, but I was very nervous in the sense that it was my first time, so I didn’t know what to expect, being out there with other people, because I’ve been training by myself and through Paula. She emails me what I’m supposed to do and I just go by what’s she puts on my email, and I’m on the Map My Fitness thing, so I can’t hide from her [laughs] – she sees me working out every day – she knows when I don’t work out if she doesn’t get an alert on her phone.

But it was overwhelming in the sense of how everyone kind of welcomed me to the triathlon world. Everyone was very positive and very encouraging. When I felt tired and felt like walking, everyone kept giving me high-fives like ‘good job Hines, keep it up!’ so I’m just running like, ‘I can’t stop now’ but all in all, it was good.

It was totally different than what I’ve been doing my whole life training for football. It’s basically on the opposite end of the spectrum – trying to be an endurance athlete. But I’m happy with it. It was a good first trial I guess. Our goal was to finish in an hour thirty, I ended up finishing in an hour twenty-seven, so anytime you accomplish your goal, it’s a great day. But I still have a long ways to go. Now we start to go up in intensity and more miles, the longer, harder and more excruciating all the events will be come now.

Q: You’ve played a team sport your entire life. Even your reality shows [Dancing with the Stars, Celebrity Cook Off] were kind of team sports. This has got to be drastically different.  

WARD: This is individual. This is myself. No one can vote me in to the next round. I’m not getting judged by anyone. It’s just me vs. myself – and that clock. ... Me being by myself, waking up in the morning for a six or seven mile run – I never ran more than a mile! I never had to. Everything was 40-yard times. No more than 100-yards. I mean total it may have added up to be a mile, but [I’ve] never just run consistently for that long, over a mile, period, at one time. I’m enjoying it though.

It’s definitely life-changing ... I don’t want to take a day off. I want to continue the same work ethic I had in football and kind of carry it over into the Ironman world. I’m eating right – sitting around playing golf and watching football I’ve kind of let my weight go up to 228. But now I’m down to like 207, 208 so I’ve lost 20 pounds since January. So in three months. And I haven’t really picked up the intensity yet, so when I start running 15 miles a day and stuff like that, when the weather gets warmer, I’m going to lose even more weight.

From what I’ve learned, I will be in better shape than I’ve ever been in the 14 years that I played. As far as conditioning wise, it’s night and day from what I’m accustomed to – totally going to the opposite end and training to be an endurance athlete. ... And when the weather gets hotter and the intensity goes up – before Kona gets here I want to be 185 maybe 190.

Q: When was the last time you weighed that much? [note: Ward listed at 205 pounds through most of playing career]

WARD: [laughs] I saw a college photo – I’m pretty sure in college, in Georgia. It’s been a long time. Probably over 18 years ago. When I was in high school going to college, I think I weighed 185 or 190. But crossing over into the Ironman world, I’m big to be an endurance athlete.

Q: Does that make any of the events harder?

The swimming ... you know how to swim, but you think of 2.4 miles – that’s a long way!

Q: How was the open water swim at Coronado?

It was a nightmare. It was a 500 meter race, but I probably swam 600 or 700 meters because I was zigzagging all over – I swam that whole part blind. I couldn’t see. My goggles were foggy ... It was like 6 ‘o’ clock in the morning – still dark – you can’t see in the bay. It wasn’t like Hawaii where it’s clear and you can see everything – you can’t see anything.

I remember going in and I saw the buoy and I put my head down for three or four strokes, I looked up and I didn’t see the buoy. So I followed a group of people and they were going the wrong way. So, I end up zigzagging the whole way out towards the thing. But 500 meters – I got out in like 13 [or] 14 minutes and I felt like I was the last one out, but I was kind of in the middle of the section. When I ran to the transition to my bike, my bike was the only bike on the rack [laughs] I was like oh jeeze – this is not good.

When I got on my bike, I caught up because my bike is probably the thing that I love the most – and I was passing so many people on the bike and it felt good and was very encouraging. Then when I got off the bike all the people I passed started passing me in the run section.

But all in all, it was fun. And I loved how encouraging everyone was ... for them to still welcome me into that world – because I know when I went out there, they’re looking at me, I’m looking at them, they’re kind of eyeballing me like they really want to beat the crap out of me – by like an hour or so – and I’m looking at them like, I don’t know anything about the endurance world, so bear with me, take it easy on me – but all in all everybody was very encouraging and that’s what I really needed and really enjoyed about that.

Q: What is your goal time?

For Kona? I can’t tell you that yet ... Just to finish.

AUDIO

• Hines Ward discusses the difference between football and triathlon training and how he'd never run a mile before
• Ward discusses open water swimming and competing in his first Triathlon Sprint event

VIDEO

Watch Hines Ward begin his training under the guidance of world champion triathlete Paula Newby-Fraser.

(All photos courtesy Got Chocolate Milk)

In the searing film Zero Dark Thirty, the protagonist Maya (portrayed by Oscar-nominated Jessica Chastain) is said to be based a real CIA analyst whose identity is top secret or a composite of several agents, depending on who you ask. 

But is it possible that the woman (or one of the women) who hunted Osama Bin Laden for a decade is also a Steelers fan? 

Stick with me for a second.

If you've seen the movie, in one of the first scenes after the compound containing Bin Laden is discovered in Abbotabad, Maya is at her desk at Langley. She abruptly gets up and angrily goes to her boss's office and defiantly writes on the window with a dry erase marker the number of days its been since the discovery -- with no action yet taken. 

When I'd seen this on the big screen, I was almost certain that when she gets up, you can see what looked like a Steelers lanyard hanging on the corner of her desk. But, y'know -- no pause or rewind button at the movie theater. 

Sunday night, I watched the movie On Demand, and sure enough I was correct -- 1 hour and 39 minutes in, there is the Steelers lanyard on Maya's desk, one of her only personal effects. (Picture and close up below)

I'm enough of a movie buff to know that even the smallest prop -- even a lanyard that's on screen for about a second -- does not get in there by accident, especially in a big-time production like this, and on the desk of the main character. Post-Gazette movie critic extraordinaire Barbara Vancheri agreed on that point. 

So is Maya -- or one of her inspirations -- possibly from Western Pennsylvania, or at least a fan of the black & gold? 

We'll likely never know. Some idle thoughts: 

• The Steelers item is possibly the tiniest of homages to former CIA Director Michael Hayden -- a Pittsburgh native who played on a middle school football team coached by Dan Rooney and once worked briefly as a Steelers equipment manager -- and headed the agency from 2006 to 2009.
• Rooney Mara was originally cast to play Maya, but backed out. But even though she's a Rooney cousin, any nod to Mara would likely be New York Football Giants related.
• Hollywood mogul and Steelers minority share owner Thomas Tull did not produce this movie, so that's out.
• Likewise, director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal have no apparent ties to Pittsburgh. 
• Barb notes that ZDT co-star Joel Edgerton was the star of 'Warrior' which was shot here, but he's not involved in any of the Washington scenes of ZDT.
• The woman, or women, Maya is based on may have some Western Pennsylvania connection.
• Set decorator Lisa Chugg is either a Steelers fan or lost a bet to one and snuck it in there. 

Either way, a fun little aside from this most excellent and controversial film.

And besides Maya's pugnacious personality reeks of the kinds of Steelers fans that call talk radio and comment on our website -- nothing is ever good enough or done fast enough, they're always questioning the team leadership, but they're probably the most likely to cry after the big win ... (I kid ... sort of) 

It sounds like the beginning of a dumb joke -- "A Cardinal and a Steeler walk into a bar ..."

But that's exactly what happened over the past week at watering hole in the Eternal City.

Giovanni Poggi, proprietor of La Botticella, a Steelers bar in Rome for more than a decade has played host to seemingly every single tourist to Rome with a Pittsburgh connection, finally got a pop-in from an actual member of the team last week.

Linebacker Lawrence Timmons recently restructured his contract but had enough change leftover to enjoy a European vacation this offseason made an impromptu visit at Poggi's bar last Wednesday. Timmons signed a few autographs and posed for some very suprised Pittsburgh ex-pats and tourists and Duquesne students studying abroad.

"Finally our first Pittsburgh Steeler at La Botticella Lawrence Timmons in the house," Poggi wrote on his Facebook page, along with the photo above right.

And while the Steelers have near-religious status in Pittsburgh, just today Poggi was visited by an actual Pittsburgh man of the cloth, as he posted on his Facebook page (right).

"Got a surprising visit today from His Eminence Donald Cardinal Wuerl, he will be one of the voting Cardinals in the Conclave tomorrow and is a native of Mount Washington in Pittsburgh," Poggi wrote.

A Steeler and a Cardinal within the same week. No word if the 'combination' of the two -- Steelers tight end Leonard <wait for it ...> Pope -- is going to stop by too.

A look at the Steelers' success and failure at quarterback in the draft and free agency since 2003 ...

191/108/344: Career touchdown passes, interceptions and sacks taken by Ben Roethlisberger (127 games)

212/210/307: Career touchdown passes, interceptions and sacks taken by Terry Bradshaw (168 games)  

Source: Pro Football Reference

Draft: Not since a coin flip in 1970 gave them the rights to draft Terry Bradshaw has such a pick so greatly affected the fortunes of this football team. The selection of Ben Roethlisberger in 2004 ultimately brought Pittsburgh its coveted one-for-the-thumb in 2005, another in 2008, and nearly a seventh Super Bowl ring in 2010. He will almost certainly hold every significant team passing record by the time he retires.

And because Charlie Batch is the Rasputin of backup quarterbacks, draft picks Brian St. Pierre, Omar Jacobs, and Dennis Dixon were all made expendable as potential no. 2 men for the Steelers.

Free Agency: The chronically injured Byron Leftwich has had two stints with Pittsburgh, the first earned him a Super Bowl ring in 2008, the second spanned from 2010 to the present. Though he appeared in eight games four seasons he made only his one and only start for the Steelers this year at home against Baltimore – in which he was injured. Also, this week John Parker Wilson was claimed off of waivers from Jacksonville.