Wow! What a crazy, crazy day. I finished my first triathlon today, and it went pretty well. I did about how I thought I would. My bike was spot on, my swim was.. interesting… and my run was horrid.
There were 16 waves of women who were racing. The first one was the “elites.” There was an Olympic silver medalist in that one. The next was the “survivors,” which included women who had survived or were diagnosed with cancer; third came the family wave. There were a large number of women who were racing with their little girls. Other than that we were grouped by age. I was in the wave just preceding the “old broads,” wave number 15.
The day started at 4 am for me, after a night of rotten sleep. I just lay in bed all night visualizing how it would go and how I would handle the transitions. I got there at 5 and went straight to the transition area. Much to my surprised, it opened at 5:30. Apparently, the website said two different things. They opened up at 5:10, probably due to the growing number of grumpy, uncaffineated triathletes lining up. I went to my transition, chatted with people at my bike rack, and basically just stood around for quite a while. At about 7, I struggled into my wetsuit (thank goodness Ben wasn’t there with his camera for THAT bit of theatre). I then went to check out the swim course, which was smooth as glass. It was really beautiful. About then, I felt a tap on my shoulder and who should be there but John Rodosta!!
He and Ben had just shown up and were really excited. John was sporting a snazzy fedora. A little while later Dad and Ginny showed up. We all sat around for a while watching the other waves go, when I heard “wave 15 to the staging area.”
I scampered over to the area and ended up chatting with a really nice lady. (She's the tiny one in front of me) Everyone there was amazingly friendly. It came up in conversation that mixed gender races weren’t nearly as chatty or polite. Hmm…. Anyway, I got ready to go and swam out to the orange buoy that marked the starting point. A few seconds later the air horn sounded and we were off. 
As I cruised along, I was suddenly pushed to the side! Yikes! The lady next to me was sitting the buoy and did a couple of breast stroke kicks right into my… chest. This was to occur a number of times on the swim. After I zig zaged my way through the buoys, over correcting often, I finally made it to the swim finish. Up I stood, and away I ran. In the gauntlet I saw the fam again.
Transition one went well. Or at least as well as pulling a sticky wetsuit off and putting socks, pants, and shoes on a wet, pudgy body can go. Three and a half minutes later, and I was jogging my bike to the bike start. It must of looked pretty funny as I got dressed. The first thing I did was put my helmet on. So I was standing there, struggling to get dressed with a big old bike helmet perched atop my head like a mushroom cap. (more in part two..)
There were 16 waves of women who were racing. The first one was the “elites.” There was an Olympic silver medalist in that one. The next was the “survivors,” which included women who had survived or were diagnosed with cancer; third came the family wave. There were a large number of women who were racing with their little girls. Other than that we were grouped by age. I was in the wave just preceding the “old broads,” wave number 15.The day started at 4 am for me, after a night of rotten sleep. I just lay in bed all night visualizing how it would go and how I would handle the transitions. I got there at 5 and went straight to the transition area. Much to my surprised, it opened at 5:30. Apparently, the website said two different things. They opened up at 5:10, probably due to the growing number of grumpy, uncaffineated triathletes lining up. I went to my transition, chatted with people at my bike rack, and basically just stood around for quite a while. At about 7, I struggled into my wetsuit (thank goodness Ben wasn’t there with his camera for THAT bit of theatre). I then went to check out the swim course, which was smooth as glass. It was really beautiful. About then, I felt a tap on my shoulder and who should be there but John Rodosta!!
He and Ben had just shown up and were really excited. John was sporting a snazzy fedora. A little while later Dad and Ginny showed up. We all sat around for a while watching the other waves go, when I heard “wave 15 to the staging area.”I scampered over to the area and ended up chatting with a really nice lady. (She's the tiny one in front of me) Everyone there was amazingly friendly. It came up in conversation that mixed gender races weren’t nearly as chatty or polite. Hmm…. Anyway, I got ready to go and swam out to the orange buoy that marked the starting point. A few seconds later the air horn sounded and we were off. As I cruised along, I was suddenly pushed to the side! Yikes! The lady next to me was sitting the buoy and did a couple of breast stroke kicks right into my… chest. This was to occur a number of times on the swim. After I zig zaged my way through the buoys, over correcting often, I finally made it to the swim finish. Up I stood, and away I ran. In the gauntlet I saw the fam again.Transition one went well. Or at least as well as pulling a sticky wetsuit off and putting socks, pants, and shoes on a wet, pudgy body can go. Three and a half minutes later, and I was jogging my bike to the bike start. It must of looked pretty funny as I got dressed. The first thing I did was put my helmet on. So I was standing there, struggling to get dressed with a big old bike helmet perched atop my head like a mushroom cap. (more in part two..)
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