Westchester Olympic Triathlon: The Eye of the Tiger

Women 40 and over run in singing Katie Perry

"Don't give up!" was the motto of Claire Gormley Collier, who was one of the ALS sufferers this race honors.  Before the Ice Bucket challenge there was this race that raises funds for the Blazeman Foundation and other local charities.  And persevere I did - two years after I set out to do an Olympic distance race, I finally did it.  The knee injury that plagued me in my second season prevented me from doing it then and last season I could only muster 5K runs.  So despite some Olympic Aquabikes, the full Olympic had eluded me until now.

This was a great way to end the season -- I was confident throughout each race leg and gave each one my all.  As I occasionally passed people, I felt like I was truly racing and I hung tough until the end.  I felt like a true triathlete throughout.

The race inspired me at so many points.  Running into the water at Rye Playland, the organizers aptly chose Katie Perry's, "I'm the eye of the tiger... and you're going to hear me roar" to start the women 40 plus wave, which stuck with me through the whole race.

There is the very long hill "Claire's Climb" within the first half of the cycling course in honor of Claire, who passed away at age 46.  Tears came to my eyes for a women who was my age when she died as a bagpiper serenaded us as we started the climb.  At the top, her family welcomed us and cheered us on.

I've got the Eye of the Tiger...!

I caught up to a fellow 45-49 age grouper on the bike and we proceeded to leap frog each other on the bike.  First me passing her and then her passing me.  Then there was one turn that I was thankfully prepared for having checked out the course the day before and so I made the pass when she wasn't expecting the turn.  I made sure to make good use of the downhills - and boy did I, reaching a max speed over 37mph!  I made it into transition before her but saw her there soon after.  When she stopped to high five her kids exiting transition, I ran past her.

Early into the 10K run though she caught up to me.  "So you're my race buddy today" I said.  "Yes," she acknowledged as we ran side by side each keeping the pace.  A few more minutes went by and she said, "My name's Robin".  We learned we were both doing our first Olympic.  I let her know what pace we were doing based on my watch.  I'm not sure if she was glad or reluctant to be running with me when I told her it was good that she was helping me keep the pace.  Meanwhile we passed a few 40 something men (who started in waves before us..."You're going to hear me roar"...).

I could tell her breathing was harder than mine so I hoped I could pull away from her in the end, and after about mile 5 I did just that, telling myself "don't give up" and ending the 10K leg with a respectable 9:58 / mile pace.  I finished at 3:28:41 and a few minutes later I high fived Robin at the finish line...with the eye of a tiger:-) 

I cooled down, found Mike, went to the stretching/massage tents, and then Mike and I were waiting for the awards to start.  The race announcer then beckoned us to the finish line -- "Let's welcome our last two finishers!" and the speakers blasted "I'm the eye of the tiger and you're going to hear me roar".  A human reception line formed across both sides along the finish line and we all high fived and cheered the final two finishers -- two women whom we could clearly see "their eye of the tiger" and "hear their roar".  Sometimes we're inspired by the winner or an older or physically challenged athlete.  Today I was inspired by women who never gave up - Claire and these two final finishers.

...and you're going to hear me roar!

Mike’s First Half Iron Distance Race (Cathy’s husband guest blogger)

4:40am wakeup; 5:30am departure

It was a warm, cloudy late summer morning on September 7.  I will get back to that in a moment.  Having missed my connection from Philadelphia, I was a little stressed, but the way the Cape Air crew on Saturday morning handled the flight from Boston to Martha’s Vineyard was a precursor to the fun and good times that were to ensue upon making it to the Vineyard for the triathlon on Sunday.  Our first good decision was to drive the bike leg of the triathlon which literally covered the entire island.  We had one less thing to worry about on race day after having racked our bikes and registered for the race the day before.  I was number 74 and it didn’t look like many folks signed up for the entire half iron distance event – 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run.  Then we had an early dinner at famous Giordano’s and stopped at State Beach on the way home so Eric (aka the Belgian Block layer) could take a practice swim.  Afterward we headed to Diane’s (aka Name that Tune Diane) friend’s place a few miles from where we live on the Vineyard for some excellent dessert and good times.  After getting home, we went through our triathlon checklist and made sure our beverages, Shot Blocks and other nutritional items were good to go.  We were in bed by around 10 PM.

Men 40 and over lining up

After my best sleep before a race yet, I woke up when my alarm went off at 4:40 AM and had a quick breakfast with coffee, loaded the truck, made sure we had everything we would need and headed out with Cathy (aka Aquabike Specialist) and our friends.  Allison (aka Southern Belle), who recently relocated from NYC to Dallas, couldn’t participate due to an injury, decided to come along first thing in the morning even though the sun was not yet up.  She was our cheerleader with a reinvigorated Southern accent, photographer and spiritual advisor for the event.  Way to go Allison and don’t forget there is always next year!

Go - into choppy waters!

My start time was scheduled for 6:47 AM but the transition area as they call it was to close at 6:15 AM.  Having practiced getting my gear together before, we had plenty of time to get organized, head to the beach, swim for a few minutes and make sure we had our wetsuits and swimming gear on properly.  The surf was up so by the time they put the last buoy in the water it was really hard to see it about a half mile away.  The surf also makes for some challenging open water swimming.   The good news is that none of us were deterred and all of us were able to complete the swim leg.  My biggest issue was seeing the buoys well. The jelly fish that stung me in the hand and the neck didn’t bother me too much - luckily I had experience with that.  I missed the last buoy by about 300 yards and I am sure that added to my time which was about 15 minutes longer than I expected at close to one hour.

Only 56 cycling miles to go

I felt pretty good coming out of the water.  After making it to the transition area, I peeled off my wetsuit and was pleased that the Trislide spray I used really worked to ease getting out of it.  Earlier I was a little out of it at 5 AM when we arrived and realized I left my socks in the truck where Allison was peacefully catching up on some rest due to our loud neighbors and the noise they made the night before.  Thankfully, my wish to have somebody deliver my socks to the transition area was answered – thank you Name that Tune Diane.  I dried my feet, put on my socks and put on a tri shirt from a Sprint Triathlon we did earlier this year over my tri-suit not realizing I was putting it on backward.  No worries, after slipping on my cycling shoes and clicking in I was off and riding - Riding for 56 miles that is!  Other than having to make a bio break, I never stopped pedaling.  By mile 46, I really wanted to get off of my bike.  As I have said many times before, if you get through the ride without a mechanical issue like a flat tire, the ride leg is a success.  So, for all of us doing the cycling leg, aquabikers and relay partners, we had success.

One of the best things about beginning the run is that the transition is really fast – Get off the bike, change shoes, take off your helmet, put on a hat, take some water and Shot Blocks and go!  Did I mention, you need to remove your cycling gloves…oops…forgot to take those off.  The good news was that the excellent tri organizers set up six water stops so I could drop my gloves at the first one.  After mile one, I met Lori, part of a team that is friends with Peter Frates, the guy for whom the entire ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was created.  We were running the same speed so she told me all about Peter, his wife and baby and it was hard not to get emotional.  For the next 10 miles we ran together.  For that distance, you need to talk to somebody.  At mile 11, I decided my time was slipping so I went ahead.  A short while later, I thought I saw behind me a Vineyard buddy, Wayne, who was with Price Waterhouse and now runs Hinckley Lumber with his family on the Island.  I slowed nearly to a walk thinking it would be fun to run to the finish together.  As “Wayne” approached, I realized this guy looked a bit younger than Wayne and more to confirm what I already knew, I said, “Are you Wayne,” and as he flew past me, he said “Wayne, NO I am not Wayne.”  I was a little bewildered and decided I better pick it up.  We started closing in on the finish line but I realized the Wayne look-alike was going too fast for me and I was passed by Keri, a relay runner and friend of Lori and Peter’s.  I turned it on but couldn’t catch Keri either.  I did manage to outrun a few others so I was pumped by that.  I figured just completing a 13.1 mile run was something.

Home stretch!

After about six and a half hours, it felt great to complete the event.  It was unbelievable to have Cathy, Allison, Diane, Eric and Richard (aka Steve) greet me at the finish line.  It always provides a burst of adrenalin when you hear your friends and family cheering you on!  The icing on the cake was the massages purchased by our house guests for those of us who participated – those were really sweet!

After such a great day, I want to thank my friends and family who were involved and those who wished us good luck.  The volunteers, triathlon organizers and police all did a great job (except maybe for that guy who forgot to tell me which way to go on Moshup Trail).  In all seriousness, it was a great event and I look forward to more people joining us in the future.  Go to google and search for Vineyard Triathlon orwww.vineyardtriathlon.com  to find out more and see you next September. 

 

70.3 Miles Done!

Celebrating success at the Lookout Tavern

 

Martha’s Vineyard Half Iron Distance: GULPS and FIRSTS

Warming up

In the Spring we received the bad news that the Vineyard Warrior race would not exist this year.  A few weeks later we discovered some local Islanders decided to take on a new race – but, GULP, it was a 70.3 race.  When we opened up Triathlon Magazine and saw the “busy triathlete’s guide to training for a half Ironman” that came with a full 16 week training plan, the idea seemed plausible.  Fortunately there were also open water swim, aquabike and relay options as well.  Mike and I both started following the plan, keeping an open mind what event we would select.  In the end, I chose the aquabike and Mike diligently followed the plan for the whole thing.

Joining us this year for our annual Mayone MV tri-fest were our friends Diane and Eric from Philadelphia and Allison who flew in all the way from Dallas.  We also convinced our newly friended MV neighbor, Richard, to join in the fun.  Diane, Eric and Allison were to do the relay, but after Allison experienced an injury, we went searching for a new relay partner and found Jennifer.



Aquabikers take your mark

The 4:45am alarm came early but we awoke ready to go and out of the house at 5:30.  It was dark as we drove the 12 min ride to the race venue but Eric said he could see white caps in our usually calm State Beach, which was confirmed as we took a look at the swim course – GULP, 1.2 miles looked really long and the white caps extra challenging.  While I didn’t think I would wear my wetsuit, I decided I could be in the water a very long time and opted for it.

Go!

By 7:00 am, the less than 100 participants of the first MV half Iron distance race were on their way, including 6 open water swimmers, 9 aquabikers, 13 relay teams and 29 brave participants doing the full distance, including Mike.  As I kept trying to reach the first buoy, it felt like it wasn’t getting closer or was even getting farther away.  I think the current was carrying me towards shore and so I redoubled efforts to get to it and then made the right hand turn to head further out to sea to the next buoy and this was the hardest part as the chop was hitting me head on and it was difficult to see the buoy.  I could see a police boat which I thought was near it but as I made my way towards the boat, I realized I had to course correct to get around it.  By this time I had the longest stretch to go and thank goodness the chop lessened and I was not fighting the current as much.  The hardest part was seeing the buoys in the cloud cover and given the distance so I sighted often and the kayakers helped point them out when I got disoriented.  Once I rounded the final buoy, I had a ways to go to make myself back to shore, but I felt energized with the finish in sight.  After 1h 17min in the water, land never felt so good!  I later learned one person exited the water sick as a dog, her body no doubt expelling the seawater she GULPed – this was one tough swim.

Eric says get outta my way!

After 1h17 finally the swim finish

Back in transition, I wasn’t in as much of a hurry as in shorter races.  In the end, I just wanted to finish and knowing I had a long time on the bike and the weather was to clear, I had planned to reapply sun screen.  But then I heard the race director say, “you ladies may want to hurry – they are going to open the drawbridge soon!”   Now that’s a new, unexpected obstacle!  I went as fast as I could for the first few miles to the drawbridge and made it.  However, once I was on the bike, I realized I had forgotten to spray my face with sun lotion in my hasty transition.

I was glad we had driven the bike course the day before.  As much as Mike and I know the Island, we actually found ourselves on a few new roads.  The roads were in good condition and there are many great ocean and country views as you circumnavigate the 56 mile course.  I made it “Up Island” as we say (the western part of the Island to Aquinnah) feeling good, and briefly stopped at the aid station for some Powerade.  I was hoping they might have sun lotion too but no luck.  Knowing I would need one bathroom stop, I decided to stop at the Chilmark General Store for a pit stop – bathroom, buying sun lotion, and eating my Cliff bar.  The clock was ticking as I waited in line to pay for the sun lotion but rather than asking to cut the line, I decided I needed the break anyway, which probably in the end took 7 min off my time but hopefully added to my time on this earth.

Approaching the 56 mile bike finish

I knew by about mile 35 I would start to feel the aches and pains of being glued to my bike and for the last third of the ride, I found myself frequently checking my mileage and celebrating small victories.  I was also developing a severe chafing wound on my upper thigh.  I rode past the street to our house and made my way down the home stretch along scenic State Beach, my all-time favorite ride.  As I finally made my way to the finish line after a very long 5.5 hour workout, my friends were there to cheer me on, and I in turn had the great pleasure of cheering on Mike an hour later.  We had done it!

Richard and I celebrate success

Eric and Diane make great life and relay partners

Southern Belle Allison with her cow bell

Jennifer, Diane, and Eric had a great race

There was still another first we needed to do.  After lunch and the awards ceremony, we made our way back to our house and stopped at the infamous Jaws Bridge, which is known for its scene in the movie but also for the carefree bridge jumpers of all ages.  While most American towns would ban such a pastime for the liability, it is a celebrated activity on our “live and let live” Island.  Every year, Mike and I always say, “we should do it”.  With Eric and Diane’s prompting, and Allison’s photography skills, this was to be a new FIRST.  GULP….I hadn’t anticipated my fear of edges holding me back.  In our first attempt, Eric went and Mike, Diane, and I held back.  In our second attempt, Mike, Diane and Eric went but I couldn’t get myself over the edge.  Mike came to my assistance and while I couldn’t bring myself to gracefully stand and balance on the railing as he had, I did get both legs over and pushed myself off, realizing I would be really mad if I didn’t.  Eric and Diane jumped again to join me in the water.

Back at the truck, Eric awarded we bridge jumpers with a sticker, “I jumped off of Jaws Bridge” hence adding to the day’s awards and another first!

David Does His First Tri at 50, and No Events For Barb

This year I was forced to be a spectator and picture taker during the Gretna Tri.    After losing 12 pounds in November and December on the Yoli Better Body System, I was excited to be running pain free in January.. I thought it might be my best season ever!  Then I was rear ended on icy roads on the coldest night of the year, and could not swim for a few months due to back spasms.  A lingering foot and lower leg injury has prevented running as well.  Although frustrated, I am determined to stay active and have taken up a combination Yoga / Pilates Class once a week which I love; it's great for stretching and balance.  I continue to ride my bike as much as possible and despite riding only once or twice a week, have worked my way up to 17 miles in hopes of doing the 30 mile Tour of Richmond in October.  My times are decent averaging 12.5mph last week on the hills and 13 mph this week on an easier route.  Every long ride is followed by a day of intense foot pain, so we continue to work on it hoping it will eventually subside.

In the fall we purchased an Endless Pools Swim Spa including an underwater treadmill along with an Aquashield, so we could swim or water jog year round.  David, my husband, said in December he 'might' do a Tri this year.  Upon researching the best open water technique for swimming,  he decided to learn the Navy Seal technique known as the military side stroke.  I gave him some pointers on breathing and by comparing his form to the you tube videos, helped him as much as possible.  About 2 weeks before the Gretna Tri, David announced that he had ordered a wetsuit and signed up, to which I replied "WHAT?".  Although his swim stroke seemed strong, he had solely trained in the swim spa, I knew I needed to get him to a "big pool" to see if he could do the distance required.  Mary, my awesome swim instructor gladly granted my request, knowing my concern.

The first trip to the big pool did not go well,  David went out too strong and ran out of gas, breathing heavy and needing to take breaks.  Mary and I were worried, because you can't run out of gas in the middle of a lake, especially during a Tri.  Mary kindly explained a lot of technique and basic swimming principles to David, but when he went into the locker room she said, "I don't think he should do this, I am worried".  But David was persistent and after listening to Mary's guidance about pace, being comfortable in the water, buoyancy, and lengthening his stroke to glide and breathe easier... the second swimming session went much better.  I swam next to him, bumping and splashing him, to prepare him for the race.

The big race day came, and I took the above picture as David headed to the transition area, hoping this wouldn't be that last picture I took of him.  I was still nervous about his swim, he did not have the stamina or experience to do this swim - but he did have the guts so I figured he would manage I just didn't know how.  I realized it was a good thing I was just a spectator this year, because all of my energy was focused on preparing him for the race.   Mom and Dad brought their good luck bells, and I brought St. Jude, the patron Saint of Hopeless Causes.  David survived the swim by canoe hopping his way around the lake, which fortunately is permitted.  Coming back towards shore, the water isn't as deep, and the race volunteers kindly guided him and a few other rookies to the shallow area so they could walk/swim their way to the shore.
I knew David would have no trouble with the bike portion since he rides these hills all the time, but I was worried about the run.  The previous week he had done a 'trial tri', and could not run even a few blocks due to calf cramps.  Well, David made it to the finish with a strong stride, all 3 legs of the Tri completed successfully!  He approached Mike and I still waiting for Cathy to transition from Bike to Run, and announced that this was probably 'the stupidest thing he had ever decided to do' - mainly because he can't swim well, and hates to run.  But the huge grin on his face told me he was proud of his accomplishment, and glad for having done it at least once.  Honestly I think he had decided last year that if I could do a Tri, he could do it too!  Cathy remembered her helmet leaving the transition area this year, and Mike had a fantastic race.

Some homemade protein bars made with Yoli YES whey protein shakes revived David, Cathy, and Mike after their successful Tri.  We enjoyed a family dinner Saturday Night, and I took Cathy and Mike on a little recovery ride Sunday on the back roads between Mom and Dad's new place and our house.  Great weekend of fun and family, even if I was on the sidelines - someone has to be the photographer!

Hoping to back  at it for next year, I found a few sprint tri's in Richmond and Delaware - plus a few others with a pool swim that look like fun.        



           

Training Follies

 

Destination:  Aquinnah

Mike and I celebrated our 20^th Wedding Anniversary this week!  We re-watched our wedding video, laughed at hair styles and big glasses, and recalled our minister’s message to us – sometimes things don’t go according to plan.

This week’s follies began on Wednesday, the actual day of our anniversary.  We both decided to do our Blackberry 5K loop (a perfect 5K loop run on Blackberry Drive in North Stamford), but since our schedules didn’t align, we left the house at different times.  I returned home first, mindlessly locked the front door upon my return and had to jump out the shower when I heard loud knocks on the door.  I suppose locking your husband out of the house on your 20^th anniversary doesn’t get you the nomination for wife of the year!

Mike has been diligently training for his first half Ironman in September, so our training schedules have been somewhat misaligned recently (let’s just say I opted not to spend 6 hours training in jellyfish infested waters and pouring down rain last Saturday and instead recorded the times of all of our races into a perfected, filtering spreadsheet).  Net-net, I haven’t been getting a lot of bike time in lately so on Saturday I pleaded with him to go with me for our 40 mile ride across Martha’s Vineyard and back, which he agreed to do as long as we took it easy and took a beach rest since this is a rest week for him before his peak training week.  We wanted to time our ride such that the Chilmark Road Race on our favorite biking route was done (around 11:30) but before President Obama arrived at the airport (around 12:45) as the Secret Service don’t exactly care about proclamations like, “but your ruining my pace”.

We should have known we were doomed when we hadn’t even gone 3 miles and Mike got a flat tire.  Two cyclists inquired if we needed help, but we were well prepared.  “Well, every training session has a purpose,” I optimistically declared as I proceeded to insist he let me change it for practice in the event I ever need to do it in a race (a task I didn’t quite successfully achieve as the tire was really hard to get off and on and I eventually acquiesced to his man hands).

After 20 minutes, we were off, wondering if we would now be delayed as President Obama was arriving to the Island soon and the state police had whizzed by us but we made it past the airport and were well underway as we saw a helicopter above.

We continued on and were rewarded with a beautiful day’s ride and the spectacular up-Island ocean views that are well worth the hills that go along with it.  By the time we got to Aquinnah beach, we were famished and gobbled down our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cooled off in the ocean and went for our favorite walk under the cliffs, trying out the photo capabilities of Mike’s new Samsung phone.  We forced ourselves to end our rest break at 4pm to make our 20 mile trek back.

“Where’s the bike key????”, Mike asked as we went to unlock the bikes.

“I know I put it in the outer pocket – it MUST be in there,” I declared.

We looked multiple times and expanded the search to all pockets in the backpack.  We then returned to the rock we had used as our “chair”, only to discover the tide had come in so that if the key had been there, it was surely washed away by now.  The only other possibility is that it had fallen out during our beach walk, but the chances of finding it we knew were slim to none.

Being we were Up-Island, we were on Wampanog Indian ground and the tourist gift shops were probably not going to include lock cutters in their retail inventory.  We knew our only option was to try and get the bikes on the Vineyard Transit Authority (VTA) bus (at least we didn’t lock the bikes to the rack – just to each other but we weren’t sure if the lock would prevent us from fitting them on the VTA front bike rack).  The next challenge was the bus stop was about 1 mile uphill from the beach and so began a new form of the “three legged race” as we walked them up the hill in our bike shoes (for a split second we wondered if we could ride them side by side but we nixed that idea!).  I knew the bus only ran once an hour so with one in view, we tried to pick up our pace and flagged him just as he was pulling out.

Since there was only 1 bike on the 3 bike rack, we thought we were golden….until he said, “I can’t wait – these people have to catch a ferry,” as he pulled away.  Thirty seconds later, he stopped, honked and came chasing us down.  He had radioed the other bus to take his route so that he could make his an express bus to Vineyard Haven.  The bikes racked just fine and we were off.

After past lessons learned of not carry emergency money – or enough emergency money – we had $40 with us, plenty for the $8 fare for both of us, but with a $20 bill and a requirement for “exact change” this was going to be one overpaid ride.  The nice gent beside us yelled to the entire bus, “does anyone have change for a $20”.  Some passengers looked to no avail, but one kind woman managed to come through with ten ones and a ten.  Enroute, we strategized where the bike shops or hardware stores are.  The clock was ticking close to 6pm so we weren’t sure if we would find one or just have to get another bus back to Edgartown and deal with the lock later.

“Stop!” we declared as we saw a bike shop open at 5:55pm.  I ran across the street while Mike unloaded the bikes.  As he struggled, the nice gent got off and helped him.  After waiting 5 minutes as the bike shop owner talked the ear off of the customer ahead of us, and another 5 minutes of chitchat with us, we finally came to the conclusion he did have a lock cutter.  Just before cutting the lock, he said he’ll have to charge us $5.  “Whatever…..”  (most bike shop owners I know would not charge for something so minor…..and we always tip them anyway and vow to return for a real purchase).

Bad Martha's is a great way to end a forlorn training day!

After another 10 minutes of “Island time” chitchat, we were on our way - until I realized I was holding Mike's sunglasses but missing mine. We searched the store to no avail.  As we checked the backpack, the owner suggested perhaps I was already wearing them....and I was - on top of my head under my helmet.  "We're full service," quipped the owner.

Ending our ordeal at Bad Martha’s, the new, local brewery around the corner from our house seemed like the optimal conclusion this story (and we had $27 of emergency money left over).  And, there we found “the nice gent” (an off Island police officer we learned) and his two friends – all runners and one Ironman so we exchanged stories over beers and told them they should join us for the Vineyard Triathlon. 

Yes, things don’t always go according to plan.  But when they don’t, it’s fodder for a good story and new friends.

Philly TriRock: Race. Celebrate. Sightsee.

RACE:  Cathy, Mike and Diane all had good races.

So which came first:  My parent’s 50^th wedding anniversary party reservations or my triathlon registration?  Uh, well, yes, the triathlon registration came first followed by the realization that it was the same weekend of my parent’s 50^th anniversary.  But seeing as how my Dad grew up in the Philly suburbs and I was born there, it seemed rationale to propose the party be in the same location as the triathlon.  And with an Aunt and Uncle flying in from Los Angeles, at least Philadelphia is a major airport.  Not to mention Barb and David know Philly well, as it’s David’s hometown.

Mike and I headed to Philly on Friday – he drove down and I had to fly from Toronto.  We once again stayed with our friends Diane and Eric who were doing the Sprint and Olympic, respectfully, and who live within 15 minutes of the race venue at Fairmont Park.  Eric holds VIP status as he is one of the few people who has done the race every year since it was started a decade ago.

Given it would be a busy weekend, we both opted for the Sprint on Saturday.  After the last race’s departure snafus, I insisted we plan on leaving 15 min. earlier than Mike’s suggested departure time.  I hate being rushed and having no wiggle room in the event something goes wrong.  In the morning, Eric helped us load up the car and came running in, “Mike, you have a flat tire!”.  Mike did a quick tire change and we all thanked our lucky stars for the 15 min. wiggle room.

Given the large number of participants in this race, there is always a little extra wiggle room with the wave starts, assuming you aren’t in one of the early waves.  I decided to wait to go to the bathroom, thinking the long line would subside, but it only got worse.  No time for that – as I overhead another participant, “well, the river is a big place.”

The night before I had declared that I would be happy with a 1 h 55 time.  I knew I would have to push it to make or beat that.  When I got out of the swim and was around 20 min, I thought I was blowing it as I expected to be faster than that based on last year’s Olympic distance swim.  I really pushed it on the bike – there are several hills so I was happy to break 1 hour at 57:48 (16.3 mph).  I grabbed my new Garmin watch for the run – I find it really helps me keep my pace.  I made it a goal to break 30 min for my run, which I’ve only ever done in one other Sprint Tri 5K but I did it at 29:32 (9:32 pace), and pleasantly surprised myself with a finish time of 1:51:39.

CELEBRATE: 50 years!

All that and the weekend was only beginning!  We met up with my family in the hotel later that afternoon, and had a great 50^th anniversary party for Mom and Dad that evening.  


The next morning, Mike and I did a run/jog to see the Liberty Bell.

SIGHTSEE!

Let Cow Bells, Wedding Bells and Freedom Ring!