Wow – the last 24 hours have been intense! We arrived at the pre-race registration and orientation when it opened at 1pm on Saturday. As I surveyed the lake, transition area, finish line, and all of the “professional looking types”, I said to Barb, “Gulp, this makes it feel real”!
The orientation which was targeted to us first timers was extremely helpful. At least I realized I wasn’t the only first timer and there were a handful of things discussed that eased my worries. We would be allowed to grab onto a buoy or kayak in the water to catch our breath if we needed to as long as we weren’t moving forward. There would be “light mechanical help” for things like flat tires….but, we shouldn’t count on them being there in a hurry with 300 race contestants to potentially service.
I decided not to take any chances on the flat tire front. We went to 3 stores until I found both fix a flat (the first course of action) and a portable bike pump so I could inflate the extra 2 tubes I will carry (the backup plan). In addition, as misfortune or fortunate would have it, my husband had to fix a flat tire on his bicycle so I made him teach me how to do it.
Before we knew it, it was time for our family dinner reservation. My parents had arrived in town and so we went for an early Father’s Day dinner. Mom said she had read the fan instructions had had come prepared with a highly encouraged noise maker – a bell that had been on my recently passed Grandmother’s door. We also would have the barks of Bella, Barb’s morkie, to cheer us on.
Back at the hotel, Barb suggested we head to the whirlpool, which seemed like the perfect thing to loosen up the muscles and relax me for an early bed time. However, by the time I finished preparing and arranging all of my gear, it was 10:15pm and my adrenaline was soaring. I attempted to read for 15 minutes and then decided I had to go to bed for the 4:45 am wake up call in order to get a solid night’s sleep. My brain had other ideas. I tossed and turned most of the night, got up to read once more, and probably got about 2 hours of sleep.
At 4:45am, the adrenaline starting flowing again – it was time to suit up and head out. By the time we left the hotel, it was 5:30am instead of the planned 5:15am. Arriving at the park, Barb and I were extremely happy to have our “triathlon lackeys” (husbands) in tow who helped us with our extreme volume of gear. Often I’m the one playing lackey and/or photographer for my husband’s surfing or kite surfing adventures. This time it was his turn! He has been my biggest fan, encouraging me through all the training the last 5 months.
Setting up our transition area actually took longer than I thought due to the volume of gear and decisions as to what was staying with me and what my “lackey” would hold onto. Yikes – it was already 6:35am and I still needed to go to the bathroom and get my wetsuit on before the 6:45am race meeting start and closing of the transition area. And, the bathroom line was long. “Come on girls, we can do it!”, we prodded each other in the bathroom line. I got back just in time to drop my sneakers off in the transition area (something I had almost forgotten about since that was my only pair of shoes with me) and for the start of the meeting. I put on my wet suit during the meeting.
We headed down to the water, and as the first wave, we were told to enter – and then wait for 12 minutes for the race start. The 60 degree air temperature felt very cold and those not in full wetsuits were shivering. The rocky bottom was tough on my feet (as it turns out, swim socks were not allowed). Finally – go!
Barb and I stuck together for awhile, but she eventually was faster than I was. The lake had a surprising amount of plant matter I kept getting tangled around me. As I had anticipated, people were bumping into me. I handled it OK, but I couldn’t get my breath. I did a combination of breast, side and back stroke to try and catch my breath. Before I knew it, I was slightly off course, having swum too far to the right of the buoy I was supposed to stay to the left of, and so I had to back track. Meanwhile, the next wave was catching up to me! The volume of people had created a surprising amount of waves in an otherwise calm lake and I drank some dirty lake water. I thought as I rounded the first buoy, that perhaps I could catch my breath and go to freestyle, but by that point it was too challenging. I was happy as I rounded the next buoy for the final turn to shore. I was ¾ of the way there when another woman in my wave said she needed help. I and some others called for one of the kayaks. “I’m out”, she declared. It made more determined to finish - I had come this far.
As I approached shore, many in other waves had passed me and I saw only a handful of the blue caps in my wave trailing behind me. Mike saw me coming out of the water and yelled to me to start taking my wetsuit off – oh yeah! I heard my Mom ringing Grandma’s bell – she was with me in spirit.
I arrived at T1 (the first transition) a bit weary but happy to leave the swim behind me and be onto my best event, the bike. Since Barb and I had registered together, our numbers were 11 and 12 and we were assigned next to each other. She was long gone by the time I transitioned to the bike. Leaving the transition area, the mount and start of the bike was actually uphill – thankfully I had scoped it out and was prepared starting in a low gear.
Now it was my turn to pass people! I cruised on the rolling hill bike course, although I was still out of breath from the swim for much of the bike ride. As I passed someone with a flat tire, I was glad for my just-in-case schooling. I kept watching for Barb to be part of the cyclists who had already made the U-Turn. I caught up to her just after she had made the U-Turn and I was approaching it. We passed each other several times, encouraging each other on. As we approached the park, I passed her one last time and sped downhill to enter transition 2.
Since I didn’t have to change shoes, I was able to quickly grab my race belt and transition to the run in less than 1 minute. Tired from the previous events, I couldn’t go faster than a slow jog and the side stitches started setting in. I hit the mile point and after u-turning, I kept looking for Barb. When I didn’t see her for awhile, I was concerned. Then, out of nowhere she caught up to me! We were both hurting and we agreed to stay at our current pace until we came to the brown building ahead at which point we would pick up the pace to the finish lane.
Our husbands were cheering us along and snapping our photos. We picked up our stride at the building and sprinted to the finish line. We crossed and each recorded a time of 1:22:11, although being the sprinter that she is, she beat me by a nose and placed ahead of me. We started this journey together 5 months ago, encouraged each other along the way, and in the end finished together. It was the perfect ending.
I arrived at T1 (the first transition) a bit weary but happy to leave the swim behind me and be onto my best event, the bike. Since Barb and I had registered together, our numbers were 11 and 12 and we were assigned next to each other. She was long gone by the time I transitioned to the bike. Leaving the transition area, the mount and start of the bike was actually uphill – thankfully I had scoped it out and was prepared starting in a low gear.
Now it was my turn to pass people! I cruised on the rolling hill bike course, although I was still out of breath from the swim for much of the bike ride. As I passed someone with a flat tire, I was glad for my just-in-case schooling. I kept watching for Barb to be part of the cyclists who had already made the U-Turn. I caught up to her just after she had made the U-Turn and I was approaching it. We passed each other several times, encouraging each other on. As we approached the park, I passed her one last time and sped downhill to enter transition 2.
Since I didn’t have to change shoes, I was able to quickly grab my race belt and transition to the run in less than 1 minute. Tired from the previous events, I couldn’t go faster than a slow jog and the side stitches started setting in. I hit the mile point and after u-turning, I kept looking for Barb. When I didn’t see her for awhile, I was concerned. Then, out of nowhere she caught up to me! We were both hurting and we agreed to stay at our current pace until we came to the brown building ahead at which point we would pick up the pace to the finish lane.
Our husbands were cheering us along and snapping our photos. We picked up our stride at the building and sprinted to the finish line. We crossed and each recorded a time of 1:22:11, although being the sprinter that she is, she beat me by a nose and placed ahead of me. We started this journey together 5 months ago, encouraged each other along the way, and in the end finished together. It was the perfect ending.
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