Rockin’ in the City of Brotherly Love

Mike's swim wave lines up

What do a guitar, bottle opener and a medal have in common?  It's what is placed around your neck after finishing the awesome Philadelphia TriRock race.  And if you place on the podium, the trophy is a beer mug that can be put to use in the Beer Garden.  As the winning woman Pro said, "it's a very useful trophy"!  This well run race with around 2500 participants between the Sprint and Olympic races had it all including racing with pros like Cameron Dye and Andy Potts.

Mike and I headed down on Friday for a reunion with our Vineyard Warriors with friends Diane and Eric as our host.  With the sprint race on Saturday and the Olympic on Sunday, we had people racing on both days.  Mike did the sprint (.5 mi swim, 15.7 mi bike, 5k run) and I did the Olympic aqua bike (.9 mi swim, 40k bike), my first such event.  With a restless night sleep on Friday and early start Saturday, I was tired just being a spectator!  Mike had a good sprint race finishing 19/68 in age group with a time of 1:35:34 (16:28 on the swim, 49:11 on the bike, and 24:17 on the run).

The Sprint gang got us started on Saturday

I was slightly concerned going into my race - I've had a lingering cold and cough since early May that has kept me from swimming as much as I normally do and my last - and my only - open water swim this season which was only 500 yd swim was rough.  The swim course in the Skuykill River was point to point and looked LONG (so long you couldn’t see the entire course end to end).  And, my longest ride this season was only 18 miles.  I at least had a solid night's sleep on Saturday night.  But, there is that moment at the start of many races when you ask yourself "why do I do this?"

I found my answer in the swim as I got past the first 200 meters and went into a comfortable swim stride and eventually confidently caught up to some people from prior waves.  I found my answer on the bike when a spectator in a lonely bike stretch held a sign that said "you inspire me".  And as I passed the Philadelphia Art Museum, aka the Rocky Steps, I felt truly victorious!   In the end, I completed my first Olympic Aquabike with a time of 2:18:30, a 34:24 swim and a 1:41:05 bike. 

The Olympic gang continued on Sunday

And, once again I found my answer in the weekend's camaraderie with fellow triathletes and old and new friends.  We descended on Diane and Eric's house and shared a wonderful weekend in the City of Brotherly Love.  Our friend Antoine took second place in his age group and Diane took third in hers.

As part of the athlete briefing, a sports psychologist spoke and told us you can only be courageous in the presence of fear.  My overall place in the Aquabike was pretty dismal (the winner swam the course in 17:32, faster than many pros!), but I felt victorious nevertheless, overcoming trepidation and completing a new distance and event.



The age group winners toast with their trophies!