Tri #2

*No pics yet. There will actually be a website with some "action shots". Should be funny.

Build Up- We decided to do the Greenville Sprint Triathlon but I didn’t get into the race initially. It was full when I tried to sign up 2 hours after Jake. I was wait-listed. I was also baffled that there was a wait-list. It seemed like a lot. I later found out this is the biggest triathlon in South Carolina. There were 600 people signed up. Again, that seemed like a lot. I was really intimidated and secretly hoping I would not get signed up. Asheville was fun and I enjoyed it, and I thought if I did one that was too intimidating I would not enjoy it as much and it might turn me off of the whole triathlon deal. Yeah I managed to get this worked up over a silly voluntary sport….don’t you all know me at all? Anyway, I was a little stressed when I actually got in. “Oh well, I am sure there will be a nice t-shirt”..that is what I thought to myself to convince myself to actually do it.

Pre-Race- Our alarm went off Saturday morning at 4:00. That is a ridiculous time to get up to do a voluntary exercise activity by the way. We got our stuff together the night before and headed to the car with our bikes and bags full of Lycra/goggles/heart monitors and other essential geek gear.

We drove along in the dark arguing because Jake thought I was packing him breakfast (which I DID NOT say I was doing Captain Misunderstanding, I am not your mother) when I turned and said “is that lightening?” “Holy crap yes” was the appropriate response as the sky opened and turned the highway into a hydroplane-a-riffic mess. Hhhmmm, the weather forecast yesterday said 78 at race time with a 10% chance of rain later in the day. It said nothing of deluge, lightning and insanity at 5 a.m. This is not optimum conditions for changing clothes outside, riding a bike and running…FYI.

We got our chips, got body marked (Some lady writes on you with a marker. FYI #2 Kathy, I was just “body marking” my sisters back in the day and deserved none of the punishment that was doled out my way!) and then stood around forever. FOREVER. We were waiting for them to decide if we could use the pool or not. Apparently they don’t like hundreds of people in a pool, even if it is inside, during a lightening storm. I think I respect that. If the pool part had been called off we would have just had to bike and run. That wouldn’t have been as cool at all. So we stood around. Did I mention if was FOREVER?

Usually you set up all your clothes by your bike, mess around with stuff and chat folks up, but it was raining and I decided to just change out of my backpack so there was nothing to set out. So instead I was bored and nervous. That is not an annoying combination for poor Jake at all. Luckily some of our triathlon pals from the last race showed up to distract me. It is fun to hang out with people and compare notes and be nervous together. Makes me feel not as crazy. PS: Changing out of my bag would be a triathlon no-no as the changing gets factored into your total time. But the idea of running in wet shoes and socks seemed to outweigh an extra few minutes. Jake was tough and set his stuff out. I am not tough….no lie. I know my limits and wet socks are one of them. I am not a total dummy….Oh if I had only known what a lie that statement would be later.

Swim- I got to met the lady I was starting beside beforehand which was really fun. She was super nice and it was only her second triathlon too. We discussed how neither of us was an awesome swimmer or minded if the other one passed. She did not mention she was Wonder-Triathlon Woman with an invisible set of gills and wings on her feet so I had a false sense of security that she was a rookie “like me”…Yeah, “like me” only a whole lot better.

Once I jumped in the pool I wasn’t nervous anymore. It is like taking a final. You are a mess the 3 days beforehand, but once you hit the chair you are fine. I had also already done this once before, so come on…It is also a little known fact that lots of people pee in the pool before the start. That keeps your mind off of being nervous and puts it squarely on DOING ALL YOU CAN TO NOT GET THE WATER IN YOUR MOUTH.

It was our turn (“GO #416”), we took off and suddenly I was just trying to stay in her wake. You can draft in the swim and not work as hard if you stay “in the bubbles”…You just hope that all the bubbles are coming from their turbulence…not from last night’s burritos. Anyway, so I am happy in the bubbles until some random lady wants in on the bubbles and doesn’t see me so she runs me clear out of the lane. I got T-boned while swimming. What the hell, I am huge and wearing a giant hot-pink shirt with ORCA on it!? I am a killer whale in hot pink for Pete’s sake, stay the hell out of my bubbles!

Anyway, I ended up falling 30 seconds behind her coming out of the pool, but was really happy when I looked at my watch and saw 9 min 36 sec, which was at least a full 30 seconds faster than my Asheville time. I RAN across the WET pool deck, out the door on the WET concrete sidewalk through the WET asphalt parking lot…all barefoot, violating all of the rules about running on wet surfaces I have ever heard. I would totally scream at a patient for being stupid enough to hurt themselves doing exactly what I did.

Transition 1
So in the haste of the lightening storm I did not pay attention when I was racking my bike. I have a mountain bike (aka: I am the kid driving the pinto at the prom..seriously) so there is only one way for it to get “racked”, by the seat. That means that the bar I put it on has to be high enough to get over my seat or handlebars. I was the first one to hang up my bike so I didn’t pay much attention that the clearance was a little short until I ran out to my bike to get on it and couldn’t get it off of the rack because it was too short somehow. HOLY CRAP, I am in a hurry and am carefully trying to lift up the ENTIRE bike rack with 5 other really expensive bikes on it to get my crappy bike out. Can’t remember exactly what happened, but I got out on the road.

Bike- I am pretty good on the bike and had a really nice ride. I got a ton of water on my face from the wet road (which is something you don’t really ever think about) but the course was easier than Asheville and I really enjoyed my 15 miles. I was totally relieved when I turned the corner into the transition area because there had been a lot of wrecks on the wet road and I had survived.

I had my feet halfway out of the pedal and was thinking about the run. A big crowd gathers in that area because you can see everyone come in and take pictures of them. I was thumbs upping and smiling because I had a great ride on my kick ass Pinto (it was 52:20 for a 17+mph average). I knew I had to get off my bike at the speed bump but wasn’t paying attention as I came around the corner and the line came sooner than I thought. That is when I clamped down on my wet brakes…then Physics and Gravity showed up and kicked my ass. I stopped on a dang dime and tried to get off my bike on the right side…except my left foot had slid back into my foot cage due to the sudden stop and was now stuck in the pedal.

Transition #2- So I am hopping on my right foot trying to free my left foot while slowing falling backwards down the incline behind me. I almost saved it like 10 times, but then my right foot hit the curb behind me and I fell into a bush…with my bike…with my left foot finally out the pedal. Luckily there were 150 people standing there to see it. I jump out and take off like it was no big deal (because it wasn’t even in the top 5 falls of the past five years...if only these silly people knew about my sick falling skillz) and took off running with my bike to get ready for the run…covered in mud, leaves, and bush. I am pretty sure there is a picture of it out there in Internet world or on YouTube. Fabulous.

Run- My near death experience with the bush was not nearly as traumatic as my shoes and socks full of water after the bike. I didn’t think about that happening as the water was shooting all over me during the bike ride. Running is really my least favorite part. I am just bad at it. Fact. The last course was flat for the run and I made it in 34 minutes and I was hoping to do the same. The bike course had been 3.5 miles longer, so I knew my time would not be as fast in total, but was hoping to break 30 minutes in the run. Amazing that I was excited to do that in June at the first 5K I ran..that was without swimming 400 meters and riding a bike 15 miles beforehand! Then the run course loomed ahead.

It was a hilly mug with some trail running after a huge rainstorm. It was rocky and scary and “uphell”. It was also a two loop course. I had to run past the finish line to run the second lap… Yuck and depressing.

I did get to see Jake and some of our pals cheering me on. I totally forgot that I was muddy, leafy, and bushy until I ran past and heard Jake say “Why are you so dirty?” I turned around and yelled “because I fell off of my bike” and just kept going. His face was hysterical. I can’t imagine what everyone running by me thought had happened. Anyway, the uphill junk was evil so I had to walk a few times and knew my run time would be terrible. I didn’t have anyone to race against to the finish, but still heard Jake yelling “stride it out”...Still don’t know what that means. I ran across the finish line and hit my watch and almost died of shock. I ran that nasty course in 30 min 59 sec. Pretty darn good.

Whole Thing- I ended up doing the whole race in 1 hour 37 minutes. The Asheville one in 1:32 but the bike was 3.5 miles shorter so I really did better only it took longer. Weird. Jake did his in 1:22, but he is more awesome than I am at all the events. He is just lucky that being really, really good looking is not an event or I would totally kick his behind in the whole thing.

The field at this triathlon was about one million times tougher than the Asheville one. I did much, much better and placed much, much worse. The fastest lady did it in 1:05, the slowest in 2:08. I fell right in the middle. I improved all my events though and feel really good about the whole thing. The next one is in October, and I definitely have some ideas on how to improve! But, I now know what it is like to race with 600 other people and can say that I competed in the largest triathlon held in South Carolina. As I sit here and think about it, my time was really not bad at all after you take into account I dressed out of my bag, got my bike stuck under the rack, and fell into a bush. All in all a really solid day…and all of this before 9:20 a.m.