Obviously I finished the triathlon, so my main goal was met. I was too anxious the night before to sleep well and was up before my 4:45 AM alarm. Man that was an early day. We left some extra time to pick up Agnes and Elaine on the way in, but still made it there with plenty of margin.
Elaine and I got body marked and headed to the transition area to set up our areas. As I laid out my items for each event I had a minor heart attack. No matter how many times I searched my bag, there were no goggles in it. OK, there must be a stand selling such items at an exorbitant price, right? Wrong. I couldn't fathom swimming that far in the Schuylkill river without them. Fortunately Kimmy had 3 pairs. Damn was I glad for that. I finished arranging my station and contemplated a quick warmup swim. I should at least make sure the goggles fit alright and didn't leak terribly, but I didn't get around to it. Mostly because I didn't want to get wet and cold. And maybe partly because I didn't want to know if there was a problem.
The start was in "waves". Kurt and I were in the first and Kimmy, Nicole, and Elaine were in the third. They started every 7 minutes and I fully expected to be caught by at least one wave, if not two. They put us in the river a few minutes ahead of the start and we just treaded water until the start. I wasn't expecting that. Kurt and I hung out in the back and waited for most people to leave before we went. We weren't looking to set a speed record and didn't want to be in the way of others or caught up in the mishmash of limbs. Alone, Kurt and I still managed to collide.
The swimming went OK, except it turns out I pull to the right when I don't have a lap lane to follow. The water was murky and it threw off the little rhythm I had to look up to spot the bouys we were supposed to swim around. It is disheartening, while spotting the course, to see people doing a back float passing you. After a brief stint or two on my back (early on after collisions), and one pause to defog the goggles, I actually felt good. Regardless of pace, I felt confident I would make it through the swim and therefore, the entire triathlon. I didn't realize how slow I was going though (in my head I had picked up the pace) until I was passed by the fast people from wave 2 at less than halfway around. I wandered on my merry way, correcting course as needed and finished with a mix of swimmers from waves 2 and 3. In all, my olympic form netted me 629 out of 708 on the swim with a time of 30 minutes and 12 seconds.
I was all smiles coming out of the water. Biking was next and I wasn't worried about the course. I slowly jogged to the transition area (I needed to look like I was racing for the cameras) and was just in time to see Kurt heading out. Damn it is hard to get dressed quickly when you are wet. I toweled off a bit, but I felt silly as I sat there struggling to finish pulling on the biking jersey that refused to budge. In no rush, I sat to drink some water and relax for a moment. Aura cleansed, I jogged my bike out of transition 3 minutes and 28 seconds after entering.
There was a pretty good crowd as I came out on my bike and it was exciting. I've never been in an actual bike race, just charity rides. I didn't want to push too hard and spend all my energy before the run, but damn does it feel good to blow by other riders. The course wasn't that hilly, and I made sure to pass people on the few hills there were. Drafting was not allowed, and there are rules on how close you can be to another rider and how long it can take you to pass them and clear that zone. They had officials on motorcycles patrolling, and it was a strange feeling when one decided to match my pace for a bit, perhaps to make sure I wasn't breaking any rules. It made me paranoid and I hesitated to pass while it was there.
It was a two lap course and I managed to see my parents on both loops. I couldn't help smiling as I passed since it was exciting and hard to feel in a serious racing mood. I did well on the bike portion and it took me a touch over 49 minutes to complete the 25k, netting 129th of 708 overall. I actually logged a faster pace and longer distance than the official record, so maybe I added distance wandering side to side of the most efficient line. It has always been right on when I check it against other measured courses...
I made it through the next transition in two and a half minutes. There was less to do, but I still took some time to drink more water and get a few deep breaths in.
The run went well and I came pretty close to my goal pace of 8 minute miles. There was a refreshment table about a mile in and I tried to drink some water on the way by. I slowed a little but mostly just ended up splashing myself and then throwing the cup away. I tried again on the way back, this time taking Gatorade and walking by so I could actually drink it. That left just a little over a mile to good and I was feeling decent. Not good enough to push the pace, I just wanted to maintain.
The finish was exciting. There were lots of people lining the street and I saw my dad straight off. I picked up the pace a little because pain and exhaustion seemed temporarily banished by the cheering. I looked around but couldn't find Agnes or mom on the way in. Mom said she had Karen and Aaron on the phone so I had cheering all the way down in Florida, which I thought was really cool.
Dad met me as I took a cool down walk. I still hadn't seen mom or Agnes, but I headed back to join the crowd and cheer the others in. Our official results:
Class Rank
First Name
Swim
Swim Rank
Trans1
Bike
Bike Rank
MPH
Trans2
Run
Run Rank
Pace
Sex Rank
Final
Overall Rank
52/62
ELAINE
25:20
503
04:01
01:01:04
560
14.5
02:03
31:38
569
10:12
177
02:04:08
564/708
29/62
NICOLE
18:18
131
03:22
00:58:18
484
15.2
01:39
25:23
271
08:11
74
01:47:02
281/708
51/70
KURT
28:26
589
02:57
00:54:17
338
16.3
02:20
27:31
391
08:52
296
01:55:33
444/708
34/70
DOUG
30:12
629
03:28
00:49:04
129
18.0
02:30
24:47
217
07:59
225
01:50:03
337/708
33/62
KIMBERLY
21:55
310
02:31
00:54:54
360
16.1
02:13
28:25
444
09:10
96
01:49:59
335/708
I don't know if I'll try this again. It was a neat experience, but I'd neat to get in a lot more swim time first. Given that I have a lot of other hobbies I like more, I'm not sure that will happen.
We had a celebratory cookout at my place afterward, which my guests hijacked and turned into a birthday party for me. We had lots of food and for the most part sat around to talk and watch videos. Everyone seemed tired for some reason...
