The Tri Story

So, The race was in Laurens, SC so Mike and I headed down after he got off work to my cousins house who happens to live in Laurens, to crash there for the night. I really was not nervous at all the day or evening before. She cooked a great meal (OK Whole Foods cooked a great meal!), we ate dinner, hung out for a while and she walked me through how things would go in the morning. We also sat down with our transition bags to make sure I had everything I would need for the race. Swim Goggles, check, Bike Helmet, check, socks & running shoes, check, hydration pack, sunglasses, visor, Carb Boom fruit chews, towel, check, check, and check. I placed my race number on my bike helmet and that was pretty much all the preparation for the night so I turned in around 9pm. Amazingly enough, I was actually able to fall right to sleep. I slept all night long and woke up at 4:20am, about 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. I was really amazed at how calm I was when I woke up. I got up, splashed some water on my face, pulled my hair back and put on my tri suit. Then i pulled out the trusty Bible for some comfort and read a few key passages about being anxious and read the competitors creed about 5 times and I felt pretty calm. I have heard that you should not do anything different on race day than you do on training days but............I decided to go against my better judgement and try this drink that my cousin has before her race in lieu of eating solid foods. Supposedly this is better on your system when racing. So she mixed me up some and it looked like a sickeningly sweet, milky, sludge, sounds good huh?! So I took 2 sips and thought I was going to vomit! I really felt seriously ill. At this point, i wasn't sure if I was naseaus because I was nervous or because I had drunk that horrendous concoction! In any event, I could not get anything else down and had to go on to the race on an empty stomach. Better than tossing my cookies all over I guess. So we headed out about 5:45 am for the race. At this point, I am really worried I am going to have to pull over so I can be sick, but I pop in a piece of mint gum and that seems to settle my stomach a bit. 7 minutes later we are there and people are already setting up their stuff and getting body marked. We walked through the transiton area and chose a prime spot for our bikes and other misc. things. I was a little nervous about how you set up your stuff because it seemd to me that it was very crowded and I was worried about knocking somebody elses stuff off. Once I got all of my stuff laid out, socks on top of shoes, helmet on the ground, visor and race belt behind that, it was time to go and get body marked.
This was fairly simple, you tell them your race number and pick up your chip which you strap to your left leg and then they proceed to write on you with this ginormous permanant marker. the smell in that place was enough to knock you out!! Your number goes on your right arm, left arm,the front of your right and left thigh and then your age goes on your right calf (no lying here!!) After all that was settled, and I had met a few new friends, i decided I needed to get in the pool and warm up. a couple of laps and a few last minute pointers later, it was time to exit the pool and get lined up. At this point I am getting really excited and the adrenaline is really starting to kick in. While waiting in line to get in the pool I talked to several people and everyone was so nice and so supportive, congratulating me already for doing a triathlon even though we hadn't started. It was very neat to be in that kind of an atmosphere. I have never in my life been in an athletic type racing event. I have competed before but never in this arena. It was sort of intoxicating really. So then it was my time to get in the pool and there is no huge sound or horn or anything telling you to go, just a person stadning there letting people go about every 30 seconds and all they do is say "ok go" in this very non-chalant way. Kind of anti-climactic at that point but it did keep me from just taking off.
Everyone had told me to really pace myself at first so I didn't run out of steam at the end, so I swam at a nice slow pace, actually really slow as it turned out! My swim time ended up being 6:20 which is about 20sec slower than my usual time, guess I could have pushed a little harder, but my goal was just to finish. Oh, I did pass one person in the pool, that felt like a little victory. So I jump out of the pool, OK climb out of the pool and try to "run" out to the transition area. I found my bike fine and my earlier worries of knocking peoples stuff off was not necessary because they were all gone!
I strapped on my helmet first,then I rinsed my feet off, tried desparately to pull socks onto wet feet, (try this sometime, not easy!), pulled on my tennis shoes, strapped on my hydration pack and ran my bike out through the transition gate and to the mounting point, jumped on and off I went.


The bike started out up hill and at this point I was breathing like I was in labor, I had to really concentrate on getting my breathing under control. It took me about 3 minutes to recover and really start pedaling and it was at this point that I realized how weak my legs felt. Biking is usually my best event, but not that day, I could hardly get above 15 mph. So several people passed me on the bike, but that was ok. The bike was great, although it seemed weird to be out there pretty much by myself without anyone else around. The route was clearly marked so no problems there. I just really couldn't believe how weak my legs felt. It took me 56 minutes to bike what should have taken about 45. But I didn't have to stop. So I come in from the bike into the transition and as I am hanging my bike up, taking off my hydration pack and bike helmet, I'm grabbing my race belt with number to throw on and my carb booms. Mike is standing outside of transition and tells me that my cousin, who originally talked me into doing this, has had a wreck and is out of the race. So I'm just standing there in shock and he yells, "Run!". Oh, right, I'm in a race, run!! So I start off on the run and I immediately start running too fast, I had to reign myself in a little and slow down because the entire first half of the run is uphill. So I'm going at a snails pace, or so it feels, although no one passed me on the run. I actually felt pretty good during the entire run. I ate my carb booms and grabbed one cup of water and was on the home stretch when I see Mike and my cousin up ahead on the road.
My cousin has come to push me hard the last quarter mile so here she is all bandaged up, running in her flip flops and I'm having a hard time keeping up with her! needless to say she is an awesome triathlete. I finish the run, which was also straight uphill, in 32 min, which was pretty good for me and then it is over. I cross the finish line and there is my mom waiting for me. It was totally awesome! I couldn't believe I actually finished without having to stop. Aside from the weak legs on the bike, everything went fairly smooth, including the transitions. I was really proud of myself for setting a goal and sticking with it. Mike and I were talking afterwards and I was just reminding him that I have NEVER done anything athletic, much less competitive in my life. This was the first time ever. So at 32 years old I managed my first ever athletic event and competition. Not too bad, and yes, I will be doing it again next year!!