A few months back the gym that I go to(Crossfit Sarasota, formerly known as Crossfit Port Charlotte, plug plug) decided that it would be a good idea to sign up for a Sprint Triathlon in Sarasota. I said no way no how. Then slowly I thought about it, talked with Mark about it, and decided, what the hell. So I signed up.
The Preparation:
We had one workout that included a swim, although not the 400 meters that would be in the race, a chance to practice your swim. I didn't drown, a good sign. Running is not my favorite thing, but I have run 3 miles before (thank you Hege) so I knew I could do it, even if I had to walk, and the 13 mile bike ride I figured would be a piece of cake, since I am a cyclist, and 13 miles is not that far. But let it be known that I have not ridden my bike in months!
The Morning of the Race:
I woke up at 4:40 so I could get my breakfast and coffee in before 5, race time was 7:55am and 1 hour away. As most of you reading this blog are well aware of my directional disabilities you can understand that I was more nervous about finding my way to the race than the race itself! But thanks to mapquest, I arrived, early in fact! Not having a clue as what to do I sort of roamed around, checked out the facilities, and then I hear "Transition area is closing in 30 seconds" WTF?? I don't know what to do, where to go, where to put my stuff, basically I am panicking! I find this nice woman (she saved me) she told me to run and get my things and she would help me, but hurry! Oh shit. Not the nice relaxed morning I had planned.
The Race:
Everyone was on the beach, talking amongst themselves, checking out the competition, I am super glad that someone once told me that nervousness does not show on the outside! For those of you who read this and are not familiar with triathlons, they mark you with your race number, but also they put your racing age on your right calf. So, looking around you can see who is in your age group. I am looking around and feeling like everyone in my age group is more fit than me, thankfully I say this out loud to my new gym friend Karina and she politely tells me that I am way to hard on myself and that I fit in just fine. Okay, maybe it won't be so bad. I don my purple swim cap and get ready for my start time.
The Swim:
400 meters, it looks far. The waves are crashing onto the beach. This will not be easy. Everyone around me is wearing goggles. I am the lone tool. I am the only one not wearing goggles and also the only one that has my race number neatly pinned to my top. Crap, I hate being the lone tool! I strike up a conversation with the purple cap next to me, she thinks having my number on my top will be fine, it should make it through the swim, but next time I should know that they make these belt things that you can put your number on. huh? 3-2-1 go! Everyone runs into the water, so of course I have to run into the water, monkey see, monkey do! All these fit women over 40 are doing the crawl perfectly, breathing every other stroke, and here comes tool girl! Breast stroke, back stroke, tread water, repeat. That was my swimming strategy! hahahahha But I can do this. The waves are huge today and you take three strokes forward and get pushed back four! Not even to the first buoy, man this is hard. People are kicking me, I am kicking people, purple caps everywhere! Around the first buoy and the swimming gets a little easier, I pass a few pink caps (aka women younger than 40) I find that I can go faster doing the back stroke, so I stay with that for a while. I hear a woman in distress to my right, ask her if she is okay and she replies, "no" so I call over the surfboard saver girl, reality sets in. Relax. Breath. Around the second buoy, and it gets much easier when the waves are coming from behind, a swimming tailwind! I keep checking to see if I can touch, no. Crap. Pretty soon I can touch and I walk a little and swim a little until I get close to the beach. I take off my silly purple cap (vanity is always just under the surface) and run through the flour like sand and crowd who is cheering! Swim: done!
The Bike:
I get to the transition, get my shoes, get my bike, my helmet and head out. I keep Mark's advise close to mind the whole time, don't go out too hard. I go for quite a while with no one passing me and me passing no one. Which I figure is good. Then I pass a few, a few pass me, and I am always looking at their right calf and checking their age. I am only concerned with 45-49. That is all. Although it does sting a little when someone over 49 passes you. I just ride along and with no idea how fast I am going or how far. I just keep pedaling at a good pace, not to hard, because I need to save some for the run. But I feel good. I stay hydrated, and keep my eyes on the finish.
Bike: done!
The Run:
I get off my bike, switch my shoes, grab a water on the way out and...oh hell no. I cannot do this. My legs are toast. I haven't even run 1/2 mile and I am already mentally giving up. Regroup, refocus. I just keep going, one foot in front of the other. People are passing me pretty regularly now, I check the calf, 26, 40, 35, 71, WHAT? 71? I am not lying, a woman ran by me, and she did the same race as I did, 71 years old, and she passed me!! I could not help but cheer her on as she went by me. What an inspiration. I chatted with a guy with orange shoes, I am getting me some orange shoes, I think they make you faster! I try thinking about scrapbooking, no good, doesn't work. I glance down for some reason and I see wrinkles above my knees on every step. HUH? I don't have wrinkly knees! I look again as maybe this is some sort of mirage, nope still there. So now I am only thinking of my wrinkly knees and wondering when this happened. Oh, it must be from the salt water, yeah that has got to be it. Whew, glad I explained that one away. I am not ready for wrinkly knees. Back to running. At this point I tell myself I am not walking. Do not walk Shari. So now that is my goal, run the whole 5K wrinkly knees and all. I feel like we are getting closer and sure enough we enter the woods which means we are close! Signs everywhere indicating we are almost to the finish, volunteers saying just around the corner, but dang corner after corner and I am still not finished, I want to walk, DON'T DO IT SHARI, DON'T WALK! Oh fine, I run until I hear the roar of the crowd and see the finish line! YEAH, I am done! I find the keeper of the phone,keys,camera and call Mark to tell him of my awesomeness!! I am proud of my time and so is he. That is all I need.
Until next time, Mullet's out..............
me and Karina after the race!
Nice post Shari...and FYI you are probably more fit than all those women out there.
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