ok, so... a word to the wise.
if you're new to triathlon. and you think maybe the swim is a little scary. and your race is coming up in about an hour....
do not.
under any circumstances.
stand around and watch the first waves swim out.
because that... was not fantastic on my part.
up until this point in the day yesterday, everything was great. i'd made it through body marking, i'd somehow managed to find a spot in transition, sort of copying off everyone around me to set up my area, my tri-top was kinda cute (obviously. this is an important aspect of the day), and i was taking in eye candy left and right.
and eye candy can never be bad.
not. ever.
7:30 rolled around though and long course was due to start.
i made my way down to the beach, having really only ever seen this sort of thing once before, and thought it'd help calm me down to watch.
oooooooooooh how i was wrong.
just totally and utterly wrong.
0% and Tall Cousin were in a perfect viewing locale for the start so i joined them along the sidelines, waiting for those first fast long course people to swim out.
as they walked across the timing mat, lined up in a pretty large glob in the water and stood around before the swim... i got a little sick.
uh-muh-guh. sh*t.
slowly, i started to lose it. i had the nervous giggles. something i've only ever experienced with racing nerves, and never quite to this extent. Tall Cousin thought it was funny, 0% looked at me with a little bit of alarm, but as soon as that air horn went off and they dove in the water....
i was a goner for sure.
what in the hell am i doing?
WHAT in the HELL am i DOING?!?!!
i am going to die. i am going to straight up drown. they are going to have to pull my bloaty floating carcass out of the water.... i am going to die.
....... this can't be good.
oh yeah.. i lost it. my breathing became somewhat of a joke, i was doing that sort of crazy-person wide eyed laugh that i sometimes get, and tears were just streaming down my face.
it wasn't until the swimmers were around the first buoy that i finally sort of began to pull it together and breathe with any sort of regularity at all.
"wow. so i think i'm kinda nervous".
0% and Tall Cousin both laughed and decided maybe... mayyyybe i shouldn't watch the next wave, so we walked away.
the long course folks all took off, and nobody drowned. 0% Tall and i walked around to see them into/out of T-1, and everyone looked good and had fun.
suddenly though, 8:30 rolled around... and it was my turn to go.
waves 4 through 8 made up the short course swim, and i was seeded back in number 7.
fine by me i thought. its not like i even KNOW how to swim. i'm probably going to doggie paddle the entire thing.
IF I EVEN MAKE IT OUT ALIVE. yeesh.
0% guy and girl, Tall and Short cousin, though, were all there to help.
ok. Tall and Short cousin were probably there for the comedic side of it all... but 0% guy and gal.. they were there to help.
so were, as it turns out... pretty much everyone around me.
the fact that i was nervous. and that this was my first race.... well. everyone around me knew. and where normally that might be a little embarrassing, i might hang in the back and keep to myself...
no. these triathletes were nothing but nice. and everyone made me feel much better about the whole ordeal. i made friends with a few of them, chatted while the waves ahead of us made their way, and somehow managed to socialize and interact in a totally normal way.
before entering the water 0% guy told me to get to the outside and back. let everyone else do their thing... they'll all go out too fast to start... and "you'll just swim right by them at the turn. don't worry about it, you'll be fine".
even now... it makes me kinda laugh.
YEAH. RIGHT.
walking across the timing mat, into the water.... i wish i could give that experience justice with words.. but i just can't.
there were really big rocks i had to walk over, carefully so as not to gash my foot... i was trying to make it to the outside but yet stay in the back, and Race Event Guy, with his little bullhorn behind me, kept telling us "30 seconds. get ready to go you've got 15 seconds now"....
i wanted to deck him in the mouth.
i wasn't ready. not that any amount of time what-so-ever would have actually made me ready... but i felt as though, ya know... 15 seconds? really? that seems highly unfair and rather quick for us to suddenly be ready to go dive head first into a really large body of water and swim.
wtf-ever! JERK!
(yeahhhhh. i really am a joy and a blessing to all those around me. i know.)
but i had no choice. the horn went off.... i don't actually remember the horn going off... but i'm relatively certain, the horn went off, and people just sort of... started to swim.
the phrase "oh my god"... was probably overused. i'm pretty sure those were the only three words in my vocabulary for the first few minutes of "swim".
which really wasn't a swim. it was sort of this mass chaos, people everywhere, why can't i take a deep breath, i'm pretty sure my head should be IN the water, but it doesn't seem to want to go just...
clusterf*ck. it was a MESS.
the water was something like 78 degrees. really pure joy if not for the 30 pairs of arms and legs surrounding me and completely getting in my way.
every time i went to breathe... water. in my mouth. or up my nose.
because i'm really fantastic and always thinking clearly, the first time i started to choke, i actually attempted to stand.
to. stand.
it didn't work out so well.
i sort of freaked.
the swim was a simple 300 yet that first half was pure hell. it wasn't until i forced my face in the water and told myslef TO SWIM GAWL-DARNIT! did things start going well.
its just like in the pool. its just like in the pool. just swiiiiiim. swiiiiiim. and somehow that little mantra helped me through.
at the half way point i'd caught up to a few people that i'd seen ahead of me in the beginning and congratulated myself on not being last.
it didn't last very long. because as it turns out, the breast stroke is a popular thing.
i didn't want to veer off to the side very far because i had this probably irrational fear that a lifesaving boat would scoop me up and i'd be out of the race. so instead of going around this sort of wall of people, i just swam.
really, really slow.
however in the end, that was probably a good thing. because when i got out of the water, i felt as fresh as could be, and ran up to T-1 no problem.
the race from here on out was pretty money. i really enjoy the bike.
during the week... well. whenever not in a race... i'd probably never admit to it. ever. but i'm pretty sure the bike will become "my thing".
lord knows the run never will.
but passing people... its so new and fun to me.... yeah. i think the bike will be my thing.
the short course bike was something like an 8 mile ride. pretty cheese, i thought, as i passed people left and right.
granted.. i was passing mountain bikers, and probably fellow first-timers, and its probably sick how much i enjoyed it all, considering i myself wasn't even really going very fast, but... pretty cheese, i thought, none the less.
*sigh*
oh how the mighty shall fall.
somewhere inside of 3 miles... i dropped my chain.
i'd had this completely stupid idea to do as much of the race as i could in my big chain ring.. just cuz. i have no real reason why... but one of the hills made me need to shift down and.... yeah.
i dropped my chain.
fixing it wasn't really a big deal. i got off my bike, got myself nice and dirty, because of course my first fix didn't um.. really work, but i dealt with it and moved on. however...
it kinda sucked me dry. stopping allowed my body to realize what was going on um, hi. this is a TRIATHLON. you sick and twisted freak! and i suddenly became rather.... fatigued.
i hopped back on my bike and was once again faced with all the folks ahead of me that i had just passed.
son of a @$#^*. that's so not cool!
up ahead of me a ways, was this chick.
i didn't know her from adam, but she was.. "the chick". the one i had to beat. i'd passed her once before and seeing her ahead of me on the next hill was all i needed to get back in the game.
nuh. uh. you ain't beatin' me swimsuit racer girl. YOU'RE GOIN' DOWN!
immediately, i channeled bold. if ever there was someone who could take down some swimsuit racer girl ahead of him.. its bold. so i put my head down, and i rode.
it took me a hill and a turn, but finally i passed her, and it felt really really good.
soon after that we were back in the park, and it was off to T-2.
i almost fell off my bike trying to de-mount so i reminded myself i'm not actually going to win this thing, and calmed down a bit.
it was off to the run.
and, well.... we all know how i feel about the run.
it came and it went. i still really really need to practice that transition, because its just dumb how long it takes for me to get my legs to move, but... the run was the run. i was happy to be two thirds done.
at about this time, everyone from the long course was coming in. KCM jerseys passed me left and right and i had a lot of fun cheering them on.
at about the half-way point, so 1.5 miles in, i finally felt my groove and maintained a pretty even, probably 11 minute mile run the rest of the way in.
we turned into the park, there were familiar faces all around, and i whooped and i cheered as i came down to finish the run.
it was all just too much fun.
afterwards, i was nothing but smiles. 0% asked me how it went and the first thing outta my mouth was "that was totally doable!!!"... and it was.
soon after i found myself saying "lets do that again!!" and i realized... i've caught the bug.
it really didn't take much.
everyone i've run into with this sport, is nothing but nice. they're all fun. and supportive.. and i realize that very well could be just luck of the draw. KCM draws in the right people, we all support one another, laugh at and with each other, and push and inspire each other... and maybe that's just how we do.
but being out on that course yesterday, with so many people recognizing it as my first race... all the well wishes, the smiles and the cheers...
triathlon is where its AT. and i look forward to becoming more a part of this sport, learning more, getting faster!!!, and just this whole life.
yesterday was a blast.
and for those who wish to know... (i so still can't read these results. i don't know if this is right...)
Overall: 1:16:19 (227/314)
Swim -- 300 yards : 7:32 (203/314.... 2:31 pace. aw. sadly slow.)
Transition : 2:30
Bike: 29:32 (215/314... 16.7 pace)
Cumulative (this is the part i don't understand) : 39:32 (206/314)
Transition: 2:00
Run: 34:48 (249/314.... 11:12 pace. i have GOT to learn to run faster.)
