I didn't die and wasn't last!

My first tri was this morning! Last night, as you can see from the blurry photo, I spent much time laying my gear out and going over it and over it. My biggest fear was that I would forget something essential (like my bike shoes), so I put the really important stuff in my bag first, so it was all way at the bottom. That was inconvenient when I woke up at 5:30 this morning (a full 15 minutes before my alarm) and re-checked everything.

There is one "transition area" where each athlete gets a space to put their bike and run gear. We were assigned a space that matched our race bib number (so mine was 563). The transition area was one big long region with racks on either side, and it opened at 7 this morning. Guess what time I arrived? 6:55! My planning involved laying out a towel with my bike stuff nearest the edge since I would need it first, so shoes and helmet, then run stuff nearer the back. I figured after the bike I would have access to my running shoes and the cute free hat they gave us. I hung a light zip-up fleece and windbreaker on my bike's handlebars so I could throw those on too. My bike has a "bento box" mounted on the top tube - essentially a little canvasy box with a mesh velcro top where you can put stuff you need during the ride - like Shot Blocks, my favorite electrolyte-containing athletic treat. They're like gummy bears for grownups who sweat a lot. I've learned from the many rides this season that the shot blocks packaging is impossible to get into while riding, and that the Ziploc freezer bags are also nearly impossible to get into, especially with bike gloves. However, the Ziploc sandwich bags are a hair smaller and a bit more flimsy. Bingo. I also left the top open and rolled the sides down before I stuffed it into the bento box so I could just grab instead of having to remove the bag and open it while riding and with gloves on. I also crammed my bike gloves in the bento box, figuring those I could put on on the fly. I left my socks ready to grab in the bike shoes, and all shoes were unlaced with the tongue pulled up so I could just stuff my feet in there as quickly as possible.

Of course, at 7:20, when I was finished setting up my transition area, I realized I had mucho time to kill, so I walked around and examined other people's transition areas to see if I missed anything. Nope - mine looked like other people's and I'd run through what I would need for each leg so many times I felt pretty good about walking away.

There were a bunch of Team in Training people there, which was great fun! I hung out with some of them for a bit, and my mentor, Cara showed up with our friend Michele to cheer us on! They cut their Napa trip short specifically to come down and yell for us - awesome!

At 8:30 there was a pre-race meeting to go over details, then we walked to the swim start.

There were five "waves" of starts, beginning with the collegiate men, then collegiate women, then 39-and-under men, 40-and-over men, and last but not least, all women. That. Sucked. It was a water start, so after the 1/4 mile walk to the dock we had to swim out to the start buoys. The poor women - we had to wait until almost 9:40 to actually begin the thing! I was less-than-pleased about that, partially because the sun was beating down on our wetsuit-clad backs and we were all starting to sweat.

Maybe it was good to be overheated at the beginning because the water was damn cold! I put my face in and swam face down to the start to get that ice cream headache over with. I will say that I DO NOT LIKE the feeling of a wetsuit at the my throat, but what can you do? Anyway, I purposely got in the water first and got to the start first, because I wanted a very specific position: front left side. The course was set up so we were making left turns (perfect as I mainly breathe on my left side!), so I wanted the shortest distance to that first buoy. I also did a "water polo" start, which means I had my butt on the surface of the water and my feet in the face of the person to my back. I did this for two reasons: 1) you start faster if you're already horizonal, and 2) I didn't want someone right on my ass and I was going to kick really hard at the start to avoid getting swum over.

The start was announced by a lovely looking couple, in a rowboat with a whistle. She counted us down. Then, the start! Kicking and elbows and feet and arm-for-arm swimming and pushing, and at one point I swam over the hips of someone to get her on my inside. We spaced out once we got around the first buoy, and then it was a nice swim to the dock where we got out of the water.

Oh wait, we didn't get out, we got pulled out. By a bunch of personal trainers. I have never felt so much like an overweight seal in my life. I was in skin-tight neoprene, cap-and-goggles, and there are two men grabbing my hands and heaving me up onto the dock, where I slid around for a minute before finding my feet. Also, the dock looked like it went straight into the hill behind it, but no, you had to turn left and run up the walkway. There were people who fell in the other side. Thankfully, I avoided doing that, but came pretty close!

Then, a long-ass run to the transition area. Running in neoprene while trying to remove the upper half is quite the adventure! But Cara and other Team in Training people were screaming at us as we ran by, which was so fun. As I passed them I tried to smile and realized my face was numb and I fear I grimaced at them instead. But I yelled at them "My face is numb!" as I ran by, so hopefully they understood.

The transition area was crazy - I'd already stripped off the top half of the wetsuit while running, but getting the bottom half off wasn't easy. Then, socks and bike shoes. Of course, my hands were frozen and my fingers were pretty numb, so lacing those damn shoes was hard! I also ditched the fleece and windbreaker and just rode in my swimming stuff (tank top and shorts). Helmet on, sunglasses on, socks and shoes on (which took way too long!), then bike off the rack and I was off! I shoved a shot block into my mouth to get the salt flavor from the water out of my mouth, but was so out of breath I had to chew with my mouth open and ended up drooling shot block pieces, then laughing at that and spitting even more out. Cute. You can't get on the bike until you get out of the transition area, so there was a bit of running there too to get through. The bike was lovely - I felt great and think I rode pretty hard. There was such a range of people it was interesting - from the crazy-fast people with the serious (and seriously expensive) tri gear to people you would never guess would do a triathlon, including a couple of people riding mountain bikes with knobby tires. That looked hard.

The bike route was three laps, and I felt stronger that I thought I would and passed quite a few people (including men who started ten minutes before the women!). Of course, I got passed a lot too! After three laps it was right back into the transition area to re-hang my bike and strip off the bike shoes and put on the running shoes! Again, tying shoes takes much longer than you think it does, and I might get some of those quick-lace thingies to save some time. I threw a hat on, laced my shoes, and took off to a crowd of TNT people cheering and yelling my name - so inspiring! I ran pretty hard out of the transition area then had to slow down as I got into the run a bit more. Conservation of energy - I was NOT going to walk.

The run was hard. I think I ran it pretty quickly - we all had timing chips velcroed to our ankles so we'll see when the official times come out - but I do know that I felt strong! The adrenaline in the transition area totally negates that dead leg feeling you get coming off the bike, it was awesome. And what a gorgeous day! Sun shining, people telling each other "good job!" and "you look great!" and "keep it up!" as we're running! The run took us one direction, then back by the transition area in the other direction, then to the finish. As I came back through the transition area there were the yells again, and I threw my hands in the air and then did the strongman sign with my arms - I think there may be a picture of it somewhere. One woman, as people were cheering for her, actually cartwheeled!

The last part of the run was such fun! You come around a corner and can see the finish, where people are cheering and there's an announcer and music blaring, and everyone just goes all-out! I ran the last 50 yards as hard as I could and crossed the finish line to high fives and congratulations. The clock, when I remembered to look at it, said 1 hour and 55 minutes, but the women started about 30-40 minutes after the official start, so who knows what my real time was. I am guessing very close to 1 hour and 30 minutes, which I am really excited about! So double that (minus a little for slowing down over distance) and that should be my time in Kona - I would guess 3 hours and 20 minutes.
SO FUN!

At the "after party" there was water, gatorade, oranges, bagels and cream cheese, pizza, and a winery giving out tastes of wine, which I thought was really weird. The Cabernet was lovely.

I went to lunch with Cara and Michele and am now at home in a fuzzy robe watching the US-Canada gold medal hockey game! GO USA! GREAT day! Very happy with my performance!