I am a triathlete! This morning I did the Ryka Irongirl triathlon in Columbia, MD. 0.6 mile swim, 17.5 mile bike, 3.3 mile run. It was great. Doing an all-woman event was wonderful, and it was very well organized.
Last night didn't go so well. At 10 pm the doorbell rang and the county police were there investigating a report of gunshots at my house. Uh, no. I was in bed with my earplugs in and didn't hear any gunshots. That didn't help me sleep well for the rest of the night.
When I woke up, it was 77 degrees and 84% humidity. You could swim through the air. We had to be at the park very early, so we were setting up the transition area in the dark. It had rained overnight at the event site so all the bikes were soaking wet. With one exception (one woman got snitty about how someone else was taking her valuable transition space) all the women were friendly and supportive.
As we got ready to start, I got choked up when I realized that I had never before been a participant in any athletic event where they sang the national anthem. It was a special moment.
I was in the first swim wave, with the over-50 crowd and teenagers. (I was probably the young one of the bunch because I won't be 50 for another month, but they use your age as of December 31.) The swim went fine, not too much thrashing and grabbing of feet, but I took the advice to stay to the outside since I wasn't worrying about winning. I was a bit slower than I had planned, maybe 27 minutes instead of the hoped-for 25, probably because I stayed to the outside.
The bike ride was fantastic. It was a very hilly course, and it was slippery due to the overnight rain. One woman wiped out on a corner and was being carried off on a stretcher when I went by. There were lots of volunteers and neighborhood residents cheering us on, and it was such a pleasant ride. I rode it faster than I had ever ridden the course, in something like an hour and 15 minutes or so.
The run is the worst part for me. I only started running 6 weeks ago when I signed up for the triathlon, so I didn't expect to do great. I walked most of the uphills and ran the rest, and it worked out ok. My time was again the fastest I've ever done the course, but I had to add a few minutes because I had to use the portajohn before the run. I think I did it in 42 minutes plus the john time.
They don't have individual segment times posted yet, but my overall time was 2:38:53, 47/60 in my age group and 1088/1249 overall. I must be underestimating my times somewhat because it doesn't add up when I factor in what I think my transition times were, but what the heck.
Ten years ago I made a list of 50 things to do before I die (except I only came up with 29.) One of those things was "do a short triathlon." 5 years ago I crossed it out with the notation "let's be realistic." A year and a half ago I was 40 pounds heavier and sedentary. This year I put the triathlon back on my list and now I can swim, bike, and run for nearly 3 hours and have a good time doing it. Life is good for this slow, fat triathlete. :D
