Knotted's Danskin Triathlon
I did it! Yes indeedy!
Got there early, hung out with Team Survivor and got a TV camera in my face. I'll have to watch the news tonight. Then went down to the swim bit.
The water was warm. I had the misfortune to end up in the front 1/3 of my wave, so i got run over and kicked and such. Next year, I'm making SURE I'm in the BACK. Once i got some space the swim was pretty ok. I was way behind the pack, but that was fine. Got passed by 3 waves. The only really bad bit (other than the start) was when I tried to inhale half of Lake Washington. I treaded water, coughing and gagging, and had a kayak and a swim angel making beelines for me until I could holler that I was ok. When I came out of the water my family was running along the fence waving and screaming, and my friend (in a later wave) reached out and grabbed my hand, so that was all very cool.
Took my time in transition, ate a bag of Bloks, drank a lot, got my legs and breath back and then took off on the bike.
Bike was the best part! Woo-hoo! I was singing and hollering and cheering the racers and thanking the volunteers. I averaged 15.2 mph, which is very fast for me. I made a song out of "passing on your left" and got to sing it a lot. (this was the only time in the entire race when I passed people) At one point the race went through a long tunnel, and we were all screaming and whooping. The only bad bit was when the course diverted onto a steep footpath. We were supposed to be single-file but some body just had to try to pass the woman just behind me, and three folks ended up crashing. The rider ahead of me stopped dead, so i had to stop too, and ended up walking up the hill because it would've been just too dicey to try to get back on the bike and ride when most were walking and being passed by riders.
T2 went much faster. Changed shoes, grabbed my little bottle, stuffed my pocket with Bloks, and tried to take off with my gloves still on! Oopsy! I walked the run bit, and had a great time! Runners who needed a rest would stop and walk with me for a while, and we chatted. Runners coming the other way would recognize my shirt (or I'd recognize theirs) and we'd be doing high 5's and hollering. At the finish line, I still walked. I started bawling, and had to pretend there was something in my eye cuz i was embarrassed that I was getting weepy. Complete strangers were cheering me on at the finish line and it was just overwhelming.
I don't know my time, it's not posted yet. I forgot to hit my timer on my watch, so if we go by that I did the whole thing in 00:00:00. But I think it was more like 2 hrs and 15 minutes.
When my friend and I were walking to pick up our bikes we had a couple of teenagers behind us. They were being (they thought) cool. One was b*tching about how she and another girl waiting for their start just wanted to race, and how they were wishing Sally Edwards would just shut up. (SE cheers each wave for about a minute while they are waiting to start) I was thinking, "jeez you little squirts, do you have any idea who she IS?" Then Missy Triathlete started b*tching about how there were some Team Survivors in her wave (wave 4, which was MY wave and the only mixed Survivor/regular wave. Her number was just a few off from mine, so I know she wasn't lying to her friend about the wave) She went on about how the Survivors were so slow and got in her way. At that point I'd had enough, and whipped around with my Team Survivor shirt and number and told the Squirt I was sorry we were so slow, but some of us just couldn't help it. They both shut up after that.
I had so much fun! I want to do it again next year. But I'll practice swimming...
