Sprint Distance: Swim 300 meters, Bike 8.4 miles, Run 4K (2.5 miles)
I got up at 4:15 AM. Ate: 1/2 Fat free muffin but couldn't finish it. Nerves? 3/4 cup coffee, then 1/2 Power Bar on the drive in, and water.
Left house at 5:15 for San Dimas. Arrived around 6:00 AM, picked up packet and goodie bag, bathroom, set up transition area.
About 5-10 mins. before start of swim, a large dog (german shepherd) attacked a cocker spaniel, holding it in its mouth above the ground. It was very traumatic & unsettling and I had to calm myself down. The owner of the larger dog just stayed there! Several people were mumbling, "why doesn't she leave?," etc., and I finally yelled, "Get your dog out of here!" which was followed by numerous other people yelling the same. I asked the owners of the cocker spaniel if it was OK and they say "we don't know." My heart was racing. The owner of the spaniel was a participant, and shortly thereafer I noticed they were gone.
Just before the start of the race I saw my friends Kim, Jeff, and their boys Riley & Reid. You don't know how great it feels to have your friends there to support you!
I found out they shortened the swim to about 300 meters (originally 400), which elicited a huge cheer when announced. The swim started with the championship group (longer) of men first, then the women. When our group started I hung to the back of the pack based on the advice of many for a 1st timer - helps avoid being kicked around a lot. It was so much harder than I expected (despite warnings of this). I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere, gasping for air, and at one point was swimming across rather than forward! Fortunately I wasn't the only one - one girl swam all the way to shore before she realized she was way short of the finish. About 1/2 way through I calmed myself and just swam on my back so I could catch my breath. I heard a lifeguard tell the wayward girl something about "do 10 strokes and..." (something) and I decided "10 strokes, then look at where you're at", so that's what I did. It worked. As soon as I could stand I started pulling off my goggles & wetsuit since they say to take it off when it's wet. I was still gasping :-) but I kept moving. My transition felt surprisingly fast, didn't have any problems with the order of things, and my wetsuit came off without problems, probably thanks to the BodyGlide. I don't know what my T1 (Transition 1) time was because this race (unlike most races) doesn't break down your transition time, they just lump it into the first segment. My swim plus transition was 10:23 for 300 meters (less than 1/4 mile). My guess is that my T1 was in the 3 min. range. I finished the swim 165 out of 200. (I read one guy's review of his 1st tri swim, "I gasped. I swallowed water. I swallowed a bass." haha!)
Bike: Even though I was winded, I was just glad to be sitting! haha. Though the hard work started pretty quickly. I suppose the hills were normal for the non-rookies, but they were tough! (I did hear someone else comment on this) I fought one hill w/out stopping. On the 2nd one, I thought the end of the hill was coming so I kept going, only to find out the right turn (downhill) was not the course; we had to continue UP. I then had to walk a bit. On the 3rd hill, I had to stop for a drink. Unfortunately I was "sucking air" so badly that I inhaled the water and choked. duh. On about the 2nd hill I felt like I was in a hard gear and couldn't figure out what was up, because my gears were OK. Then I looked at my rear tire, it appeared to be flat, but I guess was just really low. I had checked the tire pressure the night before, but forgot to replace the cap. Ugh. At least I felt better about sucking in the bike portion. On a huge downhill I was up to 25 mph! Freaky if you've never gone that fast. I read somewhere that the elite racers hit 40-45 on this same hill. I preferred not to hit anything so I used my breaks a lot, even if it meant a slower time. I didn't want to find out what road rash was like. The 2nd transition was easy since I only had to remove my helmet, grab visor, water, & snacks. Time including T2 was 57:02 for 8.4 miles. Not too great. I finished the bike section 186 out of 200.
Run: I was a bit rubber leggy when I started but still jogged more than I had hoped I could. I refueled with my Cliff Blocks and water. The course was 98% gravel which I wasn't used to. Slipped & fell once on a steep downhill but caught myself with 1 hand. I finished the run/walk in 33:44 for 2.5 miles. I finished the run 174 out of 200.
Overall time: 1:41:07. No broken records, but no broken bones either. I finished 5th out of 7 in my age group, and was the oldest in my age group.
That's it. Feels good. If you had asked me 2 years ago, even 1 year if I would ever do this, I would've looked at you like you had two heads. But I found out it's possible. YOU can do it too!
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