I don't know what it is about me: Either I have a look about me that says I will not complete a race or I have steel screws in my leg that mess with the timing systems. Hopefully it's the latter. Well, hopefully it's just the timing systems and a freak coincidence, but it is rather irritating. I completed a triathlon on Saturday and absolutely loved it! It was a bit tiring, but SO MUCH FUN! A triathlon is a swim, bike, and run. I did a "sprint' triathlon, which doesn't necessarily mean there is any sprinting going on, but it does mean the distances are a lot shorter than normal. The swim was a quarter of a mile, the bike was 14.6 miles and the run was 3 miles. The timing chip around my ankle beeped and recorded my time each time I went through the transitions areas and started a new leg of the race, but the final (and probably most important) result was not read. The reason I think there's something wrong with me is because this isn't the first time it has happened. I got a big old "DNF" (Did Not Finish) on the Sound to Narrows 12K run, too, because my chip didn't read at the end.
Well, I am impressed already with the organization of the triathlon I just did. After the race, I looked at the results sheets but I couldn't find my name, so David went to one of the people who were organizing the race and asked about it. She said there were three backups she would check and worse case scenario, she would check with the photographer when he took my picture at the end of the race and get the time from him. I got a call this morning saying that the 3 backups didn't work, but she had already emailed the photographer and will wait to hear from him.
The race was in Issaquah, very close to where David's sister and her family lives. So we stayed the night with them before the race so that I wouldn't have to get up quite so early. The race started at 7am. I got there at 6, got my bike set up and then found my friend Emily who was also doing the race. We stood around for a long time waiting for it to start. It felt frigid that morning, I was shivering (which might have been a little of nerves) but surprisingly, once I stepped into the water it wasn't all that cold. It was a little difficult swimming because we were all so close to one another, so I swallowed a bit of water but didn't get any black eyes from elbows or feet. I got out, ran to my bike and got my socks, shoes, helmet, and shirt on took off for the longest leg of the race. The people who do these triathlons are serious bikers, man. They would pass me and then I would look up and they'd be GONE! I felt like I was standing still or something, but my legs were definitely not feeling like I was standing still! Thankfully there weren't too many hills - only 2 - and they weren't too steep. I got to the end of the bike race, loaded my bike back into the transition area and took off running. I saw my sister-in-law with her family when I came out of the transition area, but felt like I was moving at a snail's pace. My legs were pretty tired from all that biking, but I kept going and ran (jogged is probably closer to the truth) the whole three miles. I wore my watch for the bike and run, so I know how long it took and the chip recorded my swim, so I guess it took me about an hour and a half. I had so much fun, I'm thinking of doing another one in a couple weeks.
After I was done with my race, my nephew Jack did the kids triathlon. It was a lot of fun watching them! He did great, especially with having learned to competently ride his bike just a week before the race!
