I did not finish last at the Triathlon. Just want to get that out of the way. Did not finish last.
It was one hell of a race though and the swim nearly killed me. Let me break it down;
They split us up into men's and women's sections, and then from there into the age groups of 20-40, 40+ (or something like that). Each group got to start at different times. I was the second to go, then women 40+, then men 20-40, then the old guys. After the first wave went (they were the "charity wave" of people who paid 25 dollars extra to start 10 minutes before everyone else) me and the rest of my wave waded out into the Columbia (which was very slimy on the the bottom, and I'd rather not think about why it was slimy). The river was surprisingly shallow, made it out almost to the middle it felt like before I couldn't touch. I was extremely nervous to say the least, especially because I noticed before I got into the water how 85% of the people had wet suites on and I had nothing but a swimsuit. The water was not that cold however, and I warmed up as soon as I started moving. I was chatting with some of the ladies in my wave before they fired the gun about how this was my first race ever and they were impressed and we were generally just shooting the shit all friendly like, but as soon as that gun went off it was game time. No more friends here. Of course, they all left me in the dust as I swam/choked/paddled/choked/floated my way to the end of the 1/2 mile (I'm sure spectators were thinking how they needed to get a life guard because there was a poor girl floundering for her life). BUT, i finished the 1/2 mile in 19 minutes, 6 minutes better than what I averaged in the pool.
On the transition to the bike I fought a long, painful battle with getting my swimsuit off and getting into my running pants. Of course there were little kids around so I couldn't just whip everything off and jump in. No, I had to fight with a towel to stay wrapped around me while I yanked on dry, skintight running pants onto my still wet body. Took me 4 minutes.
Then I was off on my clunky old mountain bike with huge off road ready tires.
Never have I been so envious of people with city street ready bikes with their sleek tires that cause them to zip on down the nicely paved trail. But I clunked along, got passed by my two buddies who were doing this with me (and who both started at two different times behind me). I completed the whole 12.5 miles in abut 57 minutes.
Then the last section was staring me boldly in the face. The section I, under normal circumstances, would have kicked butt on. The 5K run. I love running, and I do it all the time so naturally I thought I had this part in the bag. Wrong. As soon as I jumped off my bike my legs immediately went to jelly and demanded, quite forcibly, where the heck did I think I was going? See, I neglected training for the bike part because I am no fan of riding bicycles. Mistake. I was able to beat my noodles for legs into a steady pace, but it was a slow pace. Finished the run in 33 minutes.
Everyone got a medal for participating (which is actually quite neat because it doubles as a bottle opener) but the real trophy for me was getting a free massage afterward. Oh yeeeeeeah.
It was one hell of a race though and the swim nearly killed me. Let me break it down;
They split us up into men's and women's sections, and then from there into the age groups of 20-40, 40+ (or something like that). Each group got to start at different times. I was the second to go, then women 40+, then men 20-40, then the old guys. After the first wave went (they were the "charity wave" of people who paid 25 dollars extra to start 10 minutes before everyone else) me and the rest of my wave waded out into the Columbia (which was very slimy on the the bottom, and I'd rather not think about why it was slimy). The river was surprisingly shallow, made it out almost to the middle it felt like before I couldn't touch. I was extremely nervous to say the least, especially because I noticed before I got into the water how 85% of the people had wet suites on and I had nothing but a swimsuit. The water was not that cold however, and I warmed up as soon as I started moving. I was chatting with some of the ladies in my wave before they fired the gun about how this was my first race ever and they were impressed and we were generally just shooting the shit all friendly like, but as soon as that gun went off it was game time. No more friends here. Of course, they all left me in the dust as I swam/choked/paddled/choked/floated my way to the end of the 1/2 mile (I'm sure spectators were thinking how they needed to get a life guard because there was a poor girl floundering for her life). BUT, i finished the 1/2 mile in 19 minutes, 6 minutes better than what I averaged in the pool.
On the transition to the bike I fought a long, painful battle with getting my swimsuit off and getting into my running pants. Of course there were little kids around so I couldn't just whip everything off and jump in. No, I had to fight with a towel to stay wrapped around me while I yanked on dry, skintight running pants onto my still wet body. Took me 4 minutes.
Then I was off on my clunky old mountain bike with huge off road ready tires.
Never have I been so envious of people with city street ready bikes with their sleek tires that cause them to zip on down the nicely paved trail. But I clunked along, got passed by my two buddies who were doing this with me (and who both started at two different times behind me). I completed the whole 12.5 miles in abut 57 minutes.
Then the last section was staring me boldly in the face. The section I, under normal circumstances, would have kicked butt on. The 5K run. I love running, and I do it all the time so naturally I thought I had this part in the bag. Wrong. As soon as I jumped off my bike my legs immediately went to jelly and demanded, quite forcibly, where the heck did I think I was going? See, I neglected training for the bike part because I am no fan of riding bicycles. Mistake. I was able to beat my noodles for legs into a steady pace, but it was a slow pace. Finished the run in 33 minutes.
 |
| Still managed to throw my gang symbol while crossing the finish line. |
Needless to say I will probably never do another Tri again. Been there, done that, I hate swimming and I loath biking, not doing it again. I do, however, want to do a half marathon and maybe eventually do a full one. We shall see. I am aiming to do the half sometime next spring/summer.
On a different note,
I passed the interview for the peace corps and am in! I just have to pass all the medical exams and then pass all my classes i'm taking this year and around this time next year I could be leaving to some far corner of the world for a whole 27 months! (no, I don't know where I'll be going yet and I probably won't know until about a week before I have to leave).
I am also leaving tomorrow morning for Japan. I'll be there from Aug 2-12th and then I get to spend a whole glorious day in LAX until I fly back to PDX (aaack).
I'll post diligently on my travels for the next two weeks, as I have in the past (i.e. expect lots of pictures).
Jamie
1 comment:
You finished in better time than I did. My swim was agonizing at best. But you finished *yay*
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