Triathlon Virgin no more!

Well I did it. I got up last Sunday at the insane time of 4:45 am, a good five hours before I would normally have opened my eyes, to try to kill myself...

A few months ago my friend, Ava Harris, asked me if I would be interested in triathlons. After thinking about it for a full second I figured why not! How hard could it be? So off she went and signed herself up in one. I, following through with one of my more endearing traits, waited till the last minute and was unable to enter. (I was not all that sad.)

After the race Ava told me all about her wonderful experience and although she did not paint a beautiful and flowery picture I still could not see what the big deal was. So a few weeks later when she asked me about the Metroplex Sprint Tri put on by IronHead Race Productions, http://www.ironheadrp.com/, I figured again, why not! This time I did sign up on time but the training I procrastinated on. And why not; it is a sprint. I should be able to handle that, right? "How hard could it be" was still on my mind.

So this brings us back to 4:45 in the morning on Sunday, June the 12th.

The alarm goes off and I pull myself out of bed. I go downstairs and feed my monster of a dog, Diesel. Then I go about getting myself prepared for this, as best I can. I put on my two piece tri suite - not something that just any person out there would ever really want to purchase - and pull on my shorts, a tank and of course my favorite running shoes ever!!!

I jump on my bike and ride the half mile over to Orin's place where Ava and I are meeting up and all driving to the race by caravan. So by 5:30ish we are on the road and by 6/6:15 we are parked at Joe Pool Lake. Good God, I am about to swim in a lake. With fish. And garbage. And weeds. Yuck!

So skipping through all the bike and equipment placements, we strip off our clothes down to the swim suite and then stand around for a good 30 minutes listening to "Triathlons 101." Then we watch as the first wave goes in: the 30 to 34 group. As the water clears Ava and I walk over and get in the water. We tread water for a few seconds and then the wonderful air horn lets us know that we are off!!!!

The swimming was pretty easy. You know, other than being kicked, swum over, scratched, and pretty much felling lost the entire time. I was told that you are supposed to pick a spot on the horizon and swim towards it. That would be great advice if not for the fact that while in the water surrounded by people thrashing about like injured fish, you can not see a damn thing! And the "horizon." Forget about it!

But all in all, I was lucky enough to be placed in a position where I could get a good break from the crowd so it wasn't all that bad. I will say that if you have a pool swimming history, this will be a shocker!

So then the transition. I sit down, dry off a bit. Stand up. Dry off a bit more. Pull on my shorts. Sit down to put on my socks and shoes. Get up. Start to walk off, go back for helmet. Go back for gloves. ... ... ... My time sucked in both transitions. It's like that first date thing where you change clothes 50 times in 5 minutes. All the while the clock never stops ticking!

So the bike ride, once it got underway, was nothing too special. I didn't remember to reset my computer so my time and mileage was incorrect. I pretty much rode along at a 12MPH pace and was passed up by I don't know how many people. But the terrain was relatively flat and easy. My time sucked and I ws left wondering how much help my damn $50 "triathlon" shorts helped. There is a sucker born every minute.

Now the truly funny part was getting off the bike and thinking that I could actually start to run. Ha-ha! No way.

My legs felt like they had never walked let alone run before. Very weird. I decided to walk a little till they started to feel a little more normal. The worst thing of the entire day happened at this point. As I was JUST STARTING I looked over and saw a friend of mine who had already finished his race and was cooling off. This is the point where I know that my "run" was not going to go well.

So as I am walk-jogging my way through the 5K, I somehow walk through the cones twice and basically skip about a mile and a half loop of the course. And that would have been fine by me but unfortunately I had this bewildered look on my face after noticing that I was no longer around anyone I recognized. Apparently this is normal of first timers and one of the race officials saw me, put me back on the right course, and off I went again. At least I wasn't going to be disqualified but now I had to run the whole thing. CRAP!

So I won't bore you with the whole 40 minute 5K, but I will tell you. There were plenty of times where I was passed by groups with numbers like 60, 65, 70, etc, written on their calf. What is the meaning of the numbers you ask? That would be where you have your AGE written. It isn't so bad seeing someone your age, or younger, or even a little older pass you. But when your grandparents, and sometimes great-grandparents pass you... That will make you think twice about how "in shape" you really are.

Skipping ahead I was able to at least run the last quarter mile to the finnish where there actually were still fans/racers cheering the last few of us on. And although I was NOT happy about any of the biking or running or transition times, at least I have a great place to start from.

The bottom! :-)

First Post

This is my first post... I am Doni. I am Doneil. I am Doni Smith. I am on the web now. ;)