Put my bike on the rack. Sucked down the gel which I had thoughtfully placed in my running shoe. Husband gave me a little cheer when I headed out. I kept running until I got out of sight. My right calf hurt, giving me a funny, off-kilter stride. Ran 8 minutes, Walked 3, Ran 6, Walked 2. And so on, until I got to mile 2. Maybe that's when the gel kicked into, because I ran (albeit slowly) the rest of the way. I passed a few people. Many the old and infirm. Sigh.
Had another gel at mile 4. Husband was waiting about a 1/4 from the finish. I gave him a big hug -- "You're disgusting!", he said, but it seemed funny at the time.
I felt good when I crossed the finish line. Like I could do it again.
So, I'm pretty disappointed that I didn't finish the swim. But I'm glad I did the other parts of the race, if only so I know what to expect next time.
The official results are posted. Um, I suuuuck.
- Swim: no time recorded
- Bike: 1:40:55 (Place = 768) I'm surprised THAT many people passed me. Really, it makes no sense. There were more than 23 people who left for the run behind me. That's 13.6 mph or so.
- T2: 3:35 (Place = 594) Nothing great, but OK.
- Run: 1:18:25 (Place = 780). That's a pace of 12:39 per mile. Yes, I did some walking, but c'mon.
- Overall time: 3:41:56. Overall place: 755 out of 791. Considering that I skipped half the swim, that is pretty pitiful. Also, I'm surprised there were only 791 finishers. The numbers went well above 1000.
I will ponder this along with the other mysteries of life.
4 comments:
you did fine. in fact it's quite an achievement, you have reasons to be proud of yourself despite the swim results. it's to your credit that you kept going and finished the other legs.
you'll do better next time too. you'll need to work on your swim endurance and your mental game, just like you did with the running. log some open water time and slowly build up the distance.
don't forget you've got the marathon coming up too.
I am just proud of you for gutting the whole thing out...
99% of people would have tossed in the towel based on your bad experience on the swim. Great job. This just shows what kind of person you are and what kind of triathlete you will become!!!!
Thanks so much, Flatman!
I was 216 of 233 men on the bike in my first tri last year. I was 59th out of the water, so I was passed by 157 men, not to mention about 200 women, many of which started after me on the swim! Getting passed by over 350 was to say the least demoralizing. I kept thinking why I was making such a fool of myself and thought about quitting a lot.
But at the day's end, it was just a race. It's not the end all be all of who you are... just a race that you had the guts to do while others were home sleeping. That's something!
Keep it up and you will do better. It takes time! Good luck!
By the way, I added over 4 mph to my bike pace this year and still finished at the bottom of the pack in a race... sometimes the competition is tough!
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