Ready, Set, Tri!

Vince, Tom and Kristen...pre-race

 So the big day finally arrived.  I was very anxious all week and didn't sleep great, but once we got there, I was fine.  It was a place called Pohick Bay about 25 miles out of DC.  This was a training tri put on by the DC Triathlon organization so it was pretty laid back.  Usually there are bike stands for you to set up your transition area but for this, it was just a field of grass.

 All the fancy road bikes don't have kickstands so Tom was going to get the benefit of having my big ol' mountain bike standing up to lead him to his when he came running from the water.  I don't have the fancy shmancy clip on shoes either so I didn't have to switch shoes three times! My running shoes are my biking shoes.

So we set up our transition area.  This is where you come after the swim, switch to bike shoes with helmet, and anything else you need to put on.....then at the end of the bike ride you come back again to drop off said bike, ditch helmet, grab any energy goodies, switch to running shoes and you're back on the road.  Then we headed down to the water to sign in and get our body markings.  

Me...snapping a photo of my body marking

The water was very icky looking.  It's a bay that comes off the Potomac and had lots of greenery in it.  Not moss, but bright green weeds.  We had a very late start as they were waiting for the tide to clear the water some but we still had to walk out past the dock through the grass/weeds about 100m to get to some clearer waters.  From there, we waited for the horn to start our wave.  I was in the 34+ age group wave. Did I mention that Tom and I were the oldest participants?

So there were buoys set up where those triangles are and we swam around those.  I am not a fast swimmer so I just go slow and steady.  Felt really comfortable the whole time.  Apparently some people freak out in the open water.  Tom's eyes are not great and he had a hard time seeing the buoys so he lost  his way some.  This side of the bay is Virginia and across the water was Maryland.

So we had to run an extra quarter mile from the water up to the transition area.  Hopped on my bike and took off.  Had never tried the GU energy gels before and our coach, Vince had said they can sometimes make you sick to your stomach.  I had just been using a different type of energy waffle cookie.  I rode a bit then decided to try the vanilla GU I had in my pack.  Tasted like vanilla pudding and I drank plenty of water because he said that helped.  Came to a big hill and just hit a wall.  Had to get off my bike and walk it up the hill, then got back on and felt fine for about 3 minutes then threw up the GU.  Yeah, too much info but fortunately could just spit out onto the field to my right without stopping and immediately felt better.  Good lesson.  Don't try out new energy products during a race!  So I'm riding along and suddenly Tom comes up BEHIND me!  Had no idea I was ahead of him....not realizing how he had struggled in the water.  He apologized for passing me but said I might very well be the only person he beats in this race!  I got to the turn around spot at the school and headed back toward transition and after a bit Tom came up behind me AGAIN!  He had gone past the turnaround point and did an extra 4 miles on the bike ride.  Sheesh!  Apparently the volunteers stationed there didn't signal him in, they just kind of waved when he went by.  Brother.

 I couldn't imagine being able to do another 3.1 miles of running when I dropped my bike off...especially since there were a good portion of participants already completely finished with the Tri but I carried on.  Had to walk quite a bit but the volunteers were awesome and cheering me on as I was bringing up the rear of the racers.  Got to the finish line and Tom was waiting with the camera.

 Vince and Kristen also participated in the race and finished in enough time to change, eat and cheer me on!  Kristen was actually the very first person out of the water but she got lost on the bike ride too!  We joined the others for a bbq though I really wasn't up for much food.  Felt great to have finished though and definitely happy that I did it.  I don't see myself ever being a fast participant but slow and steady gets 'er done!