OK, maybe <i>kick a$$</i> is a bit strong, but I sure felt great!!<br><br>
I did my first tri on July 23 (yes, Monday) -- a small sprint put on by a bike shop in Lake Placid. The distances were 400 yard swim, 12 mile bike, and 5K run. I'd done three duathlons prior to this race, and quite frankly I was pretty terrified of the whole swim thing.<br><br>
I had my usual pre-race anxiety and wanted to walk away before the race started, but my husband wouldn't let me. (Damn him!) Boy am I glad he didn't!<br><br>
I stayed near the back of the pack on purpose, knowing I'd be one of the slowest swimmers. I figured I would do about an 11 minute swim but came out of the water at exactly the 10 minute mark. Cool, one minute ahead of schedule already! <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif"><br><br>
After fighting off massive dizziness in the transition area (I nearly fell over twice trying to put my socks on), I hopped on the bike and was off. The bike course was WAY harder than I anticipated -- lots of rolling hills and a few rather sharp turns. The course also was not closed to traffic, so at one point I had to come to a complete stop and wait about 90 seconds before I was able to make my turn. By the time the traffic cleared, there were about 6 or 7 other racers waiting with me, so I made it my mission that NONE of them would use that delay to pass me. (They didn't. I hauled a$$ once we got the OK to proceed!)<br><br>
My bike split was 40:49 according to my watch -- about 2 minutes slower than I'd hoped, but I did have that long delay due to traffic. Made it back to the transition area and had the fastest T2 transition ever -- 19 seconds to switch my shoes and take off my helmet and glasses. Whee!<br><br>
I felt GREAT on the run. In all honesty, I could have pushed harder. My 5K time was 24:43, close to my stand-alone 5K PR of 24:12.<br><br>
Overall time was 1:17:38, which gave me 4th in my age group out of 11. I loved it and can't wait to tri it again!!<br><br>
Even though I didn't score any hardware, I got an even better post-race surprise. Mike Richter, former goalie for the NY Rangers and a future NHL Hall of Famer, did the Ironman the day before my little race. Post-race, he was standing RIGHT NEXT TO ME talking to some other folks. I asked for a photo, which he was happy to oblige. That's better than any stinking trophy ANY DAY!!
I did my first tri on July 23 (yes, Monday) -- a small sprint put on by a bike shop in Lake Placid. The distances were 400 yard swim, 12 mile bike, and 5K run. I'd done three duathlons prior to this race, and quite frankly I was pretty terrified of the whole swim thing.<br><br>
I had my usual pre-race anxiety and wanted to walk away before the race started, but my husband wouldn't let me. (Damn him!) Boy am I glad he didn't!<br><br>
I stayed near the back of the pack on purpose, knowing I'd be one of the slowest swimmers. I figured I would do about an 11 minute swim but came out of the water at exactly the 10 minute mark. Cool, one minute ahead of schedule already! <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif"><br><br>
After fighting off massive dizziness in the transition area (I nearly fell over twice trying to put my socks on), I hopped on the bike and was off. The bike course was WAY harder than I anticipated -- lots of rolling hills and a few rather sharp turns. The course also was not closed to traffic, so at one point I had to come to a complete stop and wait about 90 seconds before I was able to make my turn. By the time the traffic cleared, there were about 6 or 7 other racers waiting with me, so I made it my mission that NONE of them would use that delay to pass me. (They didn't. I hauled a$$ once we got the OK to proceed!)<br><br>
My bike split was 40:49 according to my watch -- about 2 minutes slower than I'd hoped, but I did have that long delay due to traffic. Made it back to the transition area and had the fastest T2 transition ever -- 19 seconds to switch my shoes and take off my helmet and glasses. Whee!<br><br>
I felt GREAT on the run. In all honesty, I could have pushed harder. My 5K time was 24:43, close to my stand-alone 5K PR of 24:12.<br><br>
Overall time was 1:17:38, which gave me 4th in my age group out of 11. I loved it and can't wait to tri it again!!<br><br>
Even though I didn't score any hardware, I got an even better post-race surprise. Mike Richter, former goalie for the NY Rangers and a future NHL Hall of Famer, did the Ironman the day before my little race. Post-race, he was standing RIGHT NEXT TO ME talking to some other folks. I asked for a photo, which he was happy to oblige. That's better than any stinking trophy ANY DAY!!
