Atlantic City International Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Self-seeding start. Low tide. Jump/step/slide off floating dock into 18" water and what felt like 12" of slimy, mucky, black mud. Seeing as a few hundred people started before me, it was disgusting and the water was black with the loose sediment. I could see nothing, so I Tarzan swam until I got to clear(er) water, probably 40 yards away where the water also got deeper.

I tried to get into a rhythm but naturally had to keep dodging folks. After the first turnaround, the chop was more noticeable since it was slapping at my head. The current was now more noticeable, too. Oh well, just keep swimming! Strangely enough, I had some head-on issues with swimmers who had crossed onto the wrong side of the buoy line, at least 5 people in one clump and some more later, so I moved off the line a bit. Chaos ensued at the junction of where the sprint folks join the Oly loop - people breaststroking, backstroking, floating. It was a total cluster____. I was glad to get out of that traffic! Finally made it to the next turnaround buoy and expected the chop/wind to be more friendly coming back like it was for the first segment, but no, oddly it was just as slappy.

Got to the yellow buoys marking the exit and had trouble getting up onto the floating dock thingie. There was more black muck (yay), too. I got up on the ramp on my butt and crab-crawled to the flat part, then stood up. Darn arthritic knees! Looked at my Garmin and was instantly deflated as I was hoping for a better time than 2 years ago. Little did I know (my watch lost satellites and didn't have the distance, just the time), the course measured long, at 1.2 miles. LT, JD and others confirmed this after the race, but at this time I didn't know and was unhappy with my performance. I tried to tell myself it was the wind/tide/chop...ah, the lies we tell ourselves!

(138/193 women)

Swim faster. Quicker arm turnover.

Despite my lies to myself, I was still deflated from my bad swim and was trying to pull myself together mentally, to put the swim behind me, but was also trying to figure out what went wrong. Unfortunately, my displeasure slowed my changing time down a bit, but not glacially, plus I had a long run out of transition as I was at the far end away from the bike out and bike return.

Use just a bit more haste.

So when I did this race 2 years ago, I made 2 mistakes on the bike course that I swore not to repeat again this year. One was exiting after the first loop of the bike but I realized it immediately and was able to get right back on to do my second loop. The other error was, well, I'm not sure exactly, but I exited somewhere I wasn't supposed to but eventually made it back to where I needed to be. Anyway, back to the present race.

I had a little trouble getting my left foot clipped in for some reason, but finally got 'er in there and got moving. There was mixed bike traffic with the sprint and the Oly, and I did a fair amount of passing and got passed a few times, too. For a while I was very easily in sight of an Oly racer in orange, and we seemed to be going the same pace, so I was keeping him in my line of vision. I think it was on the second loop of the bike I lost sight of him, which I shouldn't have done. Surprisingly, I wasn't cold on the bike considering the weather (at least the sun was out), but dang, my nose ran non-stop, like (sorry to be extra gross) hanging out of my nostrils, pendulous snot running. I kept wiping, wiping, wiping, but it disgustingly wouldn't quit. Annoying! Gross!

It was pretty windy and it seemed most of the time it was a head or cross wind, with only a few little sections of tailwind. It was easy to keep a strong pace at first when I had plenty of other 'carrots' around me, but after I let the orange guy get away from me, I didn't have as many carrots. Eventually I'd catch someone and pass them, but no one to keep in front of me and I think (OK, I KNOW) I let my pace slip. I mustn't have had my watch screen set correctly, because I coudn't see my mph. In the waning miles of the bike, I know I slowed my pace more than I wanted because I was getting tired of fighting the wind and fighting the discomfort from my saddle (every race I fight that thing, this fall I hope to find a solution).

Drank Infinit periodically even though I wasn't thirsty at the time, knowing I'd need the calories, electrolytes and hydration.

There was a dicey moment when I was coming down a ramp that had a 1" bump where the asphalt met the concrete. I managed to get out of aero, pull up on my front wheel a little and stand to unweight the back end, and I said aloud, "Oh sh**!" I listened very carefully for the sound of escaping air, but my efforts kept me from getting a flat, but not for 2 other racers not far down the road who were pulled off changing tubes. The RD apologized for the bump and is offering a free race next year to those who flatted there this year.

After this section, it was new to me from 2 years ago, so I was a little uncertain as I neared the entrance to Bader field. I took my feet out of my shoes and had them on top as I slowed to stay within the narrow lanes they had set up with cones. I was expecting the dismount area to be sooner, I guess, and slowed down, uncertain what I should be doing because some areas looked like we should be dismounting, yet the volunteers told me to keep pedaling. OK! Finally got to the dismount area and began the long run back to my spot.

(73/193 women) I am fairly happy with that but it should've been better/faster.

Not back off and stay with my 'carrot'.

Long run through transition to get to my spot, through some mud, dodging people who were already finished and strolling along without any regard for those still racing. Dropped Rico off, took my helmet off, slipped on my shoes and hat and dodged more casual, pedestrian racers with bikes who were exiting transition, race complete. Ugh! Move, people!

Nothing.

The run was shortened from a 10K to a 5 mile to get the roads fully reopened to the public sooner, which was A-OK with me!

JD was already finished and was waiting with S, R and GR and he ran with me a little as I made my way out toward Albany. I wanted to ask about LT but didn't get the chance, I hoped she was OK since I didn't see her.

For once my legs didn't feel horrible to start the run, just a little bad. I told myself they'd come around, just keep running. I was relieved to get to the boardwalk because even though cops were manning the intersection and controlling traffic, people be crazy! Plus it is so cool being able to run with the beach and ocean on one side and the stores/shops/casinos/etc on the other while cruising down the iconic AC boardwalk! Not to mention the people watching...all sorts of characters out no matter the time of day!

Saw a squirrel (?!), a cat, and plenty of gulls, who I prayed wouldn't use me as target practice as they dove and reeled close by overhead. Kept up a decent pace for I'm guessing the first 3.5-4 miles, then fell off the pace some. I briskly walked the aid stations while taking water. I ate a Gu before the turnaround where I knew there'd be water. Thanked the volunteers for helping out. No real 'carrots' on the run.

Saw some more pageant contestants/entourages which yet again fascinated me in some odd way. Again, it's a whole 'nother world! A guy with a huge bag of Pirate's Booty in his bike basket passed me - a temporary carrot, yum! Love that stuff! I almost had a run-in with a clueless woman on a cruiser bike who was swerving around, not watching where she was going as she was looking at her phone, and a few other people-dodges because, ya know, all the signs, cones, and people running around with numbers on isn't enough to signify that there is a race going on and to stay out of the center lane. (sarcasm)

Finally came off the boardwalk, went over the bridge to get back to Bader Field, then made the turn in. A great volunteer was shouting something very motivating which at the time I was quite moved by but now can't remember any of it except "finish this thing strong!" I tried. I pushed. I gave it all I dared give it without causing a wipeout on the asphalt, but I didn't really have much more speed to safely give and still breathe (thank you VCD). My friends were there to cheer me on and dole out some hand slaps on my way to the line. I crossed the line to my name being announced, collected my medal, got my chip removed, then gently leaned against the fence to catch my breath. Some rather handsome racer congratulated me in some manner on my finish - thank you, random stranger! :)

(168/193 women) yes, I know, pathetically slow

Keep pushing just a little harder. Be a bit better trained for the run.

I truly wish I were able to eat after a race. DelMo has a huge hot breakfast buffet spread with the works, but I didn't even go in the tent because I know me. We went back to the car, I changed, and we got our gear loaded. Next we headed into the Seafood Festival area where the awards were being presented. JD and LT for sure were expecting bling, they checked the monitors. I didn't know my status since we didn't have time to look, or so we thought.

Finally after my digestive system went out of race mode I was able to partake of my $1 beer, water, and some raw oysters. The awards ceremony was taking a bit longer than expected - we had to wait through the rest of the sprint awards and some occasional giveaways before they finally got to the Oly awards. Thankfully they did the Fat Girl (Athena) awards early on in the process, I think after the relays. I got 2nd Athena but was the only one there to claim my award, so the pic you see is my official podium pic! They encouraged some hamming, so I obliged! I was confused initially why they only called 2 names when Athena went 3 deep. Later, after looking at the results, we figured it out. Only 2 were finished at the time they took the results to start the ceremony. The other Athenas were 30+ minutes after me.

JD took 2nd in his AG, losing to the first guy by 1 second! LT took 1st in her AG. They are so fast! We took some pics, said farewells to friends, and headed to Margaritaville on the boardwalk for lunch, then headed home.


Extra poundage, not enough run training, not being able to breathe, not trusting to push myself harder for fear of not finishing. I KNOW I had more to give on the bike.


I did this race 2 years ago and the improvements were obvious. The RD seems to truly care about his race and the athletes' experiences and trying to get things right/safe. Minor complaint: format of race stats by the timing company. They only display AG results, so it is extremely difficult to figure out where one finished overall and by gender, so any numbers I posted could be wrong seeing as I needed to manually count where I placed.