Longleaf Olympic Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I don't know what happened to me in the swim, I am usually a MOP, and I think I came out of the water second to last. After doing 2 mile open water swims during the summer, I really expected a much lower time.

There are 2 things that stand out for me that contibute to the slow time. One, I spent most of the swim telling myself "don't breathe underwater" as the "lake" closely resembled the sinkhole where I do most of my scuba diving. Two, I've never swam laps in fresh water, so it was silly of me to expect to match my salt-water time when I was less buoyant.

There was a long, long way from the lake to T1, and the kiddie pool was a nice addition...our feet were FILTY by the time we got there! Please with T1 time, but very sad that there aren't any other bikes around. This is going to be a lonely, loney race.

I have to make a guess of my bike time from HRM. This was a loney ride, I only managed to catch up to and pass ONE person, who passed me a few miles later. Unfortunately, everyone was so far ahead, it was hard to figure out where the turns were. I know I did an extra mile or two looping through the park looking for the turn. The other thing killing me was that I had lost the attachment for my bike computer and had nothing to push me to keep to a certain pace, and with noone around, I really lolly-gagged.

I expected to be asked to stop racing when I returned to T2. As I got back to the main road, there was traffic every where and I told the police that I chose to ride on the sidewalk instead of on the road with the cars. This may have cost me a few minutes, but I think it was wise.

Noone asked me to stop! I told the volunteers that I would keep racing until I couldn't go any more.

The run was pretty tough. I also learned, that like RUDY, I am not the quitting kind! I hadn't run in two months...nursing an injured knee, but I had high hopes for finishing this race. The way I saw it, was that if a former 300lb girl could finish THIS race, then I had plenty of time to do GREAT at St. Anthony's!

I tried running, I really, really tried, but I was too whooped to do more than a fast walk with an occasional shuffle. About 2 miles in, I saw the last participant on his way back. I knew I was way, way, way behind. I guess a lot of folks would have quit here. My husband especially would be mortified that I inconvienced the race volunteers by persisting to a bitter end. My perspective was that if it was truly a bother to support me for a while longer, they'd ASK me to stop.

One really super-awesome guy drove his truck out with fluids and followed me slowly as I hobbled to the finish.

For many, coming in to a finish line that has already been disassembed might have been humiliating. This was my first "last one to finish" race. For me, completing an Olympic was a major life acheivement, and hey, I finished 2nd in my AG! At the end some kind soul took my timing chip and offered some encouragement. Many said things like "losing some weight would help." It was taken as nice encouragment, and I was proud in relating that I had already lost 120lbs and was working on losing the rest.

As I hobbled back to the car (Its crazy, but I would have accepted a ride to the car...but not a SAG ride to the finish), a little boy chased after me with a box that was a trophy for 3rd place. It was nice, but I looked at it as a "pity" trophy....that all changed when I got home and looked at the results....hey, they owe me a SECOND place trophy, not a third!! But, after coming in dead, dead, dead last...I was thrilled to have ANYthing!


Would come back here again!