Swim
Comments: I think a funny joke would be to post the water temp at 73* for this short course so most people would think they didn't have to wear a wetsuit, and then watch them turn into human popsicles when they exited the 65 degree water. The organizers must've thought this would be funny too, because that's exactly what they did. Good thing I don't ever get into the open water without my flotation device! I don't really remember this swim so well except for the darkness and the thinking it should've been shorter than it felt. Which was a pretty good indicator of how I'd feel on all the swims this weekend. Transition 1
Comments: zow Guess on time, no splits posted Bike
Comments: Up up up and away we began on this steep little out-n-back route on the park roads up to the park lodge. These roads were smoother than mama's homemade icecream. mmmmmmm. On the descent I was still pretty nervous about my tubie glue job so I took the turn easy and heard this little chick voice yell, "on your left!" and I was sure it was Alaina, so I started yelling, "HEY, IT'S ME!" like 2-3 times because it looked and sounded just like her. Nope, it was the chick who won overall solo female. I was wondering why she was ignoring me. Transition 2
Comments: zam Guess on time, no splits posted Run
Comments: Intent on not overdoing it on the first race, I took it pretty easy, though running through soggy grass and mud took care of that all by itself. Schloppy, muddy, hilly, this course had it all in just one mile. Post race
Warm down: Food! HFP has some great food for its athletes! Vegetarians, gluten intolerant, vegan, meatlovers, bring 'em all. We hardly ate any major meals at the campsite because it was all right there at the finish line. Oh indeed. Event comments: Thought I might mention that I beat Alaina by a smoking, blazing, humongous :10 in this race. Yowza! Last updated: 2010-05-02 12:00 AM
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United States
HFP Racing
Overall Rank = 73/386
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For the record, Alaina (jazz##s) dreamed up the idea of entering this brutal beatdown of a co-ed team race weekend after getting me into tri's just two years ago kicking and screaming from my overweight, baseball watchin', no athletics self. Now I can't imagine doing anything more fun. Thanks Alaina!
The only way to make prepping for a destination triathlon weekend more conflustering is to make it a camping weekend as well. I'd like to say we're rough and tumble adventurers, cuz maybe it's a little true, but mostly we're just cheap, so we packed up the Forester with every last nugget of survival and strapped the steeds on the back.
After making an unplanned loop tour of tropical Toledo on the way down (seriously need some GPS), and then stopping by a Columbus bike shop to get extra tubes and CO2, we made it into drizzly Portsmouth, a rural as it comes, down on its luck little town nestled in the Deliverance thick Shawnee State Forest, on the border of Kentucky.
Our campsite was only a mile from the race site, so great right? Except that it was at the top of a hill that required a 15 stair ascent to get to it, but we're tough, rough, etc. And the entire site was on a slope ringed with poison ivy, my avowed mortal nemesis. This would be tricky.
Down to the race site an hour before the start and caught up with BTers Jim and Rick, and Alaina's friend Doug. Always good to see familiar faces before the first tri of the season especially.
Stuck my body into that murky swamp and couldn't tell if I had my eyes open or closed. It was going to be an interesting first OWS of the season.