Atlantic City International Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

'Floating' start, last wave of the Olympic distance. Didn't have the best placement at the start; got stuck behind a lady doing the breast stroke and a person who kept starting and stopping. Took extra time and effort to make a wide berth around them both.

First salt water race for me, and I didn't particularly like the constant briny taste that was in the back of my throat, but I guess that just goes with the territory. Chop was moderate with the wind, making it a little challenging to breathe. It was especially choppy out at the turnaround, I really felt pushed around by the waves. On the way back the chop didn't seem as bad unless I was just getting used to it.

As I got closer to the end of the course, I realized that I would have to merge with the waves of sprint athletes who got started beginning 10 minutes after my wave left. Yikes, that was a bit dicey! Got hit, kicked and swam into a bit which is all part of the sport. But apparently one of the sprint women didn't think so. She was stopped right in front of me and yelling at the safety people about being hit, swam into, etc, etc. "Just swim, lady" I thought, afterall this is triathlon!

Maybe position myself a little more toward the middle/front of the group.

Swim faster!

No problem getting wetsuit off as I had applied TriSlide to my legs.

Struggled a bit with my socks since my feet were wet. Not sure why I decided to put them on now instead of biking sockless, then putting them on for the run. Oh well.

VERY long T1, especially from my rack spot. Easily 1/4 mile of running with the bike in bike shoes across grooved asphalt and grass in order to get out to the road. I understand this is how it needs to be for safety, but yikes it was a long clomp!

Not much, really. I jogged the bike the whole way out.

Here's where my race went off track. Note: there were no volunteers on the bike course, only police whose job was keeping cars where they were supposed to be and not directing athletes, which is not a complaint, just a statement. I agree that the cops shouldn't have been directing bikes.

Once we were allowed to mount our bikes out on Albany, I took off but stayed on the horns since the race director had instructed us to not get down in aero until we hit the expressway since this first area had some cross streets and a lot of congestion with bikes and cars. No problem. There were a lot of bikers to pass, mostly the sprint folks I'm guessing. Was a little frustrating trying to pass when there are just rider after rider in close proximity to each other to pass. And folks riding side by side. Plus I was also being passed. Headwind was strong.

This trend continued out onto the expressway but eventually cleared up some after a few miles. Was pretty cool to be on the expressway (they closed one lane and also gave us the shoulder) and also to buzz through the toll booths. Made the turnaround at exit 4 OK, there was a lot of congestion here again, though.

Heading back toward AC the wind was at our backs, mostly. Nice. I get to exit 2, flying with the flat course and the tailwind. Just as I get into the exit I see the black sign with white lettering, placed already into the split point. The sprint (and lap 2 of the Oly) were supposed to exit, lap 1 of the Oly was to go straight. I quickly realized my error, carefully moved to the side and screeched my brakes all while uttering, "Oh s***! S***, s***, s***!!! Now I need to wait for a gap in the steady train of sprint bikers to get back across to where I'm supposed to be. After what seemed like eternity but was probably about 45 seconds, I was able to jump across. Of course I'm in a very bad gear for taking off and have to grind to get going enough to shift to a better gear and get rolling again. OK, back on track.

So, I try to put that whoopsie and the frustration out of my head. No biggie. I keep going, and as I get into town it really isn't clear where to go. I went where I thought I was supposed to go (even though part of my brain was questioning my route) and eventually came to an area that was completely blocked off with cones. A USAT official on the back of a motorcycle is up there, as well as 2 or so people who seem to be part of the race organization, plus two other athletes. One of the race people is shouting at someone, "How do all these Olympic people keep getting up here? How are they all [missing the turn? taking the turn not sure what he said]?" I and one of the other athletes keep asking, "So what do we do now? Where should we go?" No one answered or even acknowledged us. We repeated the question multiple times but no one answered. Almost surreal. So we turn around and start going back the way we came. I catch up to the guy and say to him, "So now what do we do?" He said, "I'm just going to go back and do the run." I knew I definitely didn't want to do this as this surely would result in a DQ for cutting the course short. Yet I didn't know how 'OK' my little diversion was, either. I was extremely frustrated and confused at this point, but somehow managed to make my way back out to the expressway. What was even more confusing is I saw bikers going the 'wrong' way at various points before the mishap as well as after. In hindsight (and after seeing FB posts, etc), I think these folks had messed up somewhere, too, and were trying to make things right.

Focus was definitely lost. I considered throwing in the towel since I didn't know if what I did was OK or not. Never have I considered blowing off a race or part of a race before. But the finisher's medal was really cool and I wanted one! So I persevered, albeit with less enthusiasm than before. I hit the timing strip out at exit 4 the 2nd time, making my ride as legal and legit as I possibly could. Made it back in town via exit 2, which was the correct way this time around!

Now we are heading back in the VERY congested, horn-honking, frustrated driver zone. Cops man the intersections, horns blow. People yelling. Not at the bikers but each other. Get to the dismount area and have to wait for police to stop the cars to let us go. Wait for a while (again, I understand the situation but it is also a bit frustrating to just stand there). Ran (clomped) across the street to do the loooong run to transition again.

Sadly, this is the part I was most worried about: making the turnaround successfully. I even went to the pre-race meeting to know where we were supposed to go and it sounded very straightforward. I didn't memorize road names because it sounded easy. Looking at a map post-race, I really don't think I was far off course (meaning I don't think I cut the course at any point; if anything I went just a touch longer, but not much). I think I was right there but just off by a street or something.

Not miss signage and know the route better. Ultimately my own fault. Although the RD did admit some areas should have been better marked since many, not just a few, athletes made mistakes at the exit 2 split as well as in town where I did. And of course, bike faster!

Loooong clomp back to my spot. Didn't have it in me to run with the bike as I was still frustrated and confused about exactly what went wrong on the bike course and what the possible implications would be. So I jogged a little but walked more. Had a little trouble getting my bike hooked into my spot because of the bike next to me being rightontopofmyspot.

Jog with bike.

Got started on the run feeling OK. Needed to stop at both intersections to wait for the police to let runners go (again, not a real complaint: I understand they can't shut the city down in such a busy area). Honking horns, people yelling, a lady screaming and flipping someone off. I was sure someone would go berzerk and drive into the runners' area. Thankfully I was wrong!

Safely made it through the traffic mess and up onto the boardwalk. Passed a few athletes who were very supportive as they were finishing their run and gave well wishes and high fives. Saw my fast friend here, too.

This was my first time in AC and my first time to the beach in a long time. I'm the type of person who looks around while I race, taking in the sights and scenery. So naturally my eyes headed straight for the water and beach. The view was simply gorgeous with the morning sun sparkling over the water and coming through a few little clouds with 'God's fingers', the golden sand, the green beach grass. Seagulls whirled and called overhead. I was overcome with emotion from the beauty of the sight and a few tears rose to my eyes. I trotted along, staring at the wonderful sight and smiling to myself, appreciating the view. Next thought to go through my mind: Mom would love this. My Mom passed away unexpectedly 2 years ago and had always loved the beach, and so many memories of my childhood and growing years were of our family at the beach. Just as I thought that, a big dragonfly flew right by me. I associate dragonflies with my mom, and often feel seeing one is her way of saying 'hi' and letting me know she is still with me. This was too much for my already emotionally taxed self to keep contained. I started outright sobbing, tears now streaming from my eyes, missing my dear mother and loving the beauty of the earth. I had to stop and walk because I couldn't breathe. The crying and the running made my asthma kick in and my chest was tight. What a sight I must've been, audibly sobbing uncontrollably, wiping tears from my face as I tried to pull myself together! Finally after what was surely close to a half mile (but was probably only a quarter mile), I was able to mostly get myself under control and run again.

I periodically had to fight tears a few more times, but pulled the reigns tight and kept it together. Took water and/or Gatorade at most stops. Had a Gu somewhere near halfway. Made the turnaround and was determined to make better time on the return trip. It was so cool being able to run on the boardwalk. Some shops had music going, which was invigorating. People were everywhere: tourists, locals out for their morning walk/ride, other locals who try to turn a buck singing or entertaining, other athletes. Always something to look at.

Did pretty well with my pace on my return trip and only walked the water stops. Saw the turn coming up to head back out on the street and was escorted by two dragonflies to the turn. I almost lost it again, but instead just smiled, sucked back the tears that were trying to form and said, "Hi Mom" quietly and kept moving.

Back out into the traffic madness. Only had to stop at one of the intersections but boy was my head on a swivel. Made it over the bridge and thought, "It can't be long now". The run to the finish was a bit longer than I realized, but I finished as strong as I could. Overall felt fairly happy with my time, all things considered.

Run faster!

Walked around a little bit, chatted with my friends. Visited the AWESOME food tent spread they had out for the athletes and was so disappointed that I simply cannot eat right after an event. No desire whatsoever. Truly a shame because they had huge pans filled with bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs (I don't like them, but they still looked nice and fluffy), pastries and fruit.

My friend was 2nd AG which ended up being 1st AG since the true 1st was in the overall standings. The other girl I know got 5th (yes, this organization does awards 5 deep) in her division. So we stuck around for the awards ceremony which was held inside the Seafood Festival area. For whatever reason, the awards took FOREVER. As in 2 hours forever to do the sprint and Olympic. Cool awards, though. Similar to the finisher medal but bigger and blingier. Nice swag toss.

Eventually got hungry and had a fish taco and some raw oysters at the seafood fest. Later we went back to get showers and I enjoyed a lovely beverage or 2 at our room, courtesy of my friend's parents. Went out to eat at PF Chang's (yes!), then walked the boardwalk, got some Ben & Jerry's, people-watched (and boy are there some interesting characters around), walked back to the car via the boardwalk. Beautiful late afternoon. Headed home.


Do I need to go into that again? ;)


This is only the 2nd year for this race, and the RD made some pretty major changes/improvements from last year, from what I understand. It sounds like next year there may be a few more. Aside from a few growing pains, I really, truly did enjoy this race. I like what they are trying to do: present a fun, scenic race with unique aspects (expressway, boardwalk) that intertwines with the community and letting people see/experience what makes AC AC. I would do this race again, for sure. And there is little doubt that the RD will do his best to make improvements based on the feedback of the racers this year.