Philadelphia Women's Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was in the first wave and we were called to the dock right on time. I made a small mistake of getting in early. Mistake because I had to use energy to not drift downriver. It was OK though. The start was rough. Lots of flailing body parts. I had just hit the start button on my watch, took 3 strokes and my watch was ripped off of my arm by someone’s wetsuit. Oops. There goes a $10 Wal-Mart watch down the Schyukill. Bummer. Anyway, nothing to do but swim. So I swam. The current was a factor, but not horrible. I just kept hitting it and going buoy to buoy. After we rounded the last buoy, the current was our friend. Sailed back to the dock and out of the water. I was a bit dizzy out of the water; that was new. Not a bad swim.

Tape the velcro on my watch. Not get in as soon and waste energy treading water.

Transition one was good. Feet in bucket, out of bucket, sit on bucket. Then I put my sock on upside down. Duh. After that, I got things organized and went out on the bike.

Figure out how to put on socks.

The bike course was great! Some bumps in the road, but nothing too bad. About mile 12 we went over a diagonal expansion joint in the road and I heard a giant POP! I had a moment of panic and looked down to be sure it wasn’t my tire. Luckily it wasn’t . Unfortunately, it was another girl’s tire. I think it got caught in the joint and popped off the rim. Sucks. The race officials made it very clear that there would be officials watching and told us all the ways you can get a penalty. I was paranoid about getting a penalty so I didn’t ride as aggressively as I could have. Also, I knew I needed to save my legs. I did better this time about not guzzling too much water on the bike. No sloshing around on the run today. Gel at mile 14 got me through the bike. I averaged 17.38 mph for the 17 mile course. That's a personal best!

Maybe go out a little stronger. Ride a more aggressively. Dunno, it was my best bike average to date.

Transition 2 was a bit slow. I was feeling a little tired and didn’t run in with the bike like I should have. I racked the bike, took off my helmet, had a sip of water and shuffled out.

Nothing really. I was trying to catch my breath.

Now for the run. Remember folks, I started this triathlon thing as a runner. Now it’s the part where I can lose lots of time. As I started my run, I noticed that someone had strapped cinder blocks to my feet. Shuffle, shuffle, drag, drag. I kept going and kept getting passed. Of course since I lost my watch to the river, I had no idea just how slow I was going. My goal for the run was to finish without walking. I only walked twice. Once I was just going along and forgot to run. Brain-fart! I mentally kicked myself and pushed on. I walked through the second aid station and then picked it up a bit. About a tenth of a mile to the finish, I sped up and sprinted to the finish with a couple other girls. They came in ahead of me, but it was nice to finish strong. Although my time is dog-slow, it’s a bit better than I’ve been running this month. Not my best run, but that’s a project for the next couple months.

Be faster! Seriously, that's my project. I don't think I will be able to do another tri this season. Next year, I'm bringing a much better run-game.

Through the finish and grabbed a bottle of water. I walked around and found Jeremy. Then got some food. I had a long walk to the car and I'm sure it helped my legs.


I suck at running!


I finished with a total time of 1:46:47. That put me 220/404 overall and 30/43 in my age group (35-39). That’s a solid middle of the pack placing and I’m pretty happy with that. We got very cool finishers medals (yay!) and lots of good food afterwards (another yay!). Jeremy did a great job running from place to place to watch me. He’s the best!

This was a GREAT race and I'm sorry that we won't be here next year to do it again. Hat's off to the organizers!