MightyMan Montauk - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I was in the second wave. They had all the women go in one wave. I was doing pretty well, despite the arm sleeves of my suit being too big & acting like parachutes to weigh down my arms (next big purchase: real tri wetsuit that FITS). So I was trucking along, all of a sudden I hear "hey! hey! hey!" I pop my head up & a guy on a surfboard is waving me in the opposite direction. Turns out I sighted the WRONG bouy! Ughhh, idiot! So once I realized where I needed to go, I put my head down and barreled back into the crowd. I was probably a good 200 yards off course. Oof!

After that fiasco, things were fine. The waves really picked up after rounding the second bouy and I got tumbled a bit, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I actually finished right in the middle of the group that went before my wave, I could see very few women ahead of me.

SIGHT THE RIGHT BOUY! Derrrr. And find some moola for a real tri wet suit. But despite those problems I thought I did really well. Felt good!

I had trouble unzipping the back of my wetsuit, but the run from the "lake" (pond?) was long enough that it didn't affect me. I couldn't get it off of my ankles though, that took quite awhile. Since I couldn't leave all my stuff out nice & neat (remember the rain?) I had to dig through the trash bag to find all my stuff.

Running in my bike shoes was a lot easier since the grass in the transition area was soaked. I got clipped in quickly and was off! The cheering fans, out in the pouring rain, were terrific.

Ehh, I don't really mind a slow transition for a race this long & given the conditions.

This was something else! The rain alternated between sprinkles and feeling like I was in a pool. On a few occasions it was coming down so hard & I was going downhill fast enough for it to sting like the dickens.

I'm sort of a perv for pain, I love challenging situations, so I was actually glad the weather was so nuts. That way I have something to brag about! We were going through a foot of water at some spots, and I was not dry on a centimeter of my body. I can't wait to see the pictures. And we got to ride around the coast a lot, so it was quite scenic.

Like I said before, the people that were out in the weather with us cheering us on were fantastic. I was wearing a pink long-sleeved cycling shirt & I got a lot of "heyyy pinky!" or "yeah pink lady!" cheers.

It was a loop we did twice, and my mom was right there at the turn-around screaming her heart out. I dropped off one of my empty bottles and she handed me one of the bottles I had left in the car. In the process her umbrella blew inside out & whatever part of her might have been dry was now soaked, but she was having a ball. What a good jockstrap she is becoming!

Oh, and I also consider myself a real cyclist. I peed on my bike instead of stopping for a bathroom. But! In the defense of my femininity, it was alll washed away in a matter of seconds.

Maybe not take it out so hard on the first loop, I had to slow down for the second go-round.

By this time, after going through the puddles (some of them I think were in-ground pools in the middle of the street, nice drainage job Montauk) my feet were numb numb numb. So taking off my cycling shoes & getting dry socks & my sneakers on was difficult.

I had half a luna bar, downed a "sencha shot" green tea drink, and was off!

Like the other transition, I wasn't really concerned with time. The conditions didn't allow for much speed in the transitions and I'm quite alright with that.

As soon as I was half a mile into it, I realized my long-sleeved shirt, which was soaked, was way too heavy for running. But I couldn't turn back, so I was hoping to drop it off at a water station.
-By the way, they had water/gel/coke stations about every 1.5 miles. It was very well-laid out-
All of a sudden my mom drives by honking & waving. What a boost! So at the next corner I stopped and gave her my long shirt & just ran in my tank top. It happened to be neon pink so I was easy for volunteers and racers to recognize. Lucky me b/c I got lots of attention and I loved it all!

We went around the lake we swam in (relatively flat, just some small grade changes), and then up "murder hill" and into "the pits," the hilled area: UP and dooown, UP and dooown. Man was it tough.

It was on narrow residential streets and some of the cars driving through behaved very badly. I don't know if they were impatient, or just a-holes, or what. But even my mom noticed how crappy the general traffic behaved when passing racers. So that was lame.

On a happier note, there were these two guys, in seperate areas of "the pits" that were SO great. Both of them had the funniest things to say for encouragement and both were very very animated. To both of you guys, THANK YOU! I was laughing even when my whole body was complaining.

I ended up walking some of the uphills, but I am not getting down on myself for it. I would have burned out if I didn't. By the second time up murder hill I was hurtin for certain but I was enjoying the pain because it meant that I was sooo close to completing my first HIM!

Running into the finish, there were lots of cheering people on the sides of the street. At the finishing chute the annoucer said "ladies and gentle men, give a big round of applause to number FIVE FOURTEEN!" And everyone was cheering and they held up the tape & I hammed it up for the photo with my arms above my head.

And I was DONE! I've got the finisher's medal and towel to prove it (towels were awfully appropriate considering how wet everyone was). My mom was right there and she was SO happy for me, she was jumping up & down & waving her arms around. To make her proud like that meant so much.

Train on more hills! And do longer bike-run bricks for preperation.

Scooted right over to the tent and made a banana-peanut butter sandwich! Tried stretching at first but my muscles were sort of freaking out so I walked around for awhile. After ten minutes or so I could stretch out. I was hobbling around like an old geezer (not meant to offend any of the old geezers on BT)!

On the car ride home I put my feet up & just basked in the glory of completing a race like that! My mom & I traded funny stories about all the characters we met that day. What a terrific time, ESPECIALLY with the weather! Made it all the more memorable!


Ummm possibly the torrential down-pours and river crossings? Maybe the mountains I had to run up? Haha... even if it made me slower, it was worth it!

And for the record, I KILLED my goal time! Woooooo!


I couldn't have asked for a better day! Everything about it will make it a race I never forget. I will try to come back as many times as I can for this race.