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 Swim
Comments: After this swim I made a promise to myself. Winning a race is never worth drowning someone else. Some of these people are crazy. I stayed to the outside and attempted to avoid the crowds. That didn't work. I still end up bumping into a few other people but for the most part it wasn't bad. I felt like crap and drank way too much water but I actually finished in better time then expected. I was a little disappointed when I saw a few pink swim caps go by me in the water knowing they left 5 minutes after I did. It turns out that I actually had a pretty easy swim. One team member literally had another swimmer swim right on top of him. Another one swallowed some water so he decided to stop in an area he was told he should be able to stand. Well he was told wrong. He went to stand and sank like the Titanic and swallowed even more water. I have no idea how he did not throw up from taking in all that water.  Transition 1
Comments: The run to the transition was very long and not very smooth. It was beach followed by some pine needles, followed by asphalt and then finishing it off was some grass. I thought I was in the clear until about 20 feet before the transition area when I stepped on a rock. It really didn't do anything but with the times I had on the bike and run maybe someone will think it is a good excuse. Once in the transition area I think I did pretty well.  Bike
Comments: I need more training on the bike. I was able to maintain about 16 mph but that was it. Other then almost dying it was uneventful. Which brings me to the next rookie mistake. When I registered for the race they gave us a bug full of stuff. It included some gel food packs and some weird cube food. I figured hey I should eat some of this while on the bike so I threw it all in the pocket on the back of my shirt. Seems logical, right? Well that was until I took out one of the packs and went to open it and realized it was sun screen. I almost squirted a package of sunscreen down my throw. Who in there right mind would mix food and sunscreen? They almost killed me. Thank god I read the package before I ate it. I did finally eat one of those cubes and found it to be the most repulsive food ever. Do people really eat this crap? I think I would rather finish in last place. Transition 2
Comments: Smooth transition here. Other then being exhausted already  Run
Comments: Run is such a bad word to use for this phase of the competition. It is more like slow jog. So I am running along (jogging) and along my left side running up from another trail is one of my teammates. We both of course immediately accuse the other of taking a shortcut. We both had fellow racers on our trail. We both wondered how this could have happened. Only later when we were able to look at a map did we figure out that the group he was following did cut one of the loops out of the race. I am not sure it would have mattered anyway. His pace was much faster then mine and would have passed me either way. A little later on after he was out of site I start to get passed by a women who shouts encouragements as she goes by. "Keep it up. Your doing great..." At first this made me feel embarrassed since she started five minutes after me and was literally twice my age (I checked her calf). We talk for a minute while I made a feeble attempt to keep up with her. It turns out that she does these type of events all the time. That made me feel a little better. After she was a little ahead I started thinking about how I hope that when I am her age I am able to do what she is doing. I want to be able to play with my grandkids when I have them in 30 years. Anyway I turned the last corner and decided to sprint for the finish. That is when the announcer says some comment about here comes Man o' War. I guess that is what happens when a 5'7" 197LB guy sprints at the end of a race. They get compared to a horse. I guess it could be worse. Post race
Warm down: So after we finished we went to our cars and pulled out the brats and beer. We all grabbed a drink and headed to the award ceremony. We got a few looks and comments about our choice of beverage. "I like your recovery drinks" was the best one. Event comments: Overall we did pretty well. We had a 2 guys place in their age groups with one 2nd and one 3rd place finish. My goal was under 2 hours and I finished in 1:38 so I was happy. Considering we were all rookies I think we did alright. Next time maybe one of us will win our age group. Last updated: 2007-10-10 12:00 AM
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United States
Buttar
Overcast
Overall Rank = 53/59
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 5/5
Here is the story of 8 Tri rookies and how we survived (no make that conquered) our first event. As rookies we expected a lot of mistakes and learning but somehow I never imagined we would have so many incidences.
I show up at the race site at about 6:00 and it is still really dark out. I unhook my bike from the car and start pushing it to the transition area. I get there and they ask me for my number. I of course tell them I have no idea. Apparently I should have gone to the registration pavilion first. I park my bike in the transition and catch up with a teammate. He informs me that I need $10 for a 1 day USAT membership. I of course do not have $10 so I have to borrow money from him. Once at the registration pavilion the very nice lady asks me if this is my first tri. So, I of course say yes. Well that was the wrong answer. She got all stressed because I was not registered for the "MyFirst Tri" event. Once I explained that I was properly registered for the Sprint event and that I meant that it was the first time I participated in a tri all was well. After that I was off to the transition area.
Once in the transition area we found out we had to wear the swim cap that was in the registration goodie bag. I know that might seem obvious but to us rookies it wasn't. One of our team members had to walk all the way back to his car to get his cap. When he got back to the transition area again he noticed that everyone had numbers on their bikes. Well as you guessed he had to go back to the car again for the bike number. I think by this time he must have completed a 5k.
After that I finished setting up my transition area and left for the beach. Since I never swam in this lake I decided to check it out. So, I went for a quick little swim in the shallow water. Visibility was 1 foot at most. To be honest that freaked me out a little. The water was a little cool so I attempted to convince myself that any amoeba would not survive in this water.
After that they announced it was 3 min to race time and I was off.