Turtle Crawl Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

The current must have been faster than most rivers as you can tell by my time if you compare it to my pool times or my St. Anthony's time which was 30:00. I would actually prefer no current so your time is more real.

It was a two person time trial start at 5 sec intervals. Both people who started after me got in the water before I did. I guess I should have hurried a bit more from the starting line to the water. ;) Since it was a time trial start we were spaced out somewhat which caused me some confusion as I started hitting people/fish(not sharks)/something in the water almost from the start. I assumed it was people although there were not that many people around me. As I continued to swim, I ruled out people and assumed that some good sized fish(not sharks) were swimming around under me. I know from scuba diving that fish will do this if you stir up the bottom because they come feed on things in the silt. However, I knew that I was in too deep of water to be stirring up silt. Bear in mind that I was hitting and kicking a LOT (by a LOT, I mean 2 or 3 per minute) of these fish(not sharks) as I swam. This was a bit disconcerting but since no one was screaming in the water I did not let it bother me too badly. I think that I was spending a bit too much time thinking about the fish(not sharks) and not enough on breathing and speed. A couple of times when I swiped the fish(not sharks), I felt a definite sandpapery feel. If anyone has rubbed a shark from the tail toward the head, it feels just like sandpaper. This bit of knowledge was a bit disconcerting. Finally a couple of hundred yards from shore I accidently palmed a Jellyfish and realized that was what I was hitting was actually Jellyfish and not fish or SHARKS! That was a bit of a relief although I was almost through with the swim before my discovery.

However, just before I got to shore a REAL Shark got after me. This really helped my time. If you do not believe me, one of the volunteers got a picture of it. I put it up as my new avatar. I know it looks a lot like my old avatar, but this is a new one. The old one was not real. It was done with Photoshop. This one is REAL!

OK, so much for the humor. This was such a great place, race, and leisure time I will be more serious and almost sappy from this point forward. I had a great time the whole day. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if I had been able to convince everyone else to do the race and we could hang out like we did at St. Anthony's and Chattanooga. BTW, Anditrigirl told me that the jellyfish are Cannonball Jellyfish. You can look them up on the net. Thanks for the research Andi. You should join our club since you live so close to us. atlantamultisport.org

I would have run faster to get to the water and when I got out of the water. I would not worry about the fish(not sharks) and realize they were just harmless jellyfish.

I thought this was an amazingly fast T1 for me even though the people near me got there after I did and left before I did.

nothing

This is a great bike course for time. I would prefer a few more turns since I like cornering.

Maybe go a little faster.

Not being a runner, my back starting hurting around mile 2 and my knee REALLY started hurting around 4.5 miles. I wanted to walk/limp instead of shuffle/limp, but I was determined not walk.

Nothing, I just need to work on my running a lot.

desire, this is really about exercise and enjoyment for me...not about speed...at this point.


I loved this race. I think Jekyll Island is a great place to hang out. It is the easiest course that I have ever been on although I have not been on that many.

I had a GREAT TIME.
I did my first brick of the year.
I ran six miles at one time for the first time this year.
I got to see the Turtle Conservatory release three sea turtles back into the wild.
I ate at a cool restaurant.
It got to enjoy a place that just has that feel good atmosphere.

It was a good day in the life of Neal Phelps. ;)