Milwaukee, Wisconsin United States USA Triathlon Overcast

Total Time = 1h 31m 44s Overall Rank = 920/1099 Age Group = 35-39 Age Group Rank = 32/38

I hope you're sitting down for this, because it's going to be long... though your butt might get numb, so you might want to read this in stages and take a break somewhere, go get something to eat, maybe visit the loo, and come back when you're ready to lose any feeling in your legs again.

Firstly - this was an AWESOME weekend. I mean, seriously awesome. The race itself totally sucked big hairy donkey balls for me, but everything else about the weekend was fan-freakin-tastic!!

It actually all started off on Thursday when Salty (Adrienne) got into town and we headed to the Bad Happy Poutine place in Chicago... and with our own bottles of vino (beer for Salty) as it's a BYOB place. OMG - it was SO freakin' good. A plate of fries covered in cheese curds and smothered in gravy. I'm pretty sure I took in my entire caloric intake for the week on that one plate. Well, after the bottle(s) of wine and the poutine - we had to hoof it to get her to the boat dock in time for her architecture tour. Let's just say that wine & poutine & running aren't the best mix... and Tony and I took the speed waaaayyy down for the walk home.

Friday I had to work (booo!) and then took the train up to Milwaukee to meet up with Salty and Switch (Elesa) for a drink or two and the biggest plate of nachos anyone has ever seen. People took pictures of this thing, a bridal party came in to take a look, the server didn't even know that the thing came in 2 sizes... it was epic. And getting to meet both Salty and Switch was just the beginning of the fantasticness.

Chris Gregg (cgregg) showed up at the bar just as Switch had to leave, and the poor guy hadn't had a single thing to eat all day after a somewhat disastrous trip from Cleveland, through Chicago (I waved at random cars in the morning just in case one of them turned out to be him), almost getting run off the road, a busted bearing that needed to be fixed, and finally to Milwaukee for 8:30pm or so. The guy needed FOOD! BTers are a really great bunch of people and Chris is no exception - it was great to meet him, and I'm really glad he made it to Milwaukee safe and sound. Tony eventually showed up too for some eats and then it was off to the hotel to check in and get some sleep before getting up in the morning to see the Dumster part of the WhizzzDumps race the Olympic.

Yeaaaahhhh... so the hotel room was so small that you couldn't open the door into the room without hitting the bedside table, nor could you open the bathroom door without hitting the bedside table on the other side. Sigh, oh well, at least it was a place to sleep... or was it? Baby screaming starting at 4am made it clear that this hotel is not soundproofed. This went on for over an hour and a half before the people eventually got up and left the hotel room (I guess they were racing) with the now happy toddler chatting exceptionally loudly all the way down the hall. Finally, some sleep! Of course, this meant that I missed every single one of Whizzz's texts until about 8:15am when we opened our eyes again.

OH CRAP - it's 8:15!! So much for getting to the race early. Okay, first... coffee. Priorities here, people! And coffee is essential to life. Whew - Starbucks IN our hotel so no need to panic and then off to the race site where we find Whizzz, go yell for the Dumpster ever place we plausibly can, find Terri who is volunteering at one of the crosswalks, and chase wieners. No, I'm not kidding about the last one! I also got to see cgregg cross the line, Switch on the run and the Schmizers once Scott was done. There was also a Chrissy Wellington sighting, and we got to see Sister Madonna Buder cross the finish line, which was so inspiring.

Tony and I hadn't eaten ANYTHING all day (now 1pm-ish), so we made the executive decision (after not having any plans confirmed by this point) to go get some food and figure things out. Lunch done and we head back to the expo as that's where the car was and wander around for a bit before you're allowed to rack your bike for the sprint starting at 4pm..

OHMYGOSH... it's Chrissy Wellington and Sister Madonna Buder just standing around in a nearly deserted expo!!! Tony had done about 4 stories on Chrissy and British triathlon in general and so went to introduce himself which led into about a 15 minute conversation with the two of them and a couple of pictures... they were two of the most humble and gracious people I have ever had the honour to meet.

Next up on the BT meet and greet are the Crownys! David was doing his first race since crashing during a crit and needing surgery to put his shoulder back together, so this was going to be a great way to come back from that just 11 weeks later. We got everyone settled, picked up our race packets and free compression socks and started the drive to the Weningers!

Okay, so this is where the decision-making part of the weekend may have gone out the faching window. It was SO much fun to hang out with Clint and Terri & Amy Jo and Craig, and there was much silliness and a ridiculously big bottle of wine. Note to self... don't ever have dinner with a bunch of friends when they're not racing the next day. And don't ever believe them when they tell you to have more wine because "it's ONLY a sprint". And don't ever believe that you can have more wine because "Clint raced a half still drunk". These people are clearly evil as they are not racing the next day. ;)

We were in bed by 10:30pm, but the damage was done. I went to bed with the hazy knowledge that tomorrow wasn't going to go well, but it's okay, I mean, it's ONLY a sprint, right?? ;)



I had absolutely NO appetite in the morning, so had coffee, a 5hr energy and figured I would have the Gu that I put into my transition bag before the swim... though as I'm taking everything out of my transition bag to set up... I can't find it! I was SURE I put it in the bag, but somehow I wandered off... great, so no food for the race. But that's okay, because it's ONLY a sprint, right?? ;)

Basically this came down to trying not to vomit, using the port-a-loo, and getting into my wetsuit.

I did jump into the water for a bit and did a couple of strokes, but that was about it. My tummy wouldn't have handled anything more than that.