That's why they call it a "Try" athlon

I live in Minnesota, why not do the Life Time Fitness Sprint Triathlon as my first? Well, needless to say the big event did not go as I would of hoped. My alarm clock went off at 4:15am and I was down to Lake Nikomis by 5:30am. Found a place to park, put on my back-pack loaded with gear and road my bike two miles to the race area.

I found my designated transition area and set up. At 7:30am we had to leave the transition area and wait for our swim event to begin...mine was at 10am. To say the heat was uncomfortable is an understatement...it was 94 degrees by 9am and believe me, it felt like it, too.

Around 9:45am I moved to the beach and waited for my turn to swim...one nice thing about the Life Time event is that there is not a massive wave of people all going at the same time like you see in some races. Instead it is spaced so that each competitor hits the water in 3 second intervals. A little nervous, I waited my turn...I got the signal and hit water...the temperature of the water was incredible, although it was a bit choppier than swimming in a pool...and by the way...anyone who ever tells you that there is no difference in swimming in a pool or a lake has either never done it or is full of it! The first thing you notice is the waves hitting your face as you are trying to breath, not to mention the current, sun in your eyes, and the "real" swimmers bumping into you as they pass.

Training in the pool I had the half mile down to about 20 minutes so had planned on about a 25 minute swim in the lake. As I neared the 1/4 mile turn around point I looked at my watch and saw I was just over 12 minutes, a tad behind schedule but I felt I could get back and make it up on the bike - which I consider my strongest event. About two seconds later...BAM... a young girl passing me accidentally kicks my neck with her ankle...right about the wind pipe to be exact...I happened to be breathing in at the time so I drank in about a pound of nasty lake water and treaded water trying to catch my breath...and tried...and tried...and tried...you know how when you get the air knocked out of you it's a good idea to sit down for a second and recover? That's a bit difficult to do when you are in 20 feet of water - one of the life guards saw that I was in trouble and swam over to check on me - while talking to her I still could not recover my breathing so she called over the boat and off to the medical tent I went.

Suffice it to say, the last place I ever pictured myself ending up at was the medical tent - but I really didn't have a choice. I had a pretty nasty mark on my neck and was just not breathing properly...and still had another 1/4 mile to swim. So onto the boat I went...were it that I was a girl, I would of cried...instead I sat quietly and silently and cursed the luck. While on the boat two others joined me. The first, a girl in phenomenal shape was complaining about cramps...CRAMPS? God, have a sip of water and finish the stupid race I thought. The next guy who got on the boat was laughing, saying he forgot how much he hated to swim and just wanted to get back to shore and get on his bike. When informed that his race was over if he got on the boat he said, "screw it, I'm not going to win any money here!" and on he went.


Well there you have it...my first...and definitely not last attempt at triathlon. With that said, I'm going to go wallow in my sorrow and look for a new race to get ready for!