I wanted to do this race because it was a grassroots, community kinda race. They had timing clocks, but no awards or anything. I think there was probably less than 50 of us, and many of them were doing just the swim (there was a swim race within the triathlon race). I was not concerned about pace or anything, Vivian and I were just going to complete together. My shoulder is still giving me trouble too, so I just wanted to take it easy.

We got about 300m out. Vivian had just told me to go ahead. She is quite a bit slower than me as she is nervous/cautious about her ability, so just wants to go easy enough to finish comfortably. I wasn't about to 'ditch her' completely, but swam ahead some, then breast/back stroked for a bit. So, back to about 300m out. We come upon another woman who turns to look at us and say "anyone else freaking out about the water?". Uh oh. So we asked her why she was freaking out, told her to just go slow/easy, take deep breaths, and that we would swim with her. She was actually quite a strong swimmer, just really nervous. This was only her third OWS; her friend was supposed to swim with her, but backed out on her at the last minute. So, for the rest of the swim, I would swim freestyle awhile, then turn and make sure she was ok. Vivian brought up the end, with her very own paddle-boarder :)

With about 500m to go, everyone was doing fine, so I finished, then turned and went back out a bit to cheer in Masako and Vivian. Viv beat her previous Oly swim time by 5min, so that was awesome!

Nothing. I thanked all the volunteers out there keeping us safe, swam all 4 strokes (yep, I threw in some fly!) and just had fun, despite the rain. Oh, the one thing I would do different is remember to put lube on my neck so I didn't end up chaffed to chit...

Haha 15 minutes! It was so cold, it took awhile to get the hands to work. Well, and the walk--we went back to the bench where we had left our stuff, walked to the cars to get changed to run.

nuthin'. Masako thanked us--she said she would have quit if it wasn't for us encouraging her.

This was a nice, albeit wet, run. Flat to the trail (just before the trail, we had to cross the train tracks--just as we got there, the arms came down, and a train crossed! We had to wait about 5min), then big uphill, including the staircase, up to Crescent drive, then mostly flat to the turn around. Back to the trail, back down the big hill and stairs, then flat to the finish. It rained most of the time. Vivian is a bit faster than me, but I was able to keep up. I don't usually run with anyone, and it was quite fun to chat.

Nothing much.

Stretched a little, then needed to get warm!! Got changed and headed for home.


I chatted with Vivian's friend after the race, he had biked. He was shivering and shaking he was so cold. I am so glad we didn't do the bike! I saw some people coming in off the bike as well, and some of them had very red-looking skin. Yikes!

I needed a coffee, so stopped at the shop up the hill. Grabbed some change, went in, and there was a woman looking through her wallet. I didn't hear what she said, but then saw her pull out her credit card. I told her don't do that, and paid for her coffee. She said "that is very nice, thank you". I said "no problem, happy birthday", which I often say when someone is grateful for something. She looked at me COMPLETELY shocked and said "how did you know it was my birthday?!". I was as shocked as she was ;). She said I had made her day, which made my day.