I slept pretty good the night before. I was all nervous that I wouldn't sleep. My alarm was set for 5am and I woke up 15 minutes early.I ate breakfast, got all my gear in the truck, and my parents showed up. They came from Pompey, NY to watch the triathlon.
As planned, I got to the tri at 6am. I did my warm-up drill sets, stretches,warm-up run and bike ride. I grabbed my tri bag, got body marked, and went into transition. I was on schedule.
I was surprised how small my transition area was. When I set up my bike , half my transition towel was under my front tire.
Once I set up transition, I put my wetsuit on. 7:45am, not on schedule. I was planning on getting in the water for a 15 minute warm-up swim but I was rushing to get to the pre-race meeting. I also didn't have time to study the transition area.
Walking down the hill to the swim start, the nerves started again. I saw Russ Lord down by the start and we chatted. My goggles kept fogging up.
My swim wave was 3rd. "30 seconds before the start". Deep breaths. "Go!"
I let the crowd go in first. I took my time getting in. Once I was near the first buoy, I was surprised that there were still people swimming behind me.
Between the 1st and 2nd buoys, I kept getting water in my mouth. Rounding the 2nd buoy, it seemed it took forever to reach the shore.
I made it. Now I have to run up the hill.
As I was stripping the top off my wetsuit off, I put my swim cap and goggles in my right sleeve. As I was running up the hill, they fell out. I saw the green swim cap but not the goggles. I'm not going back to find them.
Towards the top of the Hill Challenge, I started to walk.
T1 went well. Half way through the bike ride, my left calf cramped up. It was very painful and almost knocked me off my bike. I slowed down a bit and it got better.
The bike ride went well. It was my fastest time riding the Sprint course. 47 seconds and I was out of T2.
Shortly after starting the run, my calf cramped up again. Turning onto Junction Rd., the cramp was gone.
I picked it up for the last mile to the finish. Once back at Spring Hill, the adreneline kicked in. I pushed it down the hill to the finish. "Yes? I did it". Thanks to everyone that has helped me learn how to swim and train for traithlons.
1:27.10
172 out of 471
22 out of 38 age group.
142 out of 474 for the Hill Challenge.
It was a great 1st tri. I'm psyched! I'm looking forward to the 2011 season.
