From survival to domination.... I hope... hah

Long and rambling attempt at some humor about my first triathlon a year ago.

Well I did my first sprint race 1 year ago in September.  I was still over 200 pounds at the time and had just completed the c25k program, bought myself a road bike (piece of junk) and I had done some laps in the pool, some of which were actually under the guidance of a friend and high schools swim coach (he even gave me a shorty wetsuit for racing).

The race is billed as a Super Sprint Triathlon.  They pu**** for new people as an entry into the world of triathlon.  The race distances are short enough that just about anyone can complete it.
It was a measly 400 meter swim (more on this later)
an 8 mile bike ride
and a 2 mile run.
It doesn't get much easier than that.  Or so I thought at the time.

I drug myself and my wife out of bed at O'dark 30 in the morning to take the 2 hour drive and get to the site for the event.  I had no idea what I would need to do when I got there.

I arrive on site with my wife and a camera (being the competitive s.o.b. that I am, we had to bring a camera to document my moment of glory as I would undoubtedly be taking home race hardware).  I was equipped for the race with a pair of tri shorts, an underarmor shirt, a t-shirt with my cutesy Team F.A.S.T. (fat aging slow triathlete) logo on it, the bike a helmet, some tennis shoes (they probably werent even tennis shoes, more likely street/walking shoes), and the shorty wetsuit.

Of course never having done this before there is a lot of nervous energy, and several lessons learned.  The most important of which is that it doesn't really matter how many times you go to the restroom, as soon as that wetsuit gets put on, you will have to go again.  The frequency and odds of this happening increase as it gets closer to race time.

The swim portion of the race take place in a lake that was adjacent to a former nuclear power plant, so of course we here the jokes abou****ching out for the 2 headed frogs, over and over and over and over again. 

So I head over for body marking.  My wife tells me it's so that they can identify me easier should anything happen to me (nice)  That way they don't have to find a family member, they can just look me up on their list (ha-ha very funny).  I thought she was just being sarcastic and teasing me. Little did I know that she was pretty close to dead on accurate in my case.

Race time.  I'm standing in the water looking at the course,  You swim out away from the shore for 100 yards, then do 200 yards paralell to the shore, then 100 yards back to the shore, up the hill to transition and onto the bike.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  The race starts and I start flailing away like I'm trying to dig a whole through the water and claw myself to the finish.  I'm actually passing people, I'm starting to think I'm kicking ass.  Then I hit the 100 yard marker and I am done.  I'm starting to wonder if the guy in the kayak would really notice if I went under.  I think damn he is so far away, he will never get here in time.  Plop over onto my back to catch my breath.  Little did I know that this was the submission signal giving the other swimmers the green light to take a little break from swimming and use me as a flotation device as they climb over the top of me.  Back over onto the stomach and start swimming again.  Am I actually moving, it doesn't seem like I am getting any closer to the next distance marker.  Fear and panic are really starting to set in.  I think about heading for the kayak and grabbing on for dear life.  I finally exit the water dead last.  The only people behind me are the two guys in the kayaks.  They followed me to shore.  I don't think they thought I was going to make it until it got shallow enough for me to stand up.  My wife has a picture of this.  I look like I drowned, returned as a zombie and was now climbing my way out of the water.  My poor swimming and near drowning experience has stuck with me and kept me from progressing to longer events up to this point.

Not one of my prouder moments.  As I am getting my gear ready for the ride, the eventual winner of the race was In T2 getting ready for his run.  He had finished the swim and the bike faster than I did the swim.

I was so upset and so beaten down at this point, that I almost quit right then and there.  I managed to get out of the wetsuit, and get on the bike.  I don't recall smiling, but there is picture proof that as I rode out of the T1, I was actually smiling.  Maybe it was gas or a grimmace that looked like a smile. 

The bike ride was pretty uneventful, and I actually caught a few people.  An elderly couple who were old enough to be my grandparents, 1 kid on a bmx style bike, and 2 other ladies on comfort/cruiser style bikes.  By the time I got to T2 I was feeling almost human again, very tired, but not like I was going to fall over and die.  That was about to change.

I take off for my run, and my legs don't want to work, hey this doesn't feel right, why do my legs want to run in a circular motion?  I ran about 100 yards and turn the corner, just far enough to get out of sight of the crowd, and that was it.  I was walking, but I was walking faster than some other people, I actually caught 2 people while walking.  Right about the 1/2 way point I hear footsteps behind me.  Grandpa from the bike portion was catching me.  OMG WTF no way am I going to be passed by him.  So I started trying to run again.  I ran every uphill section, he ran every flat or downhill section.  I managed to beat him to the finish line.

I was contemplating how to get rid of the photographic evidence that I was there.  Could I just delete the photos from the camera.  Could my wife get them restored by some super secret CSI investigator.  No I had to make sure they would be gone forever.  I was starting to settle on the idea of melting the memory stick, grinding it up and sprinkling it in with the dogs food.  That should do it.

I was getting ready to head out.  I was already in deep depression mode and just hammering myself with the poor performance and evaluation of my day.  I heard the announcement that they were giving away a full wetsuit after the awards, so I decided to hang out.

So they get to the Clydesdale division and I'm interested to see who trashed me, and how badly.  What, what, what did that guy just say?  He didn't just call my name did he?  3rd place, no way.  Hey he just said my name again.  Huh o.k.  I go up and get my awards.  My first triathlon and I got 3rd place wow that's pretty cool, I must have done better than I believed.  When we get home I log in to see my times etc. 1:22:08 an hour and twenty two minutes to travel 10 miles 400 yards.  Then I start looking for the other Clydesdales.  Come to find out I got the default award.  There were 3 entries in the Clydesdales and I got 3rd.

Well it's been almost a year, and that award had been hanging on my cubicle wall at work taunting me.  Super Sprint Triathlon 3rd Place.....

Yesterday I was surfing the web looking for a race and I found that the same race is scheduled for August 29th this year.  My credit card came out of my wallet so fast that the friction almost started a fire.  I actually hate this race and I want to cru****  It feels like I'm getting ready to fight the race.  This has gone from just a survival mode of all my other race to an attack mode.  I don't expect to win, I don't get the benifit of racing in the clydesdale division any longer, but I don't care.  I wouldn't care if I still finished last, what I care about is beating this race and seeing if there is any improvement over last year.  I'm psyched and ready to go. 

More to come after the 29th.....

Scott

Thanks for sharing and good luck. 

Thank you so much for sharing your story!

Awesome story Scott and what great determination! Kick that course's arse!!!

Sometimes, it's better to hear there stories than all the ones about people kicking butt in their 70.3s. It's a lot less intimidating for a newbie.

I'm right there with you Scott.  I was so upset about my first that when it came back around this year I needed to do it.  You'll kick butt this year!  I can't wait to hear about this year's version.

Linn