First, came the wetsuits, which are never very pretty to put on:
Then, the walk to the water's edge in very cold wet grass. Our spouses and kids were there to support us, despite the weather, which really meant a lot! It was also amazing to see such diversity in the contestants, who ranged in age from 13 to 68 and represented all shapes and sizes.
After waiting for the other waves to go, our Family and Friends category took off. I struggled with the neck on my wetsuit, so I decided to breastroke the entire way. If I had been able to do the crawlstroke, I would have shaved off a few more minutes, but I just tried to keep it slow and steady. Look, I'm even smiling:
I swam the 400m in 11:18, then it was time for T-1. Amazingly, I was able to run, change out of my wetsuit, get on my bike helmet, socks and shoes and run my bike to the start in the pouring rain - all in 2:18 minutes! The 4th best time in my category.
Laurence said he had a hard time getting a photo of me in the transition, because I was so fast :-) Here I am running the bike to the start:
As I started the bike, I felt amazingly good - probably because I really didn't push the swim too hard. I was getting into a rhythm when I went to tackle the first big hill. As I dropped gears to climb, I also dropped my chain right off the derailer. Cursing, I flipped over my bike to try and reattach it, but being right in the middle of a hill, I couldn't get the chain to catch. I spent another five minutes trying to reattach it (with the help of a very nice person who stopped to help), when I finally decided I'd just loop it over the biggest gear and ride the rest of the way in high gear. Every 5th turn, it would start to slip and then re-catch. So, I rode 5+ miles with a malfunctioning chain, but I was so determined to finish and not give up.
Needless to say, I was pretty mad when I got back for T2 - mad enough to do my transition in 32 seconds! That put me in 1st place for my category for T2!
That left me with my dreaded event - the run. I won't record my pace for the run here. Let's just say snails could probably have been faster.
However, I still came in 26 out of 40 in the Family & Friends category - and I finished! And, for the record, here's my stats.
~ Swim ~
Rnk 18
Time 11:18.6
~ T-1 ~
Rnk 4
Time 2:18.5
~ Bike ~
Rnk 25
Time 41:20.9
~ T-2 ~
Rnk 1
Time 0:32.0
~ Run ~
Rnk 22
Time 17:29.6
FINAL Time 1:12:59.6
I'm so determined to overcome my bike chain problem that I'm definitely doing this again. I know I can easily beat my time in both the swim (by actually swimming) and the bike (by having a functioning chain).
