Passed

I’m in the car on the way home from participating in the Pinehurst Triathlon.   I passed, I finished, I made it.   I had a good time too.   Let me start of by saying we had it made as far as pre-race accommodations, during race support and post-race amenities.    This is all because of my in-laws.

They live on the Pinehurst lake and we were quite close to the race start.   We arrived last night to be greeted by a pasta feast made by my mother-in-law.   I had two-and-a-half plates, some ice cream and two of the cookies she made.   It was a great pre-race meal.

This morning my husband dropped us off early so we could set up our bikes and all related gear for our transitions from swim to bike to run.  We got our ankle timing tags and then  and the headed to the sandy beachhead area of the lake to start the race.

Due to lake temperatures the swim was wetsuit legal.   Folks, I’ve swam in the lake before and being able to wear a wet suit made a huge difference.    It gives you buoyancy so all you need to do is focus on moving forward in the right direction.  The lake conditions were calm, making it an enjoyable swim for me.

My in-laws, husband and children were in their boat on the lake cheering me on when I passed the second leg marker.  I got back after being passed by people in my wave as well as people in the two waves after me.   I was passed a lot in the water.   I had thought I was a slow swimmer and now it’s confirmed, based on how many times I was passed.

Exiting the water I went to my bike, removed the wet suit, put on my biking shoes, helmet, gloves and other things to start the thirty mile bike segment.    As I made the second turn on my bike away from the lake I realized I had forgotten both my phone and watch.    They were my tool to see how for I had gone, what my biking pace was, etc.   Oh well, I’ll get them when I get back for the run portion.

But the lack of phone and watch was interesting: there were no distance markers and only one water station the entire thirty mile run.   I had no idea or sense of how far I’d biked.    There were a lot of tall hills on the second half of the race and yet again, I was passed by many people.

I had two people comment on my bike, which is new and I love.   One was a sheriff directing traffic at an intersection.   He told me my seat had dropped down.   He was right, I wasn’t able to fully straighten my legs when I was pedaling.   I stopped and adjusted the seat and had an easier time of things afterwards.     The other person said, “props to you for doing this on that bike.”   I could tell he meant it as a compliment.   I had noticed the wheels on my bike were quite wide in comparison the the “road bikes” passing me with very thin wheels.  

I talked to Matt after the race and he said I was at a significant disadvantage with my bike for both speed and energy needed to move it forward.  I didn’t mind the bike, in fact I like my new bike, but it was obvious from watching the people pass me again and again that my bike wasn’t like theirs and I wasn’t able to match their speeds, even on my fastest gears.     I didn’t mind though, I wasn’t trying to beat any time or person, I just wanted to finish.

When I got back from the bike section I was greeted by my husband, daughter and Matt, who didn’t do the run section because of and injury.  I changed shoes, got my watch and phone this time and started the run portion.    I wasn’t overly tired at this point but it turned out my calves were very, very tired and unhappy about the motion change from biking to running.  

It wasn’t a problem though because by now I had my own personal support crew with my husband, Matt and my daughter following my crawling slow run pace in the golf cart.   They handed me water, brought me a banana, and my daughter ran along with me several times.   There was a seventy-seven year old lady in front of me (yes, I was going that slow) that asked for some food as well and my guys headed off to get her something.  

My calves got over the cramping with lots of water and some nutrients in my and the run turned into just a run after doing a lot of other exercise.   I was tired so I sang songs from Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music because I needed to get my mind off the distance and time left to go.  

About a mile from the end I passed my in-laws house where my husband, children, the dog and Matt were out, cheering me on.   As I ran on to the finish line my husband and mother-in-law passed me in the golf cart so I could get a ride home afterwards.

The title of this post is “Passed” because I was passed again and again.   I think from what the support truck said that drove by towards the end that I was the fifth to the last person in the entire race to cross the finish line.

I told you I was slow.   But I don’t care about being last or near last—I had a great time.  Thanks to my in-laws for all their support this weekend.

The Big Boy Update:  My son put cars and toys in Nana’s little man made stream.   He is very good with creative play in situations like this.   I hear he lost one car to the lake the stream flows into.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came to see me at the race today and decided to do some of the run portion with me—in her flip flops.   She ran a good distance several times and then rode home in the golf cart to wait and cheer me on as I passed the house before the finish line.

Fitness Update:  I did my first olympic distance triathlon in Pinehurst today.   I’m not sure I’ll do another one, but I enjoyed this one.