You're up at 3:45 a.m.?? To race?!?!

PART II


So as reply the Might Mossman Tri in my mind, there are alot of other things going on in my head: like opening my doors to my two nieces for the week. WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL, children. Their smiles are infectious. Their energy sucks you dry. As they head out tomorrow, I've got a day and a half to recharge and open the doors to my Dad, whose coming in from D.C. Then, we round up my wife, my daughter and Dad for a weekend in Atlantic City. Ugh. This week sure is busy. But you didn't log on read to about that...


...Back to the tri.


6:45-the horn sounded and I began my swim. Remember, I'm a bad swimmer , so I purposely stayed in the back of the pack so as to avoid the bumps and hustle from the other competitors. Now, I don't know if I was feeling a sense of anxiety or fear, but what should have been a simple swim to the first buoy turned out to be more tense than expected-even swimming by myself. Heck, I should have swam with the pack if I was going to feel like this.


I reached the first buoy and took a few moments to catch my breath as planned. Surprisingly, I heard someone else ask me to make some space for them. That was weird. There was something comforting about another novice needing a few minutes to get his wits together after an adrenaline-rushed 70 meters. I had to chuckle at that. So there were Kris and I, hanging on to a lifeguard's boat, catching our breath to go back towards the second buoy. We calmed down, we swam, we got to the second buoy. We repeated the process to the third, fourth, fifth and final buoy. I'd be remiss if I didn't thank the lifeguards who stayed with us for our entire swim. They probably said to each other, "Hey. Watch these guys; one of them might drown". But that's not the point. Their presence mad me comfortable. Another thing that put me at ease was finding my groove after the third buoy. It almost felt like the current was guiding me along. That, coupled with me gaining control of my form, made the second half of the swim more relaxing. Did I mention how calm the water was, and how calm I eventually became?


Swim time: 27:39


Transition 1: 2:55-I didn't have any problems-Other than the slight embarrassment of seeing that my bike was one of 4 or 5 left in transition. Hey, such is life. Who's that chit-chatting with me again? Why, it's my guy Kris. You know, people look so different without a swim cap on their head.


Helmet's on, shades are on, shoes are on-Let's hit the bike!! And I must say, what a smooth ride. Again, I have to thank my TNT coaches for giving me sound advice on how to make up time on the bike after a swim. 1st lap, get out there like a bat out of hell. That's what I did. It was all good until I felt the dreaded "bonk" coming along. Oooooh boy. My legs were quickly turning into jelly. The drinks weren't helpful. Neither was the Gu. So I remembered my second bit of advice: a third of the way in (in this case the end of the first lap), slow it down and give yourself time to recover for the final stretch. Luckily, this came during the downhill stretch. What relief. And again, I looked over to my left, and there was my anchor-buddy Kris (I hope he doesn't mind me using his name. Maybe I'll refer to him as "Todd" from now on). So "Todd" and I had a (very) brief conversation. I believe he passed me. But even that moment to relax was great to relieve me of my potential bonk.


Bike Time: 50:37


Transition 2: 1:58 no problems here. Just in and out


Two-thirds of the day done. As a passer-by put it, "You don't have to worry about drowning. You don't have to worry about a flat. You're home free". And that I was. I think I pitter-pattered for the first mile. Turning the corner out into the main roads, I saw my guy Kr...pardon, Todd, one last time. I made it a point to remind myself to wait for him once I reached the finish line. In what felt like an instant, the 2-mile mark popped in front of me. And I had 15 minutes to spare in my quest to finish in under 2 hours. Oh, this is gonna be fun!! In my little world, I was having a race against the clock. Going through the run, I allowed for my mind to wander about what it was that I was doing. I was up before dawn to run a triathlon. What amazed me even more is the fact that it wasn't anywhere 9:00. It was so early in the morning to be doing this. My friends and family were sleeping. NICE!!

Run time: 34:27

Total time: 1:57:27

Two races under my belt and many more to come. The ride back home was so much fun and rewarding. The only thing missing was my wife, my daughter and a big breakfast platter of eggs, sausage and home fries. I was also most appreciative of my encounter with Kris. I read somewhere that the camaraderie triathletes share lies in the fact that they're ordinary people doing an extraordinary. Because of that, they're quick to support and congratulate each other. I'm happy to say I personally experienced that. AND I BROKE 2 HOURS!! WOO-HOO!!