Race Day

The day began very early - we left at 5:30 a.m. to be at the course by 6:20 to see the first wave of racers set off. After boiling hot temps yesterday, there was a thunder and lightning storm over the lake as we drove up to the race site but the weather system veered off before 6:30 and left us with perfect temperatures and great conditions. We watched the Elite racers take off first and they made the swim course look so easy, that it actually looked like fun. We watched them speed through the course, step out of the water, run to their bikes and begin the bike stage. And then the cancer survivors hit the water with tremendous support from the crowd. At that point we went to set up our staging areas at our bikes, laying out our clothes and shoes for the transitions to come. We put on our purple swimcaps and headed to the Corral and waited for our wave to begin. Sally Edwards gave us each a high-five (that's 4,000+ high fives) as we entered the water.

We hit the water around 8:00 a.m. The truth is I know now why the swim is the first event of the triathlon. You just have to get it out of the way. We were in the water with 120 other women in our wave. The flight or fight syndrome set in immediately and my first reaction was a brief panic and hyperventilation (They warned us that might happen). I had every intention of remaining calm and focused and just going slowly swimming the crawl, but I could not do it and began to do breast stroke so that I could see who I was bumping into and who was bumping into me.

The millfoil began wrapping itself around my limbs. At the first buoy we had to turn about 240 degrees to swim the second leg of the triangle-shaped course. All the swimmers clumped together and we had to scramble to keep out of each others’ way. I began reciting the names of the cancer survivors/victims I was racing for hoping that would keep my mind focused, but it didn’t help much, so I flipped onto my side for a while and did a little side stroke. I actually began laughing at one point it was just such a miserable experience – but I was still passing some swimmers and knew I was slowly getting to the next buoy – it was about 100 yards to the first buoy, 500 to the second and then 200 to the finish line. The finish line was eventually within reach and a very kind hand reached down to help me out of the water. I took off running with all the other triathletes barefoot on cement, dry grass, asphalt and gravel to find my bike in the transition area. I absolutely had to go to the bathroom and lost several minutes there, but got on my bike and had an awesome ride across the Mercer Island floating bridge in the express lanes.

The approach to the bridge was quite awkward, we had to ride up a very narrow lane just wide enough for two bikes; slowpokeson the right walking their bikes while others rode on the left up the hill, but of course some were much slower than others, and you had to gear down and proceed cautiously. Once on the bridge, it was fantastic. We rode to Island Crest Way and then turned around and rode back. Unfortunately we saw one nasty wipe-out near the tunnel which required the race to stop briefly while an ambulance got through to help the racers. We hollered and rang our bells as we went through the tunnel. I have to say, I love my bike and was really pleased with how well prepared we were for the biking. I passed a variety of road bikes – there was nothing really difficult about the ride, and my mountain bike handled very well.

We zoomed back down Lake Washington Blvd and I couldn’t help myself I just had to ring my bell wildly because it was just so exciting and the crowd was incredibly supportive. At the bike finish line, we had to dismount abruptly (I nearly knocked someone over at the dismount) and all the racers began running their bikes back into the transition area so I copied them – not a good idea. I had jelly legs and almost fell down.

I re-racked my bike and took off running with Laurie right beside me. We had not expected to see each other at all during the race but ended up 12 seconds apart (she beat me) and we hung together during the run. The run felt remarkably good. I thought that might be as much of a trial as the swim given that my energy would be wearing down at that point, but I set a steady pace and stuck to it throughout. The course was flat until the last mile. We ran up a steep but short hill to reach the last few blocks before turning into Genessee Park to the finish line. As we ran up the hill, there was a group of drummers playing the conga drums and other percussion instruments to encourage us at the toughest part of the run. (Where were they when I was swimming?) At the top of the hill I almost ran out of steam, but a well-placed volunteer yelled “you can do it – only four more blocks until you reach the finish." So I kept going … around the corner… and there was my friend Joyce smiling at me ... and there were Mae and Jeannie .... and then Mark. I made it and I have a Triathlon Medal to prove that I AM A TRIATHLETE!

Overall, the race was a blast and I'm really pleased that I trained so hard and finished it well. here are my times:

½ mile swim: 22.53 mins. (it was a horrid, horrid nasty experience!)
Transition to bike: 9.27 (I had to go to the porta-potty)
Bike 12 miles: 43.23 – 16.5 mph (what fun!)
Transition to run: 2.11 (not going to the porta-potty makes quite a difference)
Run 3.1 miles: 31.24 – 10.08 minutes per miles (and the finish line was ahead!)

I was 1919 of all 3710 racers and 361 of 1030 in the mixed ages.
Overall time: 1 hour 49 minutes 20 seconds. Woo-hoo. Less than two hours (and the slowest of the three of us, oh well).


It was such a success that I've just signed up to do another on September 7. Stay tuned ... more triathlons and photos of the Danskin Triathlon Number 1 will follow when Laurie's computer gets better.