Post-Race Wrap Up

Well, team, it's been a good ride. I finished my first triathlon, and did it in good time. Here's probably more detail than anyone cares to read, but I feel it's only necessary, considering the 100 days it took to get here. Again, I want to thank everyone who supported me in spirit, time, good thoughts, and general logistics. Special thanks go out, first of all, to my fabulous husband, who was inundated with probably more information than he cared to learn about this sport, and was patient with my delinquency in terms of things like proper meals and cleaning due to many hours at the gym. Also huge thanks to my mother, who flew out to see it all go down. To Kate, Deven, and Rosanna, who were there at the finish. To Lori, who offered wisdom and potential bike usage. To Suzanne, who was that familiar face I needed at the start. To Marge, for her triathlon expertise and spirit that moved me. And to all the others who had no doubts I could do it - you know who you are and I will thank you each individually in my own time. As my mother put it, you were my emotional pit crew, and I love you for it!

OK now for details:

4:45 am - early wake up. Ouch. Donned the attire, ate the peanut butter, whole wheat muffin and banana. Woke Dan up, and loaded into the car.

5:30am - Dan dropped me off at the park, where I proceeded into the transition area where my bike was already racked, flashing my inked arm for admittance.

Once in, I prepped my transition area under my bike. Lined up shoes, socks, water bottle to clean my feet post-swim, towel to dry 'em, fuel, water, sunglasses, fuel and bandanna for the bike, shirt with bib attached and hat for the run. I was ready to go by 6:00am. Sad part - my wave to swim wasn't until 7:49am. Lots of time to loiter and get increasingly more butterflies.

I chatted with the ladies around me, and looked for Suz. I found her bike on the rack next to mine. Issue was they -said - they would be clearing the transition area by 6:45am so that the first heats coming in didn't have to contend with ladies just loitering. I worried - how was everyone going to make it in, set up, and leave on time. I couldn't be bothered with it, though. I had a race to get to.

I lost the necessary garments and headed over to the swim start with another woman I had met. By the time we got there, we had missed the national anthem, but did hear the start horn for the first heat - the Pro Athletes - so I took a spot by the fence to see them come out of the water for inspiration. 11 minutes later, the first woman came out. Awesome. They ran towards the bikes. I waited and watched more women leaving the water before heading over the the waiting area.

There was a wading area to test the waters. I waddled in. Not so bad - probably the warmest I had experienced Lake Washington in all my swims. Slowly us ladies in the yellow caps in Wave 23 found each other. We chatted while watching the consecutive heats go. 17...18...19... we chatted about how it seems no one stuck to a training regimen, which made me feel better. We watched as women on the docks pumped up each heat. Everyone was smiling and cheering. The spectators were numerous as well. It was a pretty awesome sight.

7:35am - no more time to waste, really. My fellow yellow caps and I waddled out of the water and up towards the corrale, where many other yellow caps were waiting. I ditched the flip-flops (my sacrifice to the triathlon gods) and slowly moved towards the water.

7:42am - I found Suzanne! Just one familiar face set my nerves at bay. I can't express to Suz how great it was to have her there. Really.

7:46am - Heat 22 is out and now it's our turn. We move into the water, about shin high. The announcer tells us we're the happiest group she's had all day. We note she probably says that to all the ladies, but we don't mind. Suz and I access our position. I had planned to take the outside (left) but seems there was a woman in the heat prior that wasn't fairing so well, and was with some swim angels and noodles in the far left, so my line would be something right of that. I figured I'd correct once I hit the water.

7:49am - We're off! Definitely an initial log jam due to going from vertical to horizontal, but definitely not as bad as I thought it would be. I did not get kicked in the face, or ribs, or anywhere else for that matter. I started out pretty hard, which winded me a little, but eventually got a rhythm. The first buoy was a short distance, rounded that, the second buoy a little further. Somewhere in this stretch I got concerned that I was far out left from the pack, possibly adding undue distance. This was realized when my left hand grazed a surfboard of one of the many volunteers out in the water to keep us on target. I rounded the third buoy and was now headed for the beach. This was the longest stretch. It's at this point I realized that I had Suz basically 5 feet in front of me, so I just followed her, and she got me home :)

Going from 17 minutes horizontal and heart pumping to vertical kinda messes with your equilibrium. I got out of the water and almost felt drunk. That, and there were hundreds of people lining the shoot cheering you on. Awesome, but threw me off, so I just ran head down as I removed my goggles and swim cap and ran to my bike. Sadly, our transition area was the furthest from the swim, so by the time I got to my bike I was really wonky. I can't say I remember everything that happened during that transition, but I did get my shit together. I washed and sorta dried my feet, donned the socks and shoes, bandanna and helmet, sunglasses and threw the Goo Mel had given to me into one of my pockets. I think I drank some water and, after wrestling to get my bike off the rack, was off. I ran the bike to the bike start, then got on, and just pedalled.

Not a lot to report on the bike, except for that damn Day Street hill/I-90 access road bullshit. It's a very steep, very narrow road up to I-90. I thought I could take it, but got half way up and realized I couldn't. Unfortunately, I had to get off my bike in the left lane as the right was full of walkers, which royally f-ed up the people behind me. I apologized profusely, and am just happy I didn't cause any falls.

Once on 90, I thought I had a pretty good pace. The route takes you over Lake Washington onto Mercer Island, with some intermittent hills and some tunnels. Inside the tunnels with the sunglasses on I was almost blind, but could see enough, and enjoyed all the ladies hooting and hollering. The worst was really the appropriate bike etiquette/rules of the road. You are supposed to pass within 15 seconds or back off. I could do 15 seconds, but invariably there would always be someone coming up behind you going much faster than that. Needless to say, I did some braking to maneuver without repeating the events of the hill. Made it to the turnaround and checked my time. Doing ok, not great. Time to pick it up. Also time to refuel! Grabbed the goo - not as tasty as I had hoped, and I had this vision that my face was covered in chocolate. Nice touch.

Back down the Day Street hill and volunteers are saying only 2 miles left. I pushed it hard in this stretch, spinning it out the last 1/4 mile to loosen the legs up for the run. My concern - I had pushed too hard on the bike, and would be crippled for the run. We'll see.

Ran the bike back to the transition spot, dropped the helmet and bandanna, changed my shirt, and double-checked to make sure that really was all I needed. Took a drink, and was off.

The run start was FILLED with spectators. Amazing. I took a pretty easy stride as my legs tried to get used to the motion. For some reason, I think I may have tied my shoes too tight, as my toes were numb on the ride, and now still numb on the run. Eventually I could feel them again, but to start, this was kinda weird.

I puttered along, made it to mile 1 and grabbed some water. Checked the time and I couldn't believe it. I had set my sights on under 2 hours for the whole thing and, if I could read the time correctly, I had something like 35 minutes to do the final 2 miles. I have no idea where I picked up the time, but I was proud at this point. My next goal was to try and run as much as I could.

Somewhere after this point I heard a familiar voice shout my name. Suz! Already on her way back, but she saw me! Again, that familiar face really helps. You have no idea what your presence meant to me, dahling.

Made it to the turn-around at Orcas and started heading back. Grabbed some water at mile 2, and prepared for the home stretch. I knew the hardest part was to come - a last hill up Genesee Way before heading to the finish. Bongo players lined this hill to provide motivation. Sadly, when I got there, they were taking a break. We let them know we needed them, and one guy gave us a basic beat, which helped. I made it to the top of the hill running, but by the time I was done with it, I had cramps in both my shoulder and side which forced me to walk for about 30 seconds. With one last relaxing breath, I turned it on for the last 1/2 mile.

Entering the park, I heard another familiar voice. Dan! I looked over and saw my emotional pit crew - Dan, Mom, Kate and Deven! I was almost there. Entering this last 1/5 mile, I started to well up. I almost cried, but didn't and, hitting the grass, with hundreds of strangers cheering us all on, gunned it. Next thing I know, I'm there. I did it. Unbelievable. I looked at my watch. 9:38 am. I exceeded my expectations. I got my medal. I was a triathlete.


The final numbers:

Overall Rank: 1405 of 3709
Class Rank: 180 of 376
Swim: 00:17:22
Swim Rank: 500
Trans1: 00:07:36
Bike: 00:45:20
Bike Rank: 1324
MPH: 15.8
Trans2: 00:03:15
Run: 00:35:13
Run Rank: 1985
Pace: 00:11:21
Final: 01:48:48

In hindsight I remember everything with such clarity, but also found it all to be such a blur. Along the way, I thought of all the other women out there doing this amazing thing, for themselves, for women they loved, for women they had lost. I decided I did it for all of them, and we did it together.

Will I do it again? Affirmative. When? Who knows. Danskin is a special series, and I'll be back on the course in 2011, for sure. If you've read this far, then maybe you will do it with me next time! Other triathlons? Maybe. I have all the gear, right? :)

And with that I will close out this blog. Thanks for reading, praying, rooting me on, and being my emotional pit crew. I couldn't have done it without you! Until 2011...
-Juliet