2006 UCD Triathlon Race Report
Damn swimmers, why is the swim longer this year? I went back-n-forth in that pool sipping salty water for what seemed like an eternity waiting for Kristen to dip that kick board letting me know there's 50-yards left to go. 2 waves before me, I saw Rope Dawg pulling a 7.5-minute 750 yards (which is faster than I can swim 500 yards), beating everyone else in his wave. I was glad to see that he gets to enjoy a 3-5 minute lead on aquatically challenged folks, e.g. me.
The twins, Hiep and Hao had 2 girls (also twins?) next to the pool cheering for them. It was obvious that the cheers weren't enough as they struggled a little getting out of the pool upon finishing the swim. I decided to be helpful and yelled, "get out of there! get out of the pool! What are you waiting for!" Looking back, that probably wasn't as helpful as I've hoped.
Before I got in the water, this guy with a beer belly next to me wanted to arm wrestle me for the lane. Really, that's what he asked me! I knew with his natural wetsuit he'd most likely out swim me, but I'd definitely catch him on the bike. So I conceded the lane to him. Then, he decided he didn't want that lane after all and said he'll stay where he was.
Heading out on the bike, I was sure everyone (other than my beer-belly- buddy) had left already. I got cranking right away, and despite my burning quads, the pace seemed slow. I caught maybe 2 people in my wave in the first half. That and Julia's cheer at a corner gave me a little boost to push harder. I was excited when I caught up to a girl in green "Mission San Jose High School" wind breaker. "Hey!! that's where I went to high school!!! Oh... it's you Sarah." It's not that I was disappointed to see Sarah, but I already knew we went to the same high school.
After that, it was huffing-and-puffing and trying to not get let the tunnel vision get too bad, as it is usally closely followed by passing out completely, and waking up feeling cheap. I was glad to see Chad in the 2nd half of the bike because that meant I wasn't doing as bad as I thought. Still trying to catch my breath, my voice turned into a whipser, "Chad......how.....many.....people....are....in....front....of.....ussss?" "Other than a relay, you're the first." Now that was unexpected. Not soon after that, Kian rode by and gave me a thumbs up. I wished he'd let me draft behind him as I get closer to the last leg.
The run is usually my favorite leg. Not today. "Why does it hurt so bad?" I kept thinking. "And why am I strangely excited by the pain? I must be sick." "I legs feel like jello!", I screamed when I saw Sheet Head, Maxine, and Bevin - yeah, I said it 3 times. Approaching the turn-around, I heard Adam and Taryn cheering loudly in front of me, these guys were incredible! Behind me, there was someone closing in, FAST! Jamima saw me and cheered. All I could tell her was, "I'm fucked". Then, this guy blew by me. He must've been doing 5:45 pace or faster!
So right about that time I decided to sucked it up and be a triathlete. No more whining. Debbie was looking strong and enjoying herself. I tried to smile when I saw Kelly and Mary at the aid station, but I think it looked more like some sort of a strange facial contortion. Norm was walking and obviously in pain about 1/4 mile away from the finish. "Hey! No walking! You're so close to the finish". Norm was like, "ok....ok...." as he hobbled faster and attempted to run. He definitely gets the pain tolerance award for the day.
After crossing the finish line, I spotted Zipp and Iggy fiddling with the iPod. Those 2 always make me laugh, not just because they always have that Steve Stiffler smile, but also because there's a sort of light-hearted, goofy dynamic when they interact with one another. So I decided to walk over to them and be entertained.
A slew of UCD folks started streaming in. Among them was Sheila, who decided to celebrate the completion of her thesis by doing a race. I was pleasantly surprised to see Paul out there; the past 2 years he's been too busy directing the race to do the race himself.
Hmmm... I'm getting tired and running out of funny things to say..... So I'm going to abruptly end it here.