First Tri

It's my first tri of the season, and in true Judith fashion, my blog comes in last. I guess I still believe in that old Filipino adage "Huli man daw at magaling, maihahabol din." Closest literal translation (trust me, it has to be literal, otherwise it will get too long and boring) : "Even though last and good, it could still catch up." I had a wonderful time though. It was terrific going on a "doable" tri with good friends. Overall, it was definitely a positive experience! I really enjoyed myself, and that's what matters.

I felt really bad at having to wake up the boys (all 3 of them) at such an ungodly hour (5:45 am). They were troopers, especially Ben who had to listen to all the whining and take care of them during the time that I am setting up transition and doing the tri. Joey was very helpful, walking my bike and carrying some of my stuff. Timmy was as pleasant as a 5-year-old could be at having his sleep interrupted.

Here are 2 of my sweet boys waiting for the race to start. They haven't had breakfast yet :(

Rebecca and I are in the 3rd wave together. This was the day that I met the famous Rebecca for the first time. She's a really wonderful person and much, much prettier than I imagined. I haven't really gotten it straight what she does for a living, but Lizzie told me that she was a "rocket scientist" -- seriously! She's also giving other competitors an edge because a.) She partied the night before with Elaine and b) She comes from a different time zone (Virginia?) This brave woman was not going to put on a wetsuit. BRRRR!

Anyway, after the introductions, Lizzie and Elaine helped me get into my wetsuit. How many triathletes does it take to get Judith in her wetsuit? I was so glad that Lizzie was there to take care of me ;)

Lizzie and Elaine trying to get me in my swimming gear.

Now that I was mostly inside my wetsuit, its time to do the most important exercise before a tri -- PRAY. This is Elaine's specialty. She's very good in leading us in prayer and thinks of any and every thing that we need to accomplish our goals.

The 4 of us in prayer -- very cool! By the way, that zip DID go all the way up (in case you were wondering if I still fit in my wetsuit).

It was time to get down to the starting area. It wasn't very cold but I anticipated the water to be way cooler. I was wrong. I maybe could have gotten away without wearing a wetsuit but it was too late to take it off. I found Rebecca in the water and she showed me where the bouys were. I have known since my very first tri that I have a sighting problem. It took Rebecca to show me how bad it was! I couldn't figure out what direction I was supposed to go.

Rebecca and I were somewhere in the very front. I had my back turned on the camera.

The wave started and Rebecca took off like a shot! I started swimming straight -- or so I thought. I was just running into several swimmers and this was when I realized I was swimming right. I needed to adjust and tried again. Kept bumping into other women. I gave up doing the freestyle and decided to doggie paddle instead so I could see where I was going. Honestly, I don't even know why I bother training in freestyle because I could never swim more than 10 meters in that stroke during an actual tri. It's either sighting or water temperature. The big improvement was I did not take a rest and chatted with lifeguards (it wasn't worth it anyway since I did not spot any cute ones in the water). Lizzie and Elaine were on the "beach" encouraging and cheering for all they're worth. My 3 boys were there too of course, with Ben taking pictures and a videotaping to preserve this event for posterity.

Me climbing up the slope to transition.

Lizzie and Elaine ran all the way up to T1 telling me to get my act together and get out of there. The wetsuit didn't want to come off in spite of the body glide that I smeared on generously before the tri. Maybe I need to loose some serious weight. Hmmm, you think that would make a difference?

Why do I embarass myself showing the whole world what I look like in a wetsuit? Why I embarass myself even more in showing a photo of me getting out of it is an even bigger mystery! Aaaaargh!

Finally, I got out of that &%#*! thing and into some relatively dry clothing. It was a long way to walk my bike out of transition but it was my fault for being in the wrong transition area. Whatever!

Getting started on my 3 loops for a total of 11 mi.

Okay, when we were pulling into the parking lot, Ben spied one of the lunch ladies from our kids' school. He knew her by sight and name so he told the boys to do the polite thing and say "hi" to her. Ben followed the boys while I started unloading my stuff from the van. When they came back, he told me that the "lunch lady" was doing Mermaid and its her first ever tri and she's scared to death. When I got done with 11 mi., which I did very well in my opinion. There was this one random guy though, on a bike by one of the traffic lights who said "Hi Judith!" as I went Ben was in T2 filming me while I was racking up my bike. He told me that he heard the lunch lady's name announced at the finish line a while ago. Great. Beaten by a first timer by about an hour! Why bother finishing?

I got out of T2 in a very distracted state (on account of the lunch lady issue). I forgot to put on my race belt so I ran without my number (25, I don't like 2 digit race numbers). The course, as expected was pretty flat. I was running very slow because I was tired. By the way, on my way to the course, I realized that the guy on the bike was Brian. Brian is Lizzie's and my co-worker. He's the local library "bike god." He came to cheer Lizzie and me on. What a sweetie! I guess I have to get on the trainer that Brian loaned me. My legs were getting wobbly, but I am proud to say I did not walk at all. Approached the finish line and there was Rebecca cheering me on. My family was there on the finish line and were very excited to see me.

Rebecca and me after I crossed the finish line. Unofficially, this gal finished 3rd in the Athena division. Way to go!

Grabbed a burrito and water while I waited for Lizzie and Elaine to come in. Our waves were at least an hour apart. I didn't have to wait very long though since I am, as you know, your local torquoise. Poor Timmy, he was really getting cranky because he was hungry and sleepy. I had to wait for my two friends though. I didn't know what color shirt Lizzie was wearing because I only saw her in sweatshirt that morning. I felt so bad that I didn't get to cheer her on because after a while, all these women all look the same. She was about 1 minute in the finish line when I discovered that she got there with no one to meet her :-( Soooo very sorry Lizzie! We hung out for a while as we waited for Elaine. After that Lizzie disappeared and I didn't see her after that. Still haven't seen her yet since Sunday, as a matter of fact.

Our happy family after finishing my first tri of the season.

Overall, here are the results:

Lizzie came in 105/214 with the time 1:20:07.7

Elaine came in 118/214 with the time 1:22:11.4

Rebecca came in (unofficially) 3/12 in the Athena division with the time 1:21:57.5

I came in 72/83 in the For Fun division with the time 1:49:54.5

Get this, the lunch lady who was a first time triathlete finished 87/214 with the time 1:18:30.4!

I guess I just have to up the stakes and do the Olympic distance even though given the present state of my abilities, it is crystal clear that I am waaaay out of shape. I am so out of my mind! This report is getting way too long. Gotta go. Hanggang sa muli, until next e-time...