Well, it's all done... I competed (and I say competed lightly) in my first triathlon in New Braunfels on Sunday, August 3rd. It was a lot of fun and I did well (especially considering that my goal was to finish without soiling myself!), but there's definitely room for improvement.
The day started early at 5:15 so we could get there by 6AM for registration. Once I got registered and set up my transition area, it was time to wait for the 8AM start! I started the swim in the 3rd heat of the morning in the men's 30-34 age group.
The open water swim was interesting...getting out of the crowd took a little work along with the fact that you can't see anything in the murky water. There were 102 competitors in my heat and I think at least half touched my booty during the swim!
Once I finished the swim, I transitioned to bike. The transition
went OK except for the part where I forgot to put my helmet on! Luckily, I realized that before I crossed the line that would have disqualified me for not having it securely on.
The cycling went very quickly; the first distance marker I saw said I was at mile 8, already past the halfway mark. Coming into the transition from the bike, I had a little bit of an issue...I couldn't find my rack! I had been told by my pseudo-tri-coach, Col. Furg, to count my rack from both ends, but I failed to do that. The racks were labeled down the center aisle, but after the cycling, we entered from the end, where no markings existed!! After running around for 20-30 seconds, I finally found my spot and changed into my shoes.
As I headed out of the transition area beginning the run, the overall leader came in from the run and headed to the finish line, smoking my time by about 35 minutes! The run was immediately a little rough. My legs were pretty tight and it took about 1/2 a mile for them to loosen up, but even then, I was still slow. I was cramping for most of the run, but once I made the half-way mark (1.5 miles), I was energized to finish. As the finish line came into sight, I was very excited and covered in chill bumps...maybe that was just my body trying not to soil itself - either way, it was pretty cool! I sprinted the last 100 yards or so (probably equivalent to a slow walk for others, at this point) and crossed the line. I was greeted at the line by some of my family and had to catch my breath while I took it all in.
Overall, it was a lot of fun, especially because of all my 'fans' that were there to cheer me on. Thanks to all of you that helped... from my family that supported me and were there at 6AM with me (Samandra, mom, dad, Brian, Shelle and Pat) to Kelley in all the pre-race advice to Chris for the loaner bike (it would have been extremely brutal on my mountain bike).
Results:
I finished 388th out of 811 overall and 61st out of 102 in my age group. Full results are available at
http://www.jacksgenerictri.com/. I also have some pics posted at kodakgallery.com. Click
here to view the rest of the pics.
