So, unlike
last time, two years ago, I very much do want to do a triathlon again, and here
it is, only days after finishing this year’s. I managed to finish in a slightly
better time than my last attempt, too, which was my goal. Hurrah!
While I was
standing around in my swimsuit and swimcap, waiting for my wave to start, I made
a little small talk with the people around me. Then one of them looks at me more
closely and calls me by my most-commonly-incorrect-version-of-my-name. “Yes?” I
say, because, well, close enough. She points to herself and says, “Kathy F---“!
A name that sounded vaguely familiar from high school. That woman is seriously
gifted. Recognized me after 25 years, in a swimcap. I looked her up in the
yearbook when I got home. Yep. That was her. How do people *do* that?
Anyway, the
water temperature was only 70, which worried me. A lot of women chose to wear
wetsuits, but I decided I didn’t want to deal with all that. When I first
started swimming, I took stock of why I was gasping and flailing about. Turns
out I wasn’t panicking. I was freezing. Did a lot of backstroke. Tried to avoid
hitting people. Felt pretty good when it was over.
Got on my
bike and averaged 17.6 mph, despite the wind. Whee!
Parked the
bike (after going down the wrong bike rack lane, gah! Transitions are tricky.)
and started the run. At no point did the run really feel great. I chose to carry my
water bottle, and I’m glad I did. I can’t drink out of those little cups, and I
was really dehydrated. I am a little bummed that my time didn’t reflect all the
running I did going into the race. I did 4 miles in 40 minutes on the bike path
recently! But oh well.
I do love
looking at the results in detail. The third and fourth place overall finishers
were 16 and 14 years old, which is amazing. There was also a 77 year old who
finished in 2:05! WOW! And a 72 year old beat me by 12 minutes. Inspiring.
In related
news, I found out today that I raised over $1000 for the school garden.
Fundraising is uncomfortable, but I assume most people I know give to charity,
so it’s just a matter of asking at the right time. People feel good when they
give, and I’m helping that along. Thanks to all of you who threw in some bucks!
Plus doing the fundraising
gave me an excuse to call one of my college friends who I don’t talk to often
enough. I love friends that still make you laugh even when you don't talk very often. Konrad, you are a gem. I bet I’d
even recognize you in a swimcap. A really flowery old-lady one.
