Hiawassee Rain-athlon

My adventure to my first international distance tri started great. Jake took me up to All3Sports in Atlanta to buy my Christmas/Birthday present: a wet suit!! I was THRILLED! So I got the one that I had previously tried on there, during a visit this summer. It's a BlueSeventy Helix with full sleeves. The guy helping me said I would definitely need it in Lake Chatuge, as he grew up there and the water is always cold.

As it turns out, he was right. Couple that with the pouring rain that lasted all Saturday night and Sunday morning, and a lack of sunshine, and the water was really really cold.

When we arrived at the venue, just over the state line in Hayesville, NC, it was raining. Having driven the bike course the night before, I started to get a little nervous about the weather conditions. The course was hilly with nice weeping corners at the bottoms, I was worried about wet roads + skinny tires + trying to go as fast as I can = crash really bad.

Everyone got ready to race, and rumor quickly spread that the officials were canceling the bike portion. Sure enough, 15 min prior to race start, the bike got nixed. Then -- all suited up and a feeling a little constricted -- we all set off to the shoreline, in the pouring rain. We didn't have so much as our feet in the water when the lightning started. They called us all quickly out of the water and we huddled under a pavilion while the storm passed. Meanwhile, everyone's crap in transition was getting soaked.

While waiting, we had the pleasure of listening to one of the founders of the first Ironman event in Hawaii in 1978 talk about how he and his military buddies came up with the idea for the event, where the distances came from, and what it was like to participate. (His homemade protein shake which he drank during the event consisted of milk(!!) + some diet protein powder + honey + raw eggs. yuck!) He was a really cool and down-to-earth guy. On the run he was handing out Gatorade!

After the lightning passed about half of the field chose to continue and we quickly got back in the water. Off we went! It was COLD even with the wet suit, and I felt really sorry for the few people without them. I realized if I hadn't had one, I may not have been able to compete. We swam out and around an island, which was cool. It provided some good scenery. It was 1,600 yards out, around and back. I did the swim in 27 minutes. Come to find out, I was one of the first women out of the water!!

Transition took me a solid 2 minutes, as I nearly fell over trying to get the wet suit off my legs and feet. lol. Yes, I put on body glide, but I still had trouble. Then it took a while to dig my shoes and raincoat out from my wet pile of crap. I finally got going and felt great despite the rain. The out and back run was SO scenic and pretty. We ran on a levee where one side was green pastures and the other was Lake Chatuge. Looking out, I could see the shore where we started the swim and the island we swam around. The mountains in the background made the run go seem to fly by, as I was focusing so much on the scenery and less on the pain. lol.

The rain cleared on the last of the 4 miles, and I finished the run in 36 minutes. That's a total time of 1:05. Good enough to earn me 6th place overall for the women. I was first in Athena, as there were no others. I would have been second in my age group had I raced it. I was 29th out of women and men.

I was very happy with how I felt and how I did at this race. Although canceling the bike portion was the right decision for the weather (and I don't question their decision at all), I regret that we couldn't do it. This was to be my fist "long" tri. I was amped up, nervous and excited to go the distance. I feel like I was a little robbed by not being able to do the bike. Even though I participated, I feel like I still haven't truly done that longer-distance tri I was seeking. Alas, there's not a conveniently timed one on the calendar for the rest of the year. Guess I'll have to wait till next year to prove my stuff.

As for now, I plan to do the super-short sprint tri at Lake Lanier in two weeks. It's only a 400 yard swim, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run. While the focus of my ill-fated international distance tri was to do my best and just make it through, my focus for the one coming up will be to try to kick ass. There's already a LOT of folks registered, so my chances aren't that great, but for whatever reason, I seem to do well with this whole triathlon thing, so maybe the gods will smile on me at Lake Lanier. Keep your fingers crossed.