RACE DAY!

My 3 alarms went off right around 4:30am, and I rolled out of bed just before 4:45. I put on my tri-suit and my timing chip and brushed my teeth. I then ate a light breakfast consisting of Muscle Milk and a Bonk Breaker bar. Rho, Aaron and I then grabbed my stuff and my bike to head down to the transition area. By the time we got to transition, it was 5:30, which meant that I only had 15 minutes to find where my designated row was, find a spot for my bike and set up my area. I had tremendous difficulty finding a spot in the row that was adequate space to rack my bike. I finally found a spot in the middle, which was about 6 inches wide. After racking my bike, I set up my area with my running shoes and socks, bike helmet and sunglasses. I left transition just as they were kicking everyone out.

After meeting up with Rho and Aaron outside of transition, we went back to the hotel to pack up our stuff and check out, and then went to Dunkin’ Donuts for some breakfast (I ended up eating less than half of a whole grain bagel). I was also drank about a liter of electrolyte water and was having to pee every half hour. I stopped drinking water about 1.5 hours before my start time. By 8:10am, I was in my wetsuit with my swim cap on. I found the rest of my wave and was bound and determined to stay near the front of the pack. Since I was in the Clydesdale division (over 150 pounds- which I am….barely!), I was placed with both men and women in the plus size category. At 8:34, my wave was called to the start line. I stood on the first step on the steel stairs leading into the water, so that I could wet my goggles, spit in them, and put them on. Just as I did this, we were told to jump in the water. This is where I realized that it SUCKS to be the first one in the water on a treading start. It was my first experience (among many) in the race where I came in contact with other elbows, feet, faces and shoulders. I settled in a spot on the left side toward the back. We were maybe in the water treading for about 10 seconds when we heard the gun go off.

Talk about anxiety!!! I was so not relaxed at this point, and I made every attempt to go forward without actually swimming efficiently. After I coughed up the water that I had just swallowed, I tried to relax but it was very difficult with a constricting wetsuit, and with the water being 62.5ºF. Being that cold, and under physical constraint, I couldn’t get a good breath of air. All I needed to do was relax. After about 200 meters, I told myself that there’s nothing to worry about. I reminded myself of the feeling of comfort I’ve always felt with training in a swimming pool. As the starting line chaos began to settle down, I put my face in the water for the first time and began my freestyle stroke. It felt like an eternity getting to the turnaround buoy (which was about 350m from the start line), but once I got there I knew I would just have to keep swimming. (Just like Dori sings in Finding Nemo: “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...”)


After passing the starting line again on the marina side, I felt myself relax although I still couldn’t breath with the same ease as in the pool. I felt as though I couldn’t get a deep enough breath, so instead of breathing every 3 strokes while alternating sides, I could only manage to breath every other stroke on me left side. Lucky for me, this is not only my strong side, but it was also the side where the concrete wall was where Aaron, Rho and Marre were walking along with me while I swam. I cannot tell you how motivating and encouraging it was to have the support of those 3 people (Even when they lied to me telling me there was only 200 meters left when there was more like 500 but they had good intentions).
With my crew’s cheering, I made it to the finish line and was assisted by 2 men to get out of the water via a metal staircase (which looked like a set of bleachers with the lowest bench in the water). Once out of the water, I immediately began taking off my wetsuit and removed it down to my waist. The run to transition was about 400meters on a concrete sidewalk. My time for the 1 mile swim ended up being 40:38, which included my 400m jog in bare feet.

When I got into transition, I had no problem finding my bike because I had taken mental notes of the visual cues that would get me back there. The transition area was also laid out in order of wave number, so I had a general idea of where to go. I also found my bike relatively easy because there was a GIANT Minnie Mouse balloon a few bikes from mine. Had I known about this, I wouldn’t of bought my puny $5 balloon that said ‘Good Luck’ on it.

When I finally reached my bike, of course it had been knocked over, and there was another bike on top of it. The bike that was on top of mine was the heaviest hybrid POS bike I’ve ever tried to lift, and I felt sorry for the person who had to ride that for 25 miles. I quickly dried off my feet, and put my socks and shoes on. Then grabbed some shot blocks to throw in my jersey. I put on my helmet and sunglasses, grabbed my bike and set off for the transition exit. It was frustrating getting to the bike start, because I kept getting stuck behind people that were walking their bikes down the rows, and there was no way to go around them without running other people over. But I made it to the start line, crossed the timing mat and mounted my bike. My T1 time was 3:37, which I was happy with but could improve on.


The start of the bike was a little rough because it was the on ramp to Lake Shore Drive. So with my legs a little tired from the swim, and my left quad still a little tight from playing too much volleyball in the days prior, it was a slight struggle. Once I was cruising on Lake Shore drive headed north, I began to notice the tremendously strong wind at my face (I found out later that it was a 29 mph wind!). I felt like I was going sooooo slow!!! Not to mention that I was getting passed on both sides by people that I didn’t think would be very great athletes.

After a few minutes, I ate a couple of shot blocks and drank some Gatorade. I then noticed how badly I had to pee!! I kept thinking of the conversation that I had earlier with an experienced triathlete at the expo on Saturday. I was concerned about over hydrating because of my experience on my first sprint triathlon (I had to pull over and pee in the woods during my run), and she told me that she’s peed on the bike before and that it’s better to be overhydrated and pee in your pants than to get a cramp. I just couldn’t make myself pee my pants, so I held it in and convinced myself to go during the next transition.


It seemed like it took forever to get to the turn around point to head back south down Lake Shore. Once I got there, I felt like a huge weight had lifted and I actually switched into a higher gear because the wind was now at my back. Shortly after turning around, there were several ambulances whizzing by me, and I saw them stop on the other side of the median for a lady who had fallen off her bike and by the looks of all the blood on her legs, I figured it must have been pretty bad! I made a mental note to be more cautious of the bumps for the next loop around.

When I got to the turn around the head north again for the second loop, I told myself that I was half-way there and looked at my watch to see that I had been riding for 40 minutes (though it seemed like hours). I ate 2 more shot blocks after I turned around and kept on going. I tried to kick it in going north because I knew that the wind would help me for the final quarter of the bike leg. At one point, I started cussing because my legs were burning and didn’t know how they would hold up to yet another hill!! The rest of the ride was pretty smooth, although discouraging because I felt like I was getting passed by significantly more people that I was passing. I would often look at the backs of the rider’s calf to see which wave they were in and see how much they were beating me by. I saw a lot of female riders that were in previous waves pass me, and didn’t feel too good about it. Anyways, when I was nearing the second transition, I heard Rho, Marre and Aaron cheering me on.

When I found my spot again, I found that one of the athlete’s whose bike was on my right had put their bike right on top of all my stuff and my things were a bit scattered. I thought about taking their bike and throwing it, but lost that enraged thought once I remembered how bad I had to pee!! I took off my helmet, ate 2 more shot blocks and headed for the porta-potty. 8,500 athletes in the Chicago triathlon and there were only 4 portable toilets in the transition area. Luckily the line was short, so I waited my turn. After listening to some of the conversations ahead of me, I realized that the people in front of me were actually done with their race and were getting ready to leave. At that point, I asked the 4 people ahead of me if I could cut in line since I was still on the clock. They were very nice, and let me go.

I think since I had about 5 minutes in transition 2 before starting the run, I didn’t really experience the stone-legged feeling that I was expecting. I started my run pretty strong, and even exchanged high fives with Aaron and Marre (Rho actually got an AWESOME picture of this moment, and Aaron framed it for me to hang on my wall). My bike time was 1:39:48 and my second transition was just 5:56.
During my run, I felt great. I was running under a 9 minute pace (which is faster than I expected), and only walked briefly to properly drink some water and an energy gel at miles 1, 3 and 5. At mile 3, there was an announcer who was very motivating and there was music playing. My run was definitely my strongest event. I actually passed a lot of people that had passed me on the bike, and I finished in a full blown sprint for the last 100-150 meters. I crossed the finish line, and immediately found Aaron to give him a kiss for being so supportive. My leg muscles were twitching, but I felt great! I ran the 10k stretch in 56:13 with a 9:04/mile pace. I had finished in 3 hours, 26 minutes and 24 seconds which far exceeded my goal of finishing in less than 4 hours.


I grabbed a couple of bananas for my walk back to the transition area to retrieve my stuff and immediately called my brother to tell him all about it. I didn’t drown, get a flat, get a cramp, throw up, or any of the nightmare-ish things that I had read about. I had survived, finished the race, and achieved something I had been looking forward to since I signed up for the race last December. I thought I would sleep on the way home, but every time I tried I kept thinking about how happy I was and how alive I felt. I was on an emotional high, and couldn’t wait to do it again!
Stay tuned for updates on the Finger Lakes Triathlon which takes place in less than a week (September 20)!