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Cape Elizabeth Land Trust Tri |
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Written by M. Longhofer
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Sunday, 27 September 2009 |
Cape Elizabeth Land Trust Triathlon
Cape Elizabeth, Maine
September 27, 2009
 This was my first triathlon in about 20 years. The swim was a pool swim so since no wet suit was needed, I decided to sign up. Unfortunately, I only made it to the pool about 4 times this year, two of those times in the last week. As a result, I suffered the most in the swim but didn’t drown and only got lapped by one person in my heat!
So because it was a pool swim with just a few lap lanes, the swim was done in waves. I was in the 5th wave which was set to go off at about 45 min. after the initial wave. There were 12 waves in all and I was pretty happy with a 5th wave assignment. Unfortunately I missed the swim warm up as I got to the event a bit late so I hit the pool unprepared but I wasn’t that concerned about it as it was only a 425 meter swim. I finished the swim in just under 8 minutes which I was happy with and transitioned to the bike area.
I hit the outdoors and the drizzle that had started the day had turned into pretty much driving rain. Great. Thankfully I had thought to bring trash bags for my stuff. My transition was pretty slow trying to get extra stuff onto my wet body but I finally got my Bikeman jersey on, sort of got my shoes on, helmet buckled and off I went. The ride was only 14 miles but as I said earlier, it was pretty much driving rain the whole time. It was maybe 60 degrees out so not to cold when you were moving but wouldn’t have minded it warmer either! The end of the ride was brutal and hard to see with the rain pounding my face. I went by a couple of people on the ride and got passed by 3 people on time trial rigs and one guy in toe clips. Man, do I hate that. I passed him after he passed me as I hate the idea of someone in toe clips out riding me, but he passed me again and was gone.
Toward the end of the ride, I was trying to decide if I would yank off my dripping wet socks in transition and run without socks or run in the nasty wet ones I had on. I decided that running without socks would likely cause worse blisters than running with wet socks so that’s what I did. I hit the transition area and about ran over a racer leisurely walking through the area as I was running with my bike to the rack. I couldn’t believe a racer would be so clueless and not pay more attention! I had to come to a screeching halt to finally get around him. I changed into my running shoes and started heading out the wrong way for the run. Oops! Fortunately someone that I work with that had a really loud voice and caught my attention and I turned around in a few seconds!
The run was about a 3 mile trail run. So you can probably figure that there was mud involved and you would be right on about that. Reminded me of my mt. bike racing days but fortunately I was sloshing around in the mud for 20 plus minutes instead of 2+ hours like some mt. bike races. The trail run was off camber in a lot of areas, standing water in some, rocks, roots, you know the gamut. I felt pretty good actually and plodded along as best I could. A handful of guys passed me and only one woman so I felt like I had held my place pretty well, whatever that was. Even though I had some fun and had thoughts that being in the woods running in the rain was better than being in church (it being a Sunday and all, and I don’t actually go to church…just random thoughts while running), I was still pretty happy when I finished!
I ended up 6th female overall and 1st in my age group. Pretty psyched about that! The race was not “chip timed” so it’s hard to figure out split times as the transition times were rolled into the splits. Ultimately it doesn’t matter but I’d be curious to know what my actual bike and run times were. All in all, a fun day. I had some friends and coworkers there that participated, got a cool t-shirt, a free meal, and a blue ribbon for my winning effort. Whenever I am out there, I try to remember those that can’t be for one reason or another and am grateful my body is allowing me to do such things again. Truly fortunate.
Fall is upon us. Not sure what my next event will be as I’m not sure my hip would be up for ‘cross but I might at least do the local Casco Bay Cross race. It’s practically in my back yard after all.
In the meantime, have a great fall. Ride happy and ride safe!
Mary
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