My first Triathlon

The significance of this is, I was the oldest Competitor

I'm usually used to very high paced bike races but I wanted to do something a little easier this past weekend. What a surprise. I was taken completely off guard. First off I was confused about the staging area and the loop, I signed in and then drove over to the Police station which was next to the park where the race began and ended. I had brought my running shoes with me but left them in the car, I never did one of these before and had no idea of the itinerary or protocol.

I sorta took my time getting my bike together and not noticing anyone else around me so I didn't realize the time of the start, I really thought they took your number and time as you went off and then finished for an individual time, but it was a group start. I got to the start line with about 1 minuet to spare.

Since I didn't study the map of the course and get lost going around my corner anyway I figured I'd stay a few bike lengths behind and just follow. I was pretty impressed with the few guys in front of me, they were kicking butt. As we went through some tight corners I had lost sight of them and (you guessed it) I made 2 wrong turns. I did manage to get back in third but lost a bit of time and had exhausted myself, the bike was a 6 mile sprint and I had no warm up.

I reached the Kayak area and saw 3-4 bikes hanging on transitioning racks, I ran to the water front in my cycling cleats where my rented Kayak was, never doing Kayaking before I didn't even know how to put my vest on, I heard someone yell "haven't you ever used a vest" I finally figured it out. I dragged the Kayak into the water about half way because I didn't want to water log my shoes and of course had to shoved myself off the bank with the paddle (I had to be a sight). I was about the 8-10Th in the water by now and as I started to float I was shaking left to right trying to steady the water craft, I said to myself "self, holly crap, I'm going to flip" I hope they have someone to get me. Let me say, never paddling a kayak is an experience, I serpentine back and forth and must have done 5 miles rather than 1 mile, it was windy and a strong current, and me having a bad left shoulder that needs replacement I was 5 minutes out before my shoulder started to hurt me and I thought I was going to have to bail, people were passing me and I was running into everyone like they do with doggem cars on the boardwalk.

I think I was maybe 10-15 from the last person out of the water. As I got out I had no idea what to do or go next, I saw a few people standing nearby, one seemed to have been in one of the events because he had cycling shoes in his hand. I asked where do I go, he said you run that way, then he said "do you have running shoes, you can't run in cycling shoes" I said yeah, in my car at the Police station. He asked what size I was, we wore the same size, this guy took his shoes off for me and offered them to me, what a great gesture. I asked how do I return them, he told me he would meet me at the finish, which he was, I forgot his last name and wanted to at least buy him lunch.

My total time was 1:31 minuets and some seconds, I was surprised I came in second, I think if I didn't stop and talk to the guy with the shoes for 10 minuets and knew how to kayak a little better I could have won.