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St. Anthony's Race Report I don’t know how to start. But I am not going to talk about the emotional aspect of this race to me. I was training and looking forward to this race, I had plans. All of a sudden the plans have changed and the race lost its importance to me. I gave up the training. Then I realized, this is going to be my first race, if I miss my first race I will be regretting it forever. Just less than two weeks to the race, I decided I should do it, I wasn’t sure if I can do it or not but at least I should try it. I never swim more than 300 yards at a time nonstop; I never did a real brick workout. But I knew one thing, if I missed the start, I would have regretted it all my life. Everything went wrong till the start time. I got the bike box from my tri club and my oddly shaped bike didn’t fit! I had to jump in a cab and look for another bike box at the last minute. Finally I found an Ironcase and fit the damn thing in it. I left Chicago in a cold 42 degree spring day and arrived in Tampa in a 85 degree summer day! I went directly to my hotel to check in to find that my reservation has been cancelled by a “friend”. After negotiating and begging for an hour they gave me a room without any windows. I left all my stuff in the room and went directly to the expo to pick my stuff. I got my race package and bracelet on Friday and headed back to my hotel around 6 PM. I unpacked and put my bike together. Got a call from
my friend and asked me to join them for a dinner. Finally I fallen asleep around 8 AM and had a 3 hour sleep and this time I woke up with a terrible cold and shaking. I forgot the AC on full blast and it turned the room into a meat freezer! Saturday morning I had a slight fever and still pain in my stomach. I tried to eat something but forget eating, I couldn’t even smell food! I knew I had to replace the fluids I lost. So I started drinking water. Even Gatorade made me sick. Well with the whole sickness still going on, God decided that was not enough. And the storm started outside! Winds started to pick up with heavy rains. I turned the TV on and saw all the tornado warnings. Well I thought at least they will postpone or cancel the rain if tornado was an issue. I was in my room, turning and suffering till 5 PM only 3 hours to the bike check in deadline. Around 6 PM I found a little strength and put the bike in the car and drove to the transition area. Find my spot with my name and number on it placed my bike, covered seat, chain and all the other parts I can. Left the transition areas and went back to the room. The whole day I had only water, I found two bags of gummy bear in my room and eat them as dinner and went to bed. The forecast for the race
day was promising with a lot of sun. I looked for my Ecaps, but realized
that I
have given
them
to someone. They were
my only hope since I could only drink water. And
a miracle! I found a small bag of sampler in my goodie bag ? Last nights rain all washed up the lube on my chain so I degreased and lubed it again, check the pressure on tires filled all bottles and setup everything in its place and headed up to the start area. I was there at the swim start at 7 AM, the sunrise with the pro start was something incredible. My start was around 8:45 so I had plenty time. I walked around, stretched, and get ready with a couple of warm up laps in the water. It was a perfect water temp and setting. Was very calm with a little wind. I was signed up as a ”novice” triathlete. Which was a first time triathlete wave. As I get closer to the start line I learned “novice” was the official “Team in Training” start! I was the only one who did not belong to a charity. And once the gun went off, I found another thing. The official swim choice of “Team in Training” was backstoke. After the gun, everybody run, jumped into the water and turned their back and started to swim backstroke, since this is my first ever swim start, I thought “they must know something”… So I did the same. There is a strange thing with backstroke swimming… You don’t know where you are going… After hitting head first all the water crafts in 1 mile radius, I decided to swim freestyle. At least I can see where I was going. Let me
tell you one thing… Those little cute “team
in training” girls
you see around. They turn into a vicious cats
in the water. They kick you, punch you and
swim over you! I got scratch marks on my face! Bike leg was a smooth sailing for me, nothing unexpected and no surprises. It was windy but bring it on! Hey I been riding on Chicago lakefront with windchills sub zero, who is afraid of a light summer breeze! After finishing the bike, I headed to T2 for the run segment. Run was a bit hard in the beginning, I felt little cramps on my legs but at mile 2 they started to warmup and feel better. I looked at my watch and I was about to meet my goal. My goal to finish. I came to the finish line just a bit under 3 hours. Overall, I am pleased with the whole experience. I can not even find words to describe the feeling after I crossed finish line. Now I think I can call myself a triathlete ? also I just wanted to thank someone, someone who was really helpful and who did everything possible to make it a better race experience for me. Oh if you are interested
my official times are: Lesson learned: Say no to Cuban food the night before the race. PS: I know I can not spell. Since this is not going to be graded, I don't care about the grammar either!
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