Triathlete?

Whenever I think of 'triathlete' as a word to describe myself, I laugh.

I packed my bags last night, but didn't take the time to find my real, race suit or championship jacket from last year. A tri no-no.

I had to go through boxes and bags to find my goggles from when I moved from the Williams B & B. A tri no-no.

I drank my first water (other than Lake Anna water) of the day on mile 20 of the bike. A tri no-no.

The announcer (who did the announcing at the 2008 Summer games) this morning: "This is an olympic triathlon racing at the olympic level." Me: "That's right, an olympic triathlon. You go girl!"

The announcer then goes on to say "These multisport athletes have been training for months for today. The first true endurance race of the season. Hours in the pool, on the bike, and on the road or treadmill." Me: "Oops, I haven't swum since 6 months ago during this same course triathlon. Oops, I've biked at most 15 miles at a time this year. I'm up to 50 mins runs. Smirk. Here we go, girl." A tri no-no.

I decided to eat 200 calories for breakfast and then eat lasanga for dinner tonight. Should have eaten more for breakfast and had lasanga last night. A tri no-no.

But, I did place 2nd. So, triathlete I am.

Banco at 6:30AM

7:00 AM-Filling Blizzard up

8:25 AM-Waiting in line to get my number

9:15 AM-Transition filling up

9:20-Chip time

10:00 AM-1:00PM

1500 M swim, 24 mile bike, 6.1 mile run

Highlights of the race include: swimming 25 yards off course 2 times, getting neck burn from my wetsuit, enjoying the castle on the bike ride, arriving to whitecaps in the lake, checking everyone out since age is on the back of your leg, people watching, remembering Swimmer Kat's text that 66 degree water was freaking cold, laughing to myself, not thinking at all, thinking of complete nonsense-wow, that pothole was shaped more oblong then the last, hearing the over the PA "Anne Richardson from Culpeper, Virginia, 458, Anne Richardson, let's give her a cheer" and no cheers or clapping, watching a USAT official's motocycle fall over on him, passing a truck on the bike, coming into bike/run T to Celebration playing, coming in 7thish from the bike and ending up in 2nd, the t-shirt is made for women, and the beautiful weather that came out!

2:15 PM-Awards Time

3:00 PM-I see Ellen's combos and almost buy them.

8:45 PM-The way we began the day.

Moral of the story: "You'll never know unless you tri."