Ok so this one is a hard one to write and I'm still not sure how I feel about it all. I know I will walk away with lessons learned but right now it still stings! 
First the days leading up to it with winter storm warnings and temps in the low to mid 30s I spent most of my time convincing myself and my friends that we could do it! It was just a sprint and if they didn't cancel the race and it was safe enough to race we could all endure the poor weather conditions together. I packed an extra plastic bag to keep as much as I could dry in transition. This was a reverse tri which meant the swim was in the pool and last. I didn't however realize it was an outdoor pool until I showed up to the race which gave some of my friends quite the laugh. :-)Morning of in my head it actually felt warmer than I had anticipated. The one good thing about the fact that I always build things up in my head to be WAY worse than they really are is that when I show up for something no matter how bad it is I am usually pleasantly surprised because I had prepared myself for way worse.
Run went well I was cheering everyone on that I could and finally could feel my hands and feet around 1.5 miles. I had one girl running right behind me pacing herself with me and it turns out it was her first triathlon which was exciting to cheer her on. I passed one of my friends who yelled keep it up Natasha you have like 5 women ahead of you. I said yeah and one on my butt! :-) I was joking of course with her and she said she wanted to stay next to me because I was such a good cheerleader and it kept her going. That made me so happy to hear! I also didn't mind because once I warmed up a little I may have slowed down if I didn't know she was right behind me.
It was so exciting to see so many of my friends out there and all with their own stories, like first race post baby, racing even though afraid they might drown, another raced her heart out and placed over all F for her first time, other people having overcome things such as heart disease to still be out there, one making her comeback after a major foot surgery and racing as a team with a super supportive hubby. I could keep going and going! You are all my heroes and keep me inspired! How couldn't I spend the whole race cheering and high fiving??!! The bike was slick with the wet roads so the first loop was kind of slow for me but the second loop I had a talk with myself and was like you already know what to expect and you didn't fall so go for it!
Then came the swim. This is where it gets ugly for me. I jumped in and my legs were on fire and stinging so bad. I guess I hadn't worn enough layers on the bike and I didn't have enough circulation going to my legs as it hurt and they were red and swollen when I got out. It was down and back in each lane then under. Which I thought I did!!! I heard my friends cheering for me but somehow I supposedly didn't hear an official trying to tell me I had skipped a whole lane??!?!!!! That's what they are claiming led to my disqualification! So while this makes me so sad because I swear I thought I did the whole course and there were so many people in the pool I was following and so many people cheering that would have told me if I had skipped and my times make sense with everyone around me, I'll just have to live with my first DQ EVER! My first D of any sort EVER! Until this race I had never had a DQ, DNF, DNS none of the Ds I tell you! I may not be the fastest but a quitter or a cheater I am not. So I will learn to live with this result and I will now be so super cautious on the course moving forward. They actually gave finisher's medals for this one even though it was just a sprint, I think that's weird but ok, but now I have to throw this one away. The trick is how the heck do I tell my son that I need it back! He thinks all my medals are his because I told him I earn them for him. I might have to let him keep it but I really don't want that reminder around the house. :-)
In the end I was proud of myself and everyone else for getting out there and toughing it out and I still had a lot of fun with all my friends. I am so lucky to be a part of this sport and we Tri for those who can't and I will keep at it!
Happy Training!
1 comment:
Natasha,
You were out there and did your best on the day. Your son can keep the finisher's medal because you completed the tri the best way you knew how and should be proud of yourself. That pool swim was a complete zoo. I wouldn't be surprised if they made a mistake and you did swim all the lanes up and back.
You rock!
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