The good, the bad and the Wilmington

There are good races...and then there was the Wilmington Sprint Triathlon this past weekend. I knew race was going to be ugly because I trained through it (i.e. didn't rest or taper) and it involved a long ocean swim.

I'm not sure where to start with what went wrong....

- swim - A big 'thanks' to Dave 'Diesel' Babson who informed me on the bus ride to the race start that I would be swimming during shark feeding time (i.e., dusk). Cold and scared of large fish with fins, I 'putzed' through the water and swam off-course in an attempt to dodge any lingering man-eaters.

- bike - took wrong turn out of transition then couldn't get my shoes on. It doesn't sound like rocket science to get your shoes on but I tried to be fancy-schmancy and put my shoes on while riding the bike. In theory, I thought this would save me time. In reality, I battled with gravity and shoes that didn't want to go on my feet. During the ride my HR monitor didn't work and my legs hurt (note to self, avoid blue moon ale the night before and squats 2 days before race). Fell off the bike while trying to do fancy-schmancy move of taking off shoes while on bike. Note to self - I have failed coordination test of putting on shoes while on moving bike. Go old school and put shoes on while on stable ground.

- run - couldn't get shoe on before run - note to self, must sit with my kindergartener and practice shoes on and off together. Good run (19:24 5K) despite galactically (again, is that a word?) slow race.

Have been finishing in top 10 in most races - finished 28th in this one and got beaten by everyone. Humble pie for me.

Was bummed out about race and contemplated quitting triathlons. However, went on cool ride with two friends today, Mark Luckinbill (Lucky) and Dave Babson (Diesel). Rode 68 miles and discussed thoughts on zen life-style. Newly infused by the spirit of the Dalai Lama (and two candy bars during the ride), I will continue on my tri journey :-).

BTW, have two sick kids at home (throwing up, sore throats) and feel like #*%(#& myself. Galactically slow race may be due to evil virus invasion - will keep posted.