Danskin Tri Report

Otherwise known as a Penguin in very unexpected territory (the front!!!)

As you all know - I participated in the Danskin Women's Triathlon at Walt Disney World today -- and since it was my first tri - my only goal was to finish. I was actually pretty freaked out about the whole endeavor - even more than I was before I ran Marine Corps 2 years ago.

After arriving on Friday night - after I checked in to All Star Music and drove back to go to my room - I was walking my bike from the car to my room, and I heard a little girl behind me say "See - her mom let her bring her bring her bike to Disney World!!". I began to think of this race as a mental warm up for the Disney full marathon in January.

Packet Pick up was disorganized at best.. very little pre-race info in the packets - I later heard that the race folks were saying that all the information was on the website (which is fine, except I left my laptop in Jacksonville). Ran into Peggy Harper in packet pickup line, after finding out that I was #63 out of 1500 registered runners (and the waves were done numerically..... there is a mistake -- right???) As a Penguin, I have come to expect that I would start and finish near the back of the pack -- however, as a cancer survivor - Danskin placed me UP FRONT (GULP!!) so this means there are lots of people behind me who can run me over since they are a lot faster than me (in all three legs). After packet pick up and the expo - I went back to the hotel and got my bike. Took it over to the transition area on West Beach between the entrance to Magic Kingdom and the Grand Floridian. Spent the afternoon at Magic Kingdom riding the mountains (Space, Splash & Big Thunder) as well as Buzz Lightyear. After my day of playing - met up with some of the penguins for a pasta dinner at Macaroni Grille for a pre-race encounter. Headed back to the room post dinner and SLEPT!!

Basically -- here is the race in a nutshell - The phone rang at 4:45am with Mickey telling me to get up and at em (his words....). I got up and got dressed and into the car by 5:00am. Luckily I did not have to worry about the bike, since we had to put it in the transition area yesterday after packet pick up. I met up with some of the other lady penguins (Beth Terry, Peggy Harper, Kathy Flippo, Maura from MD) running the race, and waited for the starter to call us to the line. I did not get out of my shoes until the last possible minute.   Kathy and Peggy gave me lots of pre-race info that I greatly appreciate. Nancy Toby was a Dove Angel in the Water - but I will let her tell you about it.

Ok - back to the start line. The race start was delayed until after sun up - since swimming in the dark really is a difficult thing to do. As the sun came up, we lined up on the beach - the starter started the elite racers and then told wave 2 (my wave) to get ready. One minute later - we were in the water it (I wore my running shorts and tummy covering sports bra). I ran in for about 6 or 7 steps when the bottom dropped out from me and I began my crawl stroke. I started very strong - but probably too fast. I started out with 4 strokes for each breath -- the course was 1/8 mile out to a yellow bouy, turn left and follow a chain of yellow buoys another 1/8 of a mile back to the beach and the swim finish. As I approached the yellow 1/8 mile buoy to make the turn and head back to the beach - another swimmer cut me off and kicked me in the face (grr). I rolled over on my back for a moment to regain my composure and breathing. After that, I was down to 2 strokes for each breath. After the swim was over, I headed to the transition area to get ready for the bike ride. I opted to walk each of my transitions since I had NO IDEA what I was doing.

Luckily for me - Laura G had sent me a great email with lots of tips. I got to my bike - dried off my feet as much as i could and got as much grass off of them as I could. Socks and shoes on the feet - Gatorade bar in my hand (which I never did eat....nerves I guess), sailing gloves (never used for sailing) on my hands, helmet on my head and bike off the rack. I headed for the bike start. You can not ride through the start - you must run or walk - then get on your bike and off you go. I opted not to put my shirt on with my race number on it since I was wet and it clung to me when I tried. I got on the bike and felt strange. i could not extend my legs the whole way. The seat was too low - even though I adjusted it earlier in the week. I rode 5 miles with the seat too low - I stopped for a moment at the turn around and adjusted the seat - it helped somewhat. I also decided that I need a new seat on that bike - the one I have is really hard!   The bike course was less than entertaining - not much to look at. The road had a high camber and I was riding right on the edge - not the most comforting place to ride. When a slower bike ride is passed by a faster rider - the faster rider will warn the slower rider that she is "on the left". If I heard that statement once - I heard it 1,000 times!!! I was SO SLOW on that bike. I guess I need to have someone explain to me how to decide which gear I should be in ..... since I never felt like I was going anywhere. I also guess that if I decide to do another tri - more bike training may be called for..... training, now theres an idea.

Finished the bike leg - dismounted and ran the bike (ok wobbled the bike on jello legs) back to the transition area. Left the helmet in the grass with the gloves - grabbed the hat and water bottle and headed out the run leg.

We started behind the scenes of Adventureland, then entered the Magic Kingdom - ran up to Cindy's castle, all the way over to tomorrowland, and back to adventure land. Definitely a mental ramp up for the marathon - at least the Magic Kingdom portion.

Total race time - 1:46:27 - since i have never done one of these before - a personal best~! I don't honestly know if I will do another tri - definitely NOT on that bike - and not until I get someone to explain the whole gear thing to me. I walked my transitions - so I know that I could cut time out there if I ran instead of walked.   After the race was done and I was packing up - one of the Elite ladies stopped by and asked me how it went. I was stumped at first... is she talking to me?? I realized she was - and told her overall I was happy since I had no expectations going into the race - and I finished. Can't be disappointed when you have no expectations.

After everything was over and I got the bike back across the lagoon on the ferry, I loaded up, headed back to the hotel, showered, finished packing and checked out. I was planning on spending in one of the parks -- however, I was tired and pseudo cranky (remember - 4:45am).. so I headed to Wilderness Lodge - had a great, quiet lunch and then headed home. Got here at 4:00 -- now I need to unpack and then take it easy. Not to mention finish writing the exam that must be printed tomorrow and to the Bio dept for duplication.....

So there you go - my first tri (with very little training) in the books.