Tom caught the bug and started training with Molly who was the only returning entrant from the June race.
I was interested but too busy to start training regularly (that's my story).
On Tuesday my divorce became final, and on a whim I decided to just try it for fun. At the time it didn't seem as crazy of a decision as doing 3-2-1-Flight at King's Island. Something else I had never considered doing before.
How hard could a triathlon be without any training?
Without a partner I had to enter the Single Kayak division, which was nice because kayaks have to start before everyone else. So, I got a nice early start time despite my late entry (bib #1205 out of ~1240).
Here I am 10 mins before the start, literally my first time in a single kayak. I say it's never too late to start training. It was also the first time in a kayak for 3 of the 14 people in my start time. It was early enough in the day that I was in the mood to talk to those around me.
Kayaking 6 miles in ~1 hr 10 mins
This was a bit harder than I thought so I did coast a bit in some of the moving currents. I thought the canoes were starting at 9am so my goal was to not get passed by any canoes. A male/female team in a canoe passed me at 4.5 miles out. As they passed I told them I didn't want to get passed, but now that I had I could take a break and drink. Then they told me their start time was 8:44 so I didn't feel bad that it took them 4.5 miles to close 6 minutes on me.
Running 5.5 miles in ~1 hr 15 mins
Since this was all for fun and my goal was just to finish I said I would walk as much as needed on this part. My goal was to feel physically good after each stage. It was a very nice scenic trail with farms etc, really relaxing. I ended up running less than a mile, but am a pretty fast walker.
Biking 18 miles in ~1:25
I did not think this was going to be as bad, I thought maybe even the easiest part. This was the hardest part. It seemed to be uphill a bit which was ok at first but miles 11-14 were terrible. Even when you got a flat stretch there was a lot of head wind that seemed to be always right at me. And any stretch where you could see the road ahead seemed to always have a big hill which is demotivating.
But somehow, I powered through and miles 16-18 were relatively downhill so it made it a lot easier. I have no memory of miles 14-16, so I must have been struggling.
I came in at 3 hr and 53 mins which I thought was great for going in Ice Cold. But really I just wanted to finish and feel good after I did.
It was a lot of fun, and so many people helped me to borrow bikes and come out it support me.
Overall a great day.
