The most important post of all…Race Day! I could lie & say I was working really hard to write something fantastic, but I’m not the world’s greatest blogger, so I’m just going give the rundown as best I can. And I realize that this is probably going to take me multiple posts, so this is just the beginning…
As it stands now, I already have trouble sleeping, so I knew there was next to no chance that I would get a good night’s sleep the night before, but I tried anyway. I went up to bed a little after 9 & set the alarm for 4:40. After a night of tossing & turning, I popped out of bed when the alarm went off & started to make my way through the checklist I had written up the night before. The bag was already packed, but I had other things (like “Pump tires” and “Put in Contacts” – I’m not even kidding) on my list.
Once I was ready, I jumped in the car & I was off. It was pitch black the whole drive there & I was sure that I was going to be the first to arrive. When I found my way to the closest parking lot, it turns out I was about 3rd to arrive. I unloaded my bike, ate a bit more breakfast & then headed down to claim my spot in the Transition Area.
By this time, the sun had started to rise a bit. On the way into the Transition Area, I stopped to get my number (416) written all over me, and my age on my calf. From there, I made my way to my row, where I was thrilled to find that I was the first to arrive & had landed the coveted end spot in the row. I proceeded to step up my gear & get everything in order.
And then I had 2 hours to kill. What to do, what to do? Well, thankfully, the second person in my row showed up only minutes after me & she (Megan) and I hung around killing the time together. We took turns getting nervous & calming each other down, eventually tested the waters (literally) and slowly the minutes ticked by.
Around 7:50, Megan & I (along with some other newbies that we both recognized from the newbie meeting) headed down to the beach with everyone else. There were announcements & the national anthem, and then…it really started. We organized by wave color & they sent the first group off.
The youngest newbies were the fifth wave, so we got to watch a bit as the first few groups got sent out. When it got to our turn, I walked across the timing mat and out into the water. I wanted to be at the front of the crowd because I felt as though I was one of the stronger swimmers & I didn’t want to have to swim through people. While we were treading water out by the buoys there were a few “Good Luck!”s thrown around, which was very cute. When the announcer got to the 10-second countdown, I started my stopwatch & then we were off!
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