I raced my first triathlon today. It was an amazing experience. This is what life is about.

The Stats

• Total Time: 1:02:55.075
• Swim Time: 8:46
• T1 Time: 1:34
• Bike Time: 28:27
• T2 Time: 1:14
• Run Time: 22:54
• Overall Place: 137 out of 371
• Overall Percentile: 63
• Gender Place: 119 out of 246
• Gender Percentile: 52
• Category Place: 17 out of 28
• Category Percentile: 41

My Garmin cycling stats are here and run stats are here. I broke 2 personal records today:

1. Cycling average speed of 20.5 MPH
2. Running max speed of 13.6 MPH

The Pictures

Click here to view pictures of the race

The Full Story

It still feels like the middle of the night as the alarm clock wakes me to "Sounds of Caribbean" on NPR at 4:30 a.m.. Rising from bed comes easy this Sunday. I'm exciting to be racing my first triathlon.

All my preparations for the race were done the night before. My bike is in the car and my backpack waits for me on my kitchen table next to a cooler that I fill with 3 water bottles. I hit the button on the coffee machine (since I prepped it the night before) and heat a bowl of oatmeal. I go brush my teeth, wash my face and jump into my tri shorts. I get a text from Laura "SWIM BIKE RUN!". That little text is what really starts the day.

This triathlon wasn't about competition. It was about setting a difficult goal and accomplishing it with friends. The people are what made this day stand out.

Pulling into Tradewinds Park, the only light comes from the headlights of cars and the park lights. I follow the direction of the volunteer pointing with his flashlight to go left. After being guided into my parking space on the lawn, I grab my backpack and take my bike out of the car. I'm now part of a group of scattered triathletes and spectators headed all in the same direction, toward the transition area. Some walk, some ride their bike.

After placing my bike in a temporary staging area, I show my ID and receive my race number, 198. I'm now guided to the body marking area where a volunteer with a Sharpie writes my number on both biceps and thighs and my age on my right calf. I felt bad for the guy because it was still pitch dark out and difficult to see what he was doing. Next, I turn around to see the volunteers handing out the timing chips, I say "198 please!" and he hands me my chips. The timing chips are ankle wraps that trigger a timer during the race so times can be kept.

I grab my bike from the temporary staging area and walk it through the darkness, looking for a bike rack with a number range on it that my race number falls in. Found it! I think to myself "Remember, it's the third rack from the tree." I setup my transition area with my shoes, towel, helmet, glasses, water, etc... I look around and can barely make out the shapes of about 50 other triathletes doing the same. After I'm setup, I take the bike out for a quick ride to make sure everything is ready to go. After the ride, I take my goggles and swim cap and leave the transition area for the last time until race time.

Leaving the transition area, I start seeing some familiar faces. These are my friends from the Try-a-Tri group that I train with. These are the people that make this so much more than a simple athletic competition. Our group starts making our way to the launching point of the swim leg of the race. I start a slow jog to get the blood flowing. Once arriving, I jump in the water to get a feel for the lake. I walk in and feel the slime of the weeds under my feet. I start swimming and take a look at where the swim finish is so I know what to look for when I start the race. I join my friends and we wait for the start.

The siren sounds and the "Elites" dive in first. 5 minutes later, hundreds of us start to trickle in the lake, one-by-one, 3 seconds apart. As people start the swim, our little group keeps up some cheery conversation. As we get close to our turn to jump in, I feel my heart rate pick up a bit. I ask Ralph (wearing a heart monitor) what's your heart rate now? 10 BPM higher then just 2 minutes ago. That sounds about right for me too.

It's my turn, I dive in way too fast and hard. My goggles dropped around my neck. I didn't want to stop so I kept swimming for about a minute. After that, I put the goggles back on. I kept bearing right during the entire swim, I was frustrated at myself. Half way through the swim, my biggest fear for this race came to fruition. That god-damned cramp on my right side, near my ribs. I slow down a bit. I figure it's OK to slow down, I passed a few people earlier and only one had passed me. It seemed forever before I got to the shore. I ripped my googles and swim cap off and booked it to the transition area. I hear David say "Go Larry!". That felt awesome. Thanks Dave!

I dry my feet, throw on my socks, shoes, helmet and sun glasses as fast as I can and run with my bike out of the transition area. I was tired as hell and had a hard time breathing. I kept telling myself, "You got this, Larry!" When I see the sign that says "Mount Bike Here", I did.

As soon as I was on the bike, I felt strong. I'm still fighting this cramp in my ribs but .... "You got this, Larry!" I quickly get up to 22 MPH and settle into my aerobars. Just a minute or two later, I lifted my hand from the aerobars to switch gears and put too much pressure on the left side of my handlebars. I lost control. I braced for impact and got ready to feel the pavement shave off some of my skin. But it didn't happen. I'm not sure how, but I recovered and continued my pace without falling. The entire time I'm on the bike, I'm passing people. I felt really good about that. Through the entire 10 miles, I think only 4 or 5 people passed me. I had a strong ride and got a new personal record of an average pace of 20.5 MPH. This cramp is still killing me so I'm going to slow down a bit toward the end of the ride so I have something left for the run.

I get the transition area, drop my bike and helmet and throw on my race belt. I book it out of the transition area to start my run. I felt strong even with the cramp. That wasn't going to last. Leaving the transition area, I hear David yell "Go Larry! I'm so jealous!" David is a fellow triathlete but decided not to race this one. I yell back "so am I". He gets to take pictures while I have a damn knife in my rib. It didn't matter, there was nothing that was going to make me stop or walk. The run was tough. People were passing me constantly. I'm losing everything I gained during the bike leg of the race. It's at this point that I start accepting that I'm not doing well. My Garmin is telling me that I'm running at about a 10 minute mile (6 MPH). That's not good. It's OK, I'll deal with it. The cramp is getting worse in my rib. I put my shoulders back as far as I can to try to stretch the area. I'm not stopping, nothing is going to keep me from running. I told myself at about halfway through the run, that for the last quarter mile, I was going to give it everything I had. I knew I would be in incredible pain but I was willing to deal with that as a fair trade for finishing strong.

I look down at my Garmin, a quarter mile left, it's go time! Just as I'm looking down, I see some guy passing me in a professionally printed triathlon suit. He apparently had the same idea I did to finish strong. "Oh no, you're not finishing before me!" I thought to myself. I raise my head, lean forward and give it everything I got! We're side by side and we're both pushing it. We're hauling ass. I'm breathing so hard that anyone within 15 feet of me can hear me. He's now on my left and about a foot ahead of me. "GO GO GO!" I say to myself. I'm gaining on him. He looks back and tries to pull away, I lean even more forward, lengthen my stride and push harder than I ever had in my life. Here comes the finish line! "Go Larry, you got this!" I pass him then fly past the finish line. I win! I don't care how I did the rest of this race. Right now, I win!

As I cruise into the finish area, I'm knocking over volunteers that were handing out water and pushing other competitors out of my way because I couldn't stop. Thank god for the palm tree. I reach down and take off my ankle strap timing chips and hand them to the volunteer that takes them. I grab a bottle of water and walk out to the parking lot. I then pour half the bottle of ice water over my head. I can't talk, I can't get enough oxygen into my lungs. In the last intense moments of the race, I forgot about the cramp, but it's back now to remind me and worse then before. I walk around the parking lot and continue pouring water over my head while taking the occasional sip. This goes on for about 5 minutes.

My heart rate is normal, I've cooled down, and the cramp is finally gone. I see David and King taking pictures next to the Finish line. I join them, then some others from our group and cheer on the rest of our group as they finish. It was great to see the smiles of our friends as we screamed their names and applauded as they crossed the finish line.

So now we're all snacking and talking about the highlights (and lowlights) of the race when they start announcing the winners. We walk over to the trailer where the speaker system is setup and the awards are handed out. We all know who won already since the times were posted. A few of us from the group did exceptionally well and took home awards. I, on the other hand, placed 17th out of 28 in my age group. That bothers me. It shouldn't, this is my first race and I'm told that my age group is the most competitive. I guess middle of the pack is pretty exceptional for a first race.

The awards ceremony is over and it's time to go. I say good bye to everyone and walk my bike back to the car with Danielle. As I turn on the car, I hear the weather report. "And the heat index currently is 101 degrees". Yep, it was a hot one once the sun came up. As I'm driving home, I look down to see the faded "198" in permanent marker on my legs and smile. I'm a triathlete now.