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Weight Watchers Ontario Women's Triathlon - Milton, Ontario - September 1, 2002The week leading up to the TRI I was home without kids or husband, they were at the cottage for the week. Monday I did 80 minutes of exercise, both biking and walking. I really wanted to be prepared. Tuesday I left work early to pick up my wet suit, then went home for a bit, then off to my WW meeting. At the meeting Anne and I were presented with a card wishing us well on the TRI. The event was coming, and I was nervous, but excited. Wednesday morning I did my 11k bike, and packed up my wet suit to take to Kelso for a test drive that night after work. I called Kelso and asked how long the buoy line was, and found out that between three of the poles was 1K for six crossings, so I was going to do it twice. I drove to Kelso after work and went to the beach, it was still in use, but with no life guards, so I felt OK being in the water. I squeezed into my wet suit and walked in. I was giggling to myself as I walked in, I didn't expect the buoyancy that I got. It was really buoyant, and kept me floating. That was a big relief for the swim part. After the swim I changed back into my clothes and went to explore and find out where the bike and walk/run parts would be. And when I did that I found the swim area where the TRI would take place, so I was able to scope that out too. I drove the path that I would walk and found some really challenging hills. After that I drove the bike route to scope the hills there. After that I decided I'd come back later in the week to TRI the bike and walk part. Thursday I biked in the morning, and again after work. Hills were getting much easier with more and more biking. Friday I packed my bike and wet suit into the van and went to work. Then after work I drove out to Kelso again. I hoped to try the swim in the area where we would do the TRI, but I was disappointed to find that there were boats in the water, thus preventing that. So I got on my bike and did the bike portion, and was challenged by some of the hills, but felt now that I had done them once I would be prepared. When I came back from the bike, I put the bike back in the van and hit the walk trail. Some of the hills were hard to walk up, but I knew I'd do it! Saturday I drove out to Milton to pick up my race kit, which consisted of my number (932) and a swim cap and a t-shirt, plus some other goodies. I knew the place that I picked up the kit was also doing the bike checks at the TRI, so I called ahead and asked if I could bring it in when I came Saturday, and that was no problem. And my bike checked out OK. When I came home, David and the kids were home from the cottage. Right after I got home we got a phone call from our old neighbour and she asked us if we'd like to go to the Air Show on Monday, that she had some passes to give us. We said yes ... so we hopped in the van and drove to the airport to pick them up. When we got there Linda took us out on the tarmac in one of the airport vehicles, and we got to see the British Red Arrows close up ... it was AMAZING!! Sunday morning was an early one, with my alarm going off at 4am so I could get up, have a nice long shower, and get my stuff ready. We got the boys up around 5 and hit the road shortly after that. We arrived in Milton at Kelso at 5:50 am and were quite surprised that there was nobody in the gatehouse at Kelso, so we got in FREE. We found a parking spot and David said he thought we were too early, but within minutes, cars were coming in like crazy. Christopher and I took a walk up the hill to the parking lot where we'd do the transition to scope it out. One of the race volunteers told me where it would be good to park my bike, in the middle, so I went to get my bike and get my piece of transition real estate. We walked around exploring things, trying to get rid of my butterflies, got body marked with a nice permanent marker ... and finally around 7:30 went back to the van to get my wet suit on. For body marking they put your race number on your left arm and your age category on your right calf. The race was due to start at 8:00 am and my start time was third wave at 8:10. I went back to the transition area to put on my swim cap. Every time I tried to put it on, it popped off, so another athlete helped me get it on. I then went down to the shoreline to get ready. When I got there I found Anne, my fellow Tuesday night WW member. Then I moved over to the back outside of the group and waited the start. Suddenly it was time to go, off and swimming. I did some time on my stomach, then switched to my back to relax, then back to my stomach again. As the pack proceeded ahead of me, I was at back of the pack by the time we finished, but not too far behind the person in front of me. 2 or 3 people from the next wave passed by me. I'm proud to say I was last for my wave!! Off to the transition area, take off the wet suit, and get my shoes, socks, t-shirt, helmet and glasses and gloves on to bike. Walk the bike to the start line and pedal pedal pedal! The bike ride was just what I expected, and I started off faster than I did on Friday. Suddenly the bike was over and I put my bike back on the rack and went off to do my walk. As I started across the dam, I was getting a charlie horse in each calf muscle, so I worked on stretching it as much as I could. As I went up the big hill, it was great, because I was able to stretch it out. Once you reached the top of the hill there was a water break, GOOD, and then across a pretty level area, then down a big hill, up another one and back across the dam to the finish line. I GOT A MEDAL!!! I got so many congratulations from those around, but as I looked, I couldn't find David or the kids. They had been there at the finish of the swim and the bike, but were nowhere to be found for the big finish. I finally found them 20 minutes later. I finished in 1 hour, 9 minutes and 5 seconds, in 305/338th place of all TRI a TRI athletes, and 126/136 in my age category. I had a BLAST and I am going to do this again next year. I would recommend anyone try it!! My charlie horses came back Sunday afternoon, and by Monday, if I sat too long, it was hard to walk afterwards, and Tuesday was the same, but by today (Wednesday), it's getting much better. The pain was worth the gain to say I DID A TRIATHLON!! I AM A TRIATHLETE!!!
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