"Exercising" the Danskin Demon (Part 3...of 3)

I had now made it two thirds of the way through the race.  Nothing left to do but run away! Patty is a walker and insisted that I go ahead.  We said we would see each other at the finish line and I headed out.  Since running was something I could actually do without needing extra padding:

or flotation devices,

I was off feeling light on my feet!

It ended up being more of a slalom activity, really.  If you recall from Part 1, Patty and I were among the very last of the racers in the "buddy wave" (read: "non-competitive just-please-lord-don't-let-me-drown/crash/trip wave").  Turns out this is the group in which the ladies like to walk, en masse, taking up the whole road, chit-chatting.

Time was clearly not of the essence.  Race? What race? But, these women were savouring their time together so it's hard to fault them for that :)

Anywhoodles, I ran.  Past the 1 mile mark, past the turnaround, and up the hill to...wait.  Hill? I was not told did not bother to read that there would be a hill on the run.

I did not want to spend one extra second on the course when I could instead be sitting down at the finish.  So, I trudged up the hill and began to see a glut of women walking back to their cars already donning the precious, precious finisher's medal (my preeeeciousssssss).

I was now in the home stretch and got a few surprises.

Surprise #1:  Mary cheering for me right before the entrance to the finish chute:

That was just so cool!

Surprise #2:  This costumed lady was the official cheerleader at the finish:

I do believe that is a white balloon in her blonde wig.

Her job was to tell me Surprise # 3:

Say whaaaa??  Oy.

Surprise #4:  Actually finishing the race!

It was pretty freaking amazing, and having that cheering section made my first successful tri just incredible!

*This was last year and I did 2 more tris this past summer.  I will be posting those recaps but in the meantime I have to tell you all about my trip home!

UPCOMING POSTS: VACATION ACTIVITIES, FLOW AND CANADIAN SPIN (that one's for you, Natalie!)

"Exercising" the Danskin Demon (Part 2 of 3)

Just a scant 10 minutes and 50 seconds after entering T1 (not even exaggerating, you guys), I was ready to head out on my bike.  Patty had prepped me for the course with a variety of training rides.  The course included some mild slopes and one crazy access ramp.

The ramp was within the first couple of miles of the ride.  There were volunteers stationed ahead of the hill, shouting at us to get ready by shifting (all together now):

As we rounded the corner we saw the carnage on the ramp!  Everyone was pushing their bike up the hill, but Patty and I were determined to ride!  (Yeah!)  I let the pushers know I was there as I forged my way up with my increasingly desperate cries of:

Patty was fortunate enough to witness someone vomiting into the hay bales as she biked up.

Awesome.  Coincidentally, when I was hanging out with the paramedics 2 years ago, I heard this gem over the walkie talkie:  

I totally did not have that running through my head during the race.  Nope.  (Pretty sure someone broke their collarbone that year too.)

Each downhill on the course had me gripping my brakes for dear life, allowing everyone but the motorcycle cops to pass me.

Nevertheless, I did finish the bike and did not have to bail even once, so it was a success!

I got my bike back on the rack (possibly with some help from 2 racers who were already finished) and got ready for the final part of the race: the run!!

NEXT POST:  THE STIRRING CONCLUSION OF THE DANSKIN 2010!

EDIT:
Hey guys, Meredith over at Swim Bike Mom asked me to link to her post about a little fighter she is racing for.  We all got into racing, and keep racing, for many different reasons.  Meredith is training for her first half iron (holy wow!) and stays motivated by thinking about Caleb.  His story is here.