So I raced a triathlon

[danceboy]

Does anyone know the correct verb for that? "Raced" sounds wrong, "did" is just a tad generic, "ran" is incomplete...

Anyway, it was good. I didn't drown, and I finished in 1:29:43 (unofficial) over a 1/2 mile swim, 10 mile bike, and 4 mile run.


The last 100 yards or so were on the beach, which was mean, albeit in a kind of funny way. Asking people who've basically just finished a race to run on sand is asking for very athletic pratfalls.

Things to remember for next time (assuming there is one, but not for a year or three...):

1. Try to swim in straight lines. Zig zags are both slower and farther. I'm not sure that I was the last of my wave to finish the swim, but I came in after a bunch of people from the wave that left 4 minutes after me.
   
2. Try not to have a pre-term labor scare over night the week before (or you know, ever).
   
3. Come up with something quicker than "Stuff half a banana in your mouth during each transition".
   

Things that went well:

1. The run. I was tired, My legs were done, but it was only 4 miles. I can do that. I can even do that faster than many of the other athletes.
   
2. The bike. I'm still adjusting to having a road bike (thank you aatish2). I'm pretty sure I passed more people than passed me, but a lot of that was that I swam so slowly that I was biking among slower racers.
   

In all, I'm rather glad I did it, and happy to have beaten an hour and a half.

Comments

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I believed the correct verb is "kicked the ass of." "Kicked ass in" may be an acceptable substitute in some regions.

[blk]

Yeah, what she said. :)

[danceboy.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[danceboy.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I like it.

Is this similar to the "water fountain"/"bubbler" split?

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I think it's more like "milk shake"/"frappe."

[(Anonymous)]

You tried an athalon? ;-)

Congratulations! -lb

[danceboy.livejournal.com]

Cute. Thank you.

Who are you? I've now thought of 3 different people who have your initials, and I'm sure it will turn out that I think of you by your handle...

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

survived
completed

or perhaps more colorfully:

axe-kicked
smashed
obliterated :)

#

[c1.livejournal.com]

I'd go with completed. There's no ambiguity about whether you crossed the finish line in one piece. The time is irrelevant: but for a tiny minority of participants in any race format, the participant's true contest is how he rises against himself.

Congratulations on finishing: I know I could do any of those legs, and I could do any two of those legs, but without a _lot_ of conditioning, I couldn't tie all three of them together like that. That's sweet victory.

Mazal tov!

[drwex]

That's awesome.

[devoken.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! That's quite impressive. As for verbiage, I'm going to follow in the spirit of other commenters and offer "conquered."

Also, hi! I'm Andrea. We ran into each other at the beach festival. It'd be nice to actually keep up with you, rather than relaying on happenstance and beach festivals (lovely as they are) to come along.