If you remember last year, my Martini Twin and I did our first tri together – it was great, except for the part where I didn’t know how to swim and freaked out.
Totally and completely freaked out.
Which, having never really swam before, was a completely understandable thing to do. But I was determined to finish – in all my years of running and racing, I’ve yet to DNF. I’ve walked, crawled and cried over a few finish lines, but I’ve always finished. That may not necessarily be a good thing, but as long as my legs are in tack, it’s a record I aim to keep.
I’d be damned if I was going to let a small thing like not know how to swim keep me from having fun at my next tri. So, in January of this year, in preparation for that next tri, I started taking swimming lessons, 3 times a week. And, Internet People, believe it or not I learned how to swim. Nothing record breaking, but I got to where I wasn’t constantly choking on water. I actually got to a point where I even ENJOYED going to swim. Take that evil water! It’s the small miracles in life that make my world go round.
So last Saturday, the Chef and I loaded up the bikes, all the gear and Cherry Berry and headed to Oklahoma for my second tri – the Lighthouse Sprint Tri. We drove for three hours with Cherry Berry loving us, without restraint, every mile of the way. The drive was just as annoying as the gif –>.
We arrived. We picked up packets. We planned. We modeled our cute new outfits. We had a fantastic dinner that night with the husbands – at a restaurant that apparently was run by some secret underground vampire clan. Really. Then we had more fun.
See. Girl fun. Boy fun. We do look good in vampire red!
Who do you want to party with? Horny red vampire girls or smiley cycling boys?
I rest my case.
We got up the next morning and headed to the start line. I felt great, having prepared for six months for the 500-yard swim so I felt pretty confident. In fact, oozing with confidence one might say.
Where’s Waldo?
But the strangest thing happened as I jumped in the water – I forgot how to swim – completely and totally. AGAIN. It was as if I had never touched water in my entire life.
I’m not exactly sure what happened, except I panicked. And I couldn’t breathe because there was all this water – and people touching me and splashing me. If there is one thing I’ve learned in my 40 years, it is that breathing is better than not breathing and if you splash me I will hit you. So I pulled over to the side, hung onto the rope and let everyone pass me – I was the last person out of the water. My time was actually almost a minute slower this year with six months of swimming lessons than it was last year when I didn’t know how to do more than dog paddle.
Dead last is humbling, to say the least.
I have no clue what happened. But, I blame gas. I blame everything on gas these days – and rightly so, I might add. Gas sucks.
Anyhoo, the bike went fine. I was slow and tired, but I made it fun.
The run went fine – except for the fact that at the last minute I decided to wear the concrete blocks I refer to as Nike Frees after training in the Vibrams for the last month. I can’t believe it, but I love the Vibrams – even if they are dorkier than dorky looking.
My personal advice to you: never wear these with a cocktail dress – stick with stilettos.
Whatever the case – Martini Tri Twins were the cutest on the course! Of course!
The husbands were the best photographers on the course and best of all was the Rombauer they had waiting for us at the finish line!
I had fun – so much fun – despite my intense fear of not breathing, and having all my hail damage enhanced with wet, shiny, skintight spanky pants.Will I do another tri? Probably. Will I freak out in the water? Probably.
Whatcha gonna do? Have fun I reckon.
(Please note Chef’s triangle is hogging the photo.)
My friends are fun. I miss fun in my life. Gas has taken away my fun, and I need some back. I need a little more of me back, for myself and my family.
[miniflickr user=”19202613@N00″ tags=”sprint2″]
Cherry Berry had fun too, but she wasn’t very Cherry on the ride home after spending time with her equally as spastic friend, Daisy.
Nice report! Your next swim will rock!
What a great report. WONDERFUL to see you having some fun again. Gas has taken away too much of your fun and to fight it well we need some RS fun back. So go girl! As for the swim – had you done any open water swimming? I am at the beginning of your learning curve, about to get swimming lessons, and so am watching you for tips and tricks. LIke the tip about having a husband with a “triangle” waiting at the finish with wine. That is SOME outfit…
Big hug girl!
Yay for fun and triangles! And big YAY for a tired Cherry Berry!
Training tip: Next time you get in the water for a swim, pretend all those people in the water with you are Good Guys and then proceed on with aggression.
Well done!!! Being in open water is way different than being in a pool, especially when 50 of your closest friends you’ve never met before are trying to swim over you, “ya dun good”…..
Love your matchy matchy outfits, you guys always have way to much fun!
Good on you Susan. Looks like you all had fun, even if the swim was a little gassy. I’ll party with the horny red vampire girls 😉 If the Frees felt like bricks, I need to try Vibrams!
Those are definitely THE CUTEST tri outfits EVAH!
I would also freak out and forget to breathe in the water, which is why I have not yet attempted a Tri. I am so envious of you and inspired by your courage to even attempt it.
Is Cherry molesting you in that gif? Good work, Susie!
Susan – I could have totally written the part about the swim. I was in the same place last year for my 1st tri…I had just learned to swim and had the same experience. And, I pretty much experienced the same thing at 3 other tris last summer. Fast forward to this year’s 1st tri – I had even done lots of OWS practice, so you’d think I would have kicked ass on the swim, right? Nope! With the race adrenaline going and people splashing all around me, I still sucked on the swim! Grrrr! Hang in there, we will eventually conquer it! Great job on finishing!!!
I am still stuck on those awesome arms of yours. Dang, girl.
I had soooo much FUN!!! We will do another one next year together and you will totally rock the swim!! Thanks for being such a great friend and getting me out of my box and looking super cute in our tri-outfits! I’m looking forward to the Muddy Buddy in Oct.
I’ve been such a negligent blog reader – terrible.
So glad you had fun. I panicked in every single swim for a couple of years in spite of swimming with a masters team. Open water is not a pool and swimming in a crowd is not the same. It just takes time to get used to it.
And the Martini Twins are DEFINITELY the cutest of all – anywhere – ever.
FWIW, a year late, after rediscovering your blog (thanks to a random mention by Mark I.), I should say…
1) Congratulations!
2) After 3 years of tris (including a full Ironman), I still freak out in the swim. Almost every time. Short races are actually worse, because I spend most of the time not swimming well at all; however, since there’s only so long you can not swim, my pace gets better the longer the course. Weird.