Clemson trip (part 2)

Saturday, May 14th

The second reason I went to Clemson was to take part in a half triathlon. I was a little nervous about it but since I had spent the prior day walking all over the place, drinking beers in the afternoon, having several glasses of wine with dinner, going to bed late and not sleeping well I knew that I would be fine.

First up was the swim. This was the one part of the race I was really worried about. We gathered down at the beach and they claimed the water temperature was 73F. Personally I think their thermometer was broken. Several people were going in the water to ‘warm’ up and get a feel for the water. I wisely decided that I was not touching the water until I had to go in, otherwise I might have decided it was not worth it. The race starts by sending the competitors out in waves. As a novice I was in the second to the last group, apparently they don’t want those of us who might drown to slow down the real racers. As I looked out over the course I thought the buoys we had to swim around were not really that far out. So when the third wave started and the first group had barely made it to the first buoy I began to rethink this adventure. Fortunately I am not that smart and decided to go anyway. As it turned out the swim went swimmingly, the water temp really was not bad and I pushed my way through it. When I got to land I was a little unsteady on my feet but very grateful to be alive.

Next was the bike riding. I learned that you really should bring something to wipe your feet off after walking over sand and grass from the water to the transition area. The ride went pretty well except at one point when this fire truck decided to stop in my lane. I could not see around him so I had to go off into the grass to pass him. I thought firemen were there to help people, but I guess they can’t do it all the time. The only thing I did wrong was to push myself a little too hard. There weren’t many hills so I pretty much just rolled along.

Last was the run. One indication that I pushed myself too hard on the biking was because when I started the run my left knee suddenly screamed at me to stop. Who knew four Advil at the start would not head this off. Once again my stupidity saved the day and I kept going. As hoped the pain quickly subsided as I settled into my pace. There were a couple hills and as usual I powered up them passing other runners, which always makes me feel good. That is the one particular benefit of training around here. So overall the run went well.

In the end I finished and since that was my only goal I am very happy. Out of 247 men I finished 230th overall, 235th in the swimming, 226th in the biking and 181st in the running with an overall time of one hour and forty-three minutes. It was a beautiful day and actually a lot of fun. (Eric and Amy, thanks for coming to cheer me on.) I think I’ll do this again but I also think that I will train harder for it. And maybe cut out the drinking the day before. On second thought where is the fun in that? By the way, I would have had a Guinness afterwards but apparently it is a little hard to come by in Clemson.