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| RI 70.3 |
Well, it's time to tell the tale of what *was* to be my final race for awhile.
I boxed up my bike last Wednesday (smooth sailing, due, as usual, to my unassailable girl power) and on Thursday night, Nate drove my down to Palo Alto so Kate could courier me to the San Jose airport early, early Friday morning. Once at the airport, I paid my $80 (one way, might I add) to ship my bike and crossed my fingers as the big Thule box was tossed onto the carousel.
8+ hours later, I arrived in Hartford, greeted by Anna's smiling face. At the baggage claim, the bike was the THIRD piece of luggage off the carousel. Yes! All that worrying for nothing. But wait, where's the rest of my stuff? My tools? My helmet? My pedals?
Lost. My suitcase did not make it onto my connecting flight. Damn your cumbersome largeness, Dallas/Ft. Worth!
The woman at the lost luggage counter assured me that "this happens all the time in Dallas. That airport's too big for it's own good." She gave me a 99.9% guarantee that my bag would get on the next plane to Hartford, and arrive in the night. Where would I like it delivered?
"Oh, no, we don't deliver to Rhode Island. Massachusetts, sure, but not Rhode Island."
Ok, time to think fast. I guess we're staying at...Shannon's parents' house tonight! Surprise, Shannon and parents! Surprise, us!
Anna and I got to roll past the old homestead on the way to Shannon's house, which was definitely an unexpected surprise. It was looking good. The new folks built a nice deck on the side.
After eating Shannon's food, using her toothbrush, sleeping in her PJs in her bed, Anna and I awoke at 6am to find...no suitcase had been delivered in the night! Haha!
We called American Airlines to inquire about this interesting development. We discovered that the bag was in Hartford, but wouldn't be delivered for about 5 hours. 5 HOURS?! We have things to do, people!
We drove back to the airport, got the bag, and hightailed it to Providence. I missed the first race meeting, but caught the tail end of race meeting number two. I waited in line to register for two and a half hours, bought come CO2 cartridges, and we rapidly headed over to the state capitol building to set up T2 (yes, of COURSE this was a two-transition race).
We got in the car and assessed our situation. It was not looking good. We would be cutting it REALLY close to get to T1 to drop off the bike before closing time. Did we persevere? You bet!
We got to T1 at Wheeler Beach 45 minutes after closing time. Anna was sure the race was run, so to speak. I begged the kindly race workers not only to let me in, but, er, ahem, to also let me put my bike together on the spot. It was still in the box at this point, naturally.
Second instance of girl power. Bam! T1 accomplished.
We finally made it to Nancy's house for dinner. After eating, I opened my suitcase to get my things ready for the race. Surprise again! My aerosol sunscreen had been depressed inside the suitcase and its entire contents had emptied onto my clothes! Wow! Am I an unsuspecting contestant in some sort of cruel reality show?
Compared to the prep, racing was a snap. Well, it was snap-like at least. "Snap-like?" Now I'm talking nonsense. Let's move on.
The swim was 70 degrees. Just lovely! Kinda big swells, though. I didn't barf, for the record.
The bike was the best Best BEST I have ever experienced in a race. Beautifully scenic, with gentle, rolling hills.
The run was fine. I hate running. Have I mentioned how I feel about running? HATE IT. However, the two 6.5 mile loops went through the Brown campus, which is quite nice. Nicer than running, in fact.
After the race, Anna congratulated me and suggested I work on my finish line moves. She said the man just a few minutes before me did a log roll across the finish line (much to the surprise of those finishing right after him) and I should consider my options.
Consider them considered.
Anna, Nancy, and I celebrated with fish, chips, and beer that night.
The next day was mellow with packing and goodbyes. And now I am back to the grind.
And yeah, I'm signing up for the Malibu Olympic in September. But I made Pam promise my training regimen could include one day of Tai Chi, one day of yoga, and one day of hiking with Nate per week.
