The Timberman Triathlon – Swimming with the Fishies

Last week on August 15, 2015, I competed in one of the biggest physical challenges of my life, the Timberman Triathlon! And although it was my first endurance race ever, it was surprisingly quick. A lot happened: from my “swimming with the fishies” moment to the chain derailment/near car collision, to having the BEST fan base there! Let’s start with the swim…

This post starts at 4:45am.

Before the crack of dawn I was woken up by the sound of crickets and snores from the other room. I had my gear in two bags on the couch. One bag contained this morning’s swimming stuff and the other had biking/running gear. After waking Cherie up and getting my things in the car, we set out to Ellacoya state park. The sun wasn’t even up yet… but I was getting ready to race a 0.3 mile swim, 15 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run.

5:05am… When we got there half the parking lot was already full! You could tell there were some serious morning people at this event and I was using toothpicks to keep my eye lids open. We pulled over to the side and I got my bike out. I assembled the pieces and wheeled it over to the transition area. Luckily there were some bike experts/volunteers there helping people get their equipment working properly.

My brakes needed a tweaking. And it helped that the dude who helped me turned his spelunker cave headlight on so we could both see. Once I was tuned up, I got my number (90) drawn all over my body. Then I entered the transition area where rows and rows of bikes were lined up, just waiting for the adrenalin pumping race to begin.

My swimming with the fishies moment

runningtoward the first buoy, while others were already swimming full speed. Arms were hitting my legs, while my feet were kicking others. There was no where to go unless the traffic ahead sped up. And only by the second buoy were most of us even able to create space for ourselves. At about half way through, I could hear the muffled siren of the second wave. More fishies were being unleashed.

Next post: The Timberman Triathlon – Racing 15 miles on a bike