Bottomless Triathlon, 2006 1:16:59, 3rd place, athena.
Bottomless Triathlon, 2007 - 1:15:59. 1st place, Athena
Bottomless Triathlon, 2008. 1:12, 1st place Athena
The Bottomless sprint is one of those things that you suffer through but it's so short you immediately get amnesia and sign up for it again. It's fast, well-run, and my only complaint year after year is a wishful bit about it starting maybe 90 minutes earlier. It starts at 8:30 and the race director won't budge. But there's plenty of aid stations, and the water and ice are cold, and there's ice-cold water melon and bagels at the finish line.
2009
So, we were all standing around and I was kvetching because I was the only (seriously - the only) female wearing a black cap. All the others had pink. Two women I was talking to motioned towards a tall triathlete standing off to the side wearing a pink cap, "ask him if he'll trade."
AWESOME! I splashed over to him and as soon as the words were out of my mouth, "hey, I know this sounds weird, but would you want to exchange caps?" I saw the subtle hour-glass shape.
Oh, crap. This wasn't a dude. She looked at me, puzzled, and shook her head, "no".
So, I followed it up lamely with, "I know it sounds crazy. I'm asking everyone today." Then I splashed around to ask some other women so that she would see and not realize that I had mistaken her for a guy (I'm SUCH an idiot) and finally I went back to the two women and mouthed the words, "THAT'S NOT A GUY" and they looked astonished, peered around me in a very obvious way, and then broke into peals of laughter, and I felt like crap. I really really hope I saved it well so that the chick didn't go home thinking that she looked like a guy.
So anyway. The air horn went off, and we went running out into the water. As soon as I get too much resistance running I dive in. Except that, this time, it was a bit too soon and I hit the bottom of the lake, a really rocky part, dragging my knee over it as I swam out. Of course, I sometimes forget about such things until just after the race and then I look down and say, "what did I do to my knee?" and have to think back and try to remember.
I think I had a pretty good swim; it was "about 400 meters, give or take" in a very clear lake. The lake here, I'll warn you, sits in a collapsed limestone sinkhole and the water is very alkaline. It tastes kinda like epsom salts. The temperature, according to fellow triathlete Tina was 78 degrees, so I wore my Point Zero3 suit, and came out of the lake before Sweet Baboo's wave, which was supposed to be 10 minutes later.
I ran out and into t1, shoved my feet into my bike shoes, since I don't wear socks in sprints any more, and headed out. It's a bit of a climb as you come up out of the bottoms area, and then you r-r-r-r-rid-d-d-de the very bumpy road through a few rollers, generally heading back down into the bottoms, with one last "surprise" climb about halfway through. At one point on the bike, my fellow competitor, Sarah, had caught me coming down into the smelly lake bottoms area. I worked really hard to catch her on that last hill and then stay ahead of her for the rest of the bike, but she came into T2 right behind me.
Into T2, where I grabbed my "COOL OFF BANDANA" that I'd pre-loaded with ice and my hand-held bottle, shoving my feet into my racing flats, again with no socks. I'd come into T2 the same time as Sweet Baboo but of course, he was already a quarter mile ahead of me as I exited to the run.
The run is long, flat, and hot. The temperature on the blacktop was 98 degrees, and my legs were trashed because of trying to stay ahead of Sarah. Not knowing how far behind me she was at any given time, I ran as hard as I could, which wasn't much because my legs were just HEAVY and aching. The run is only 4K, which is about 2.5 miles long, but it's sure a long 1.25 miles out to the turnaround, where I threw cold water on myself. The ice in my bandana melted slowly, and kept an icy spot just below the back of my neck.
I don't know what my time is, and was informed that the race director is out of town until the end of July, but I think it might have been around 1:10, which would be a PR.
I crossed the finish line and walked into the lake, shoes and all. 78 degrees is pretty nice and cold when you've just run in temps in the upper nineties. And was promptly informed by fellow Outlaw MG that my shorts are see-through from behind when I'm in an aero position. (This, I've decided, is good to know.)
After a while, I got out, changed clothes, and then collected my award: First Place, Athena, and Baboo collected his: 1st place, Clydesdale.
Fellow Outlaws Pocket Assassin, Bones, and MuffinMan, and Michi also took home hardware. I hope I haven't missed anyone.
On the way out of Roswell Baboo bought me a dipped waffle cone sundae at Dairy Queen and some nachos at Taco Bell. 'Cause I'm all about the health.
Now I want a nap.
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