Tri-Umph 2
As you may have read below, Andy and I completed our first Chicago Triathlon this past Sunday along with KB for his fifth, I believe. Just wanted to share a few highlights from my perspective on the race. I woke up at 4:00 a.m. to get ready to ride my bike down to the transition area to set up my gear for the bike/run portion of the race. What a sight it was to see 8,700 people unloading their race gear in the dark. Since my race time wasn't until 9:30 a.m., I had some time to kill and going back to sleep was not an option due to the excitement and adrenaline that was consuming my body. So I decided to join KB and Andy and watch Kev's wife Shea start her swim at 6:01 a.m as well as enjoy the sunrise over Lake Michigan. Then I decided I should get some fuel in me and went home for an hour to wash down a hearty breakfast. Back to the race to watch KB crush his swim at the 7:30 wave start. Now I had 2 hrs. to kill before my race, no phone to find Andy, so I posted up on the dock and watched and studied wave after wave of tri-athletes begin their swim. Quite interesting to watch a hundred people fight their way to the lead for a mile swim.
Finally 9:30 came and I was treading water with about a hundred other guys thinking wow, it's finally here! BEEP, everyone goes from vertical treading to horizontal swimming! I'm not sure what word describes the first 200 meters of the swim, it was a bit comical the way I was trying to avoid bodies, taking the occasional foot to the face or arm on my leg, but after a few hundred meters I really fell into my groove and just swam like I had trained for all summer. Swim conquered, next the bike. I didn't realize how hilly LSD is nor did I realize how many potholes and bumps existed either. Well, my ass should did when I was finished with the 24.8 mile bike ride. I could barely walk my bike to my transition area while all these people were running past me to get changed into their run gear. I thought how the hell am I going to run 6 miles with my butt this sore and my legs feeling like jelly. Off to the run, I just kept telling myself "you're 2/3 done, buck up and knock this mother out." The run went rather quickly to my liking since I despise running and am yet really to find that so called "runner's high." Nothing can express my excitement and joy of crossing the finish line! My goal was to finish under three hours with a smile on my face. I said I was going to do this, I trained for it, and now I accomplished it! Bring on the next one baby! Tri-umph!
Tri-Umph team KB, Ryan, and Andy preparing for the triathlon
at Bonnaroo in June