30 seconds clip of me crossing the finish line
I got in this one rather later, through David. Sort of a backdoor really. I was not ready for it so I started training. Sunday's waking up at 4:30 and leaving the house at 5:30 for a 28 mile ride. Last 2 weeks, this was also followed by a 3.6 mile run. I would ride up Commonwealth Blvd -> Marathon Pkwy -> Service road of the L.I.E all the way to the 106/107 and back. Alone. Of course.
So now I was mentally prepared because I knew I could do the distance but still I was scared. I heard that it was supposed to be all up-hills going North and down coming south. I figured if I got all the way up, then I would be ok. I would just fly down. That was the plan.
Friday: July 14. I went to the pre-race meeting and packet pickup. It was at a hotel in the city with no A.C and hot and humid outside. We suffered. The meeting took 30 minutes and then we had to go through all this stuff.
The forecast was no rain which is good. If there is a lot of rain then the runoff goes into the river and there is bacteria. While I am leaving the transition area after checking in the bike it starts drizzling and suddenly I hear that there is a thunderstorm coming. We went to buy some garbage bags to put on the bike.
The plan was to wake up at 2:00am and leave the house by 3:30am. Get to the city with time to spare, find a garage and get set up. The transition area was going to be open from 4:30 to 5:45.
I got to the city and drove to the parking garages. OOPS. They told us where they were but they did not tell them that a whole lot of buisness was coming. They were closed but there was a spot right next to them so that was good. Saved 30 bucks.
Took a long time but the race finally started. I started talking to this guy and we went to see the swim starts for all the waves. Man, I knew the current was strong but still. At the meeting, we had, someone asked "if you were a not good swimmer should you be on the side?" to which the race director said that "the pros actually know that the side closest to the deep river is the strongest current and that if you were a beginner, you want to be close to shore. Also that one year, Hunter Kemper was swimming and he chose the strong current and that between him swimming and the current, people could not run fast and keep up with him. He was flying.
The swim was like this. There was a pontoon and people would get on it. At one point they would tell you to grab a rope and get in the water making sure to hold on to the rope. So this wave of women went in and this one women who was all the way at the end accidently let go of the rope and WHOOSH she was swept about 10 feet away. Now, she is trying as best as she can to get back but she is actually swimming backwards. The guy on the microphone told her to grab the kayak and the kayak tried to bring her in. Nothing. He was going backwards too. Finally they told her to just relax and when the swimmers got to her, then she should let go and swim. The current was that tough.
I decided to be ballsy and sit where she sat. I grabbed the rope and jumped in like they told us. I thought I would be able to get a kick off but NOPE. Soon as I went in, boom, my feet were swept forward and I was hanging on to dear life. I actually apologized to the guy on my left because I kept spooning him because of the current. Soon, the horn went off and between my swimming and the current I was in the top 3. Eventually, I also came on up to previous waves.
The swim went fine except for my goggles fogging up. Eventually, my hand hit something black and I jumped. Then my left hand hit and I jumped. I then realized, I was close to the finish and that was the river bottom. I figured I would just put my feet down and yuck, my leg sank in the mud up to my knee. breast stroke from there on. It was only a foot of water but with the wetsuit, I was able to keep afloat. I got to the pontoon and I evaluated my choices. There was a rail in the middle and a guy to the left of it and a little (100 pound) girl on the right. Made my choice and lined up. With my right hand, I grabbed the rail and with my left I grabbed the guys hand. Heaved on both and got out. Don't remember what the guy looks like just remember thinking that if he does not hold on, then he will be taking a dip. That's why I chose to go to him and not the girl. I would defintly have pulled her in.
Stripped my wet suit to my waist and ran the half mile to the transition area. Lot of people were completly winded at this point.
Transitioned to the bike and went out with the bike. As soon as were able to mount the bike, there was a nasty but short hill. Went up and went on the highway. Wasn't all up hills, there was some flats and some downhills and the going was good. Eventually, I got to this down hill in the bronx and I was flying. I got up to 38.6 MPH and it was a thrill till I realized, that I would have to climb this too. Then I made up my mind to maximize every downhill so it will help me climb some hills too.
Well, I got to the U-turn point in the bronx and headed back. Soon, my great I got to that great downhill, now uphill. I used my momentum to go up as much as I can, then climbed. In front of me was a black woman, 250 pounds on a heavy mountain bike. My bike is heavy ; hers was 10 pounds heavier. No clipless pedals, no aerobars. Nothing. Everytime she pedaled with her left, the bike lurched left, when she pedaled with her right, the bike lurched right. I just wanted to stop and push. I hope she did it.
Finally, we passed the boat basin and continued to 57th for the last u-turn. Now it's a downhill, so I go tearing down and as I go flying, I see a sign "U-TURN! SLOW DOWN". Does not register until I see the U-Turn. I slam on the brakes, raising my butt of the seat to help brake. I skid with both wheels but I keep control. I then do the last 1/2 mile uphill.
I transitioned to the run and stopped to pee. I started the run and the first thing I see is these really ugly looking steps. I said to the guy next to me, "I hope we don't have to go up these steps...". Turns out we don't but we do have to go up this ugly steep looking hill instead. On the top, I see my crew. Now we are on 72nd and it's HOT. I ran in the shade instead because it was cooler. Finally into Central Park where it was much cooler. Hills and Hills and more Hills and finally we are at the finish line. Good thing I did not believe the woman who told me, "only one last hill...". And there was the finish line. I did it! My first Olympic Triathlon.