(Twenty three
years ago, I did this event. With all it’s
flaws, I’d do it again.)
½ Mile Swim-15.52 Bike-5k Run
Lake O Pines - a lake I had
fished twice in my former life. Now, a
different me was revisiting the lake to see and do things differently, and to
do different things. After a day of
visiting relatives and hearing how hard and scary this triathlon business
seemed to them, I almost started wondering if I could even complete this event.
It is strange how who you are
around can raise or lower your expectations for yourself.
The sight of the swim buoys leading out into the
open had me a little bit wary. But once
in the water, the fears and possible scary outcomes gave way to pulling water and passing whoever was in front
of me if I could. Yeah, the swim went really
well, and toward the end of the swim, I was passing people on the wave that went
before me. That felt really good.
The bike course came out of
the park, then up over the wing of the dam onto the highway, making for a short
but very steep incline right. The rider
in front of me was either in the wrong gear or did not have the power in his
legs for that steep incline. He and his bike started wobbling as he was barely
moving up the grade. In addition, he had
trouble getting unclipped, and he went down right in front of me. Somehow, I avoided the wreck and negotiated
the incline myself. Several others were
walking bikes up the grade. So, it was good
to get away from the congestion on that incline.
Out on the rolling course, it
was rule-breaker heaven. People were
drafting off each other. People were
riding two or three abreast, talking about their jobs; Automobiles were all over
the course. If someone wanted to draft off a vehicle, not a problem. The last couple of miles took us across the
dam and back for a fast, exhilarating ride to transition.
The run from the transition
was uphill at first. Then it went along
the edge of the lake and back. It was
one of the prettiest run courses I have been on. But it was miserably hot, and I just did not
enjoy the great course as much as I could have on cooler days. I was just trying to survive there. One of the drawbacks to the run course was
the local red volunteer fire truck. That
blubbering diesel must have been added to provide some course obstacles. Seemed that way. His truck belched black, smelly fumes all over
the run course, especially when he stopped here and there to talk to good old boy so and so. It was Texas hot in July, and we were having to run
through diesel fumes: Yeah, tough day! By the time I got to the finish, I
was pretty well cooked.
One of the last runners was
an eighty-year-old man struggling to finish.
In the last quarter mile of this man’s run, he pushed on through blubbering black smoke all from the
fire truck and some other diesels running near the finish. The older finisher just sort of blinked his
eyes and somewhat staggered through the diesel fog to finish. The crowd gave him a huge round of applause, and he certainly deserved it.
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