MightyMan Race Report - Part II

...and so, onto race day.

Not my best sleep, nor my worst sleep, preceded MightyMan. I snoozed well for a few hours before I woke for good, even before the alarm or the back-up call from my mom.

This was probably the first triathlon I'd ever been completely alone during the early morning pre-race hours. Quietly and calmly, I ate a yummy New York bagel, uncrustables sandwich, half banana and some coffee. Part of me felt unsettled; I didn't know what to do with myself. My bags were ready and breakfast was done way before expected.

So, unlike the normal me, I loaded up the car to head out early to the race site. Walking outside, I thought, "Wow, it is not nearly so cold as last night."

Which should have sent up a red flag.

I drove the mile or so to the race site and found parking within a couple of hundred meters of the transition area. So close, that even though the skies were still dark, it was easy to grab my many bags, along with Patriot Sangria, to begin the process of setting up for the day.

Again, with no team mates or friends with me, set-up went by quickly. I was done by 5:30 am. An hour and 14 minutes before my race wave was to start. I listened as the girl next to me, a Nationals Champion, talked about how she hadn't trained for the race. I listened to a nearby guy as he questioned who was or wasn't positioned correctly on the racks. And I listened as another nearby racer shared that rain was now hitting "the city" and heading our way.

What? Sunny, crisp and dry weather had been predicted for the past ten days? This dude had to be wrong. Though the humid warm air quickly went from a welcome surprise to a foreboding warning.

After trying to amuse myself walking around and wasting time, the race director called us all down to the water. From then on, things went by quickly.

There was one wave scheduled before the yellow caps (the old ladies). It was still fairly dark and a bunch of us wondered what the race directors were thinking - sending the old ladies out before it was bright enough to see all the buoys.

With the warmer air temperature, Fort Pond seemed much colder than expected. I swam a few strokes and tried to adjust to the chilliness. And then, we, the old ladies, were off to battle the dark, chilly water (thank goodness it was calm).

In most races, I've positioned myself near the back, Though, with this race and Ironwoman Canada's encouragement, I decided to place myself more in the middle.

For me, there was a notable difference trying to hang "with the pack," even though it was a wave start and there was an 800 cap for the number of racers. Fort Pond was small, so the start resembled an IM race - with folks desperately trying to find an advantage by swimming over each other. It was a good experience, as I tried to balance letting the stronger swimmers go ahead, with holding my own against the rest of the crowd.

I think I positioned myself well, not many yellow caps passed me. I finished the swim feeling strong. I looked at my watch, which said I swam my first sub 40 minute half. Though my swim split was higher, with the timing mat at transition vs. the swim exist. I am not sure if my watch was accurate or if the run to T1 was longer than I thought. T1 seemed to take forever. I wasn't freezing, but worried about the weather predictions. Pulling-up arm warmers on wet limbs was not easy.

Finally, I was heading out of T1. I crossed the mount line. And within minutes of being on the bike course, the rain began to fall.