Super sprint triathlon

I participated in the Chicago Super Sprint triathlon today and had a great time! I had a lot of questions going in (Q. where do I put my glasses while I’m swimming? A. The special needs table. Q. How do I get from the water to the bike? A. Run – barefoot! Q. Where do I put my goggles and swim cap after the swim? A. In my bike space in the “transition” area.) and now I feel like I understand the whole routine a lot better. I have a new appreciation for not only the physical demands of sporting events, but the organizational and mental challenges! No wonder Ryan Lochte had some errors of judgment, it’s hard work out there! Joking / not joking!

Packet pickup happened yesterday after work, at the Hilton downtown. Little did I know that as a part of packet pickup they would write my age huge in sharpie on my calf! It felt really weird to walk out of there and across the loop, on the el, and home through Wicker Park with my age written on my calf. Talk about feeling exposed!

Prep this morning included adding “tri tats” to my arms – those are my race numbers.

At the swim start point before the race. This morning started out pouring rain but it cleared up for our 10am start. I feel bad for the kids who participated – their races started at 7! Apparently they did a great job despite the rain.

Low clouds! I met a fellow triathlete from Miami before the race, and she was cold in the 75 degree air temperature and worried about the cold of Lake Michigan (which at 68 degrees didn’t feel cold to me!) even though she was wearing a wetsuit. I did tell her I’d just been at Daria beach and the Atlantic Ocean felt like a bathtub there! She said they like it warm 🙂 Not sure what made her sign up for the Chicago triathlon!

Eagle eyed readers may be thinking, isn’t Cindy 47? Yes! But race rules say that you go by the age you are on Dec 31, 2016.

New swim cap in silver for my wave. You get assigned a number and a wave. Again, it’s very complicated! Here I am wearing goggles on the beach because I’ve already surrendered my glasses to the special needs table and I need the prescription goggles to see!

Sarah met us at the beach (and took a lot of these photos!) and also brought along a poster and cowbell to cheer me on. Thanks, Sarah! The other side of the poster was encouraging too 🙂

After the swim, John got this video of me running out of the water and toward transition: https://youtu.be/pLszEGEIVGE

“Transition” is a huge part of a triathlon. It’s this big area that only the “athletes” (that’s what we all get to be called) can go. Racks are numbered with race numbers, and each athlete has a place to put his/her bike. I’m not really visible in this picture but you can get the idea. After the swim you run out of the water, across the beach, through the parking lot and into transition. After getting all ready for the bike, you walk/run your bike out of transition to the bike start.

The bike component! The super sprint is a very modest distance, .23 miles swim, 6.2 miles bike and 1.5 miles run, so people were pretty relaxed and enjoyed it.

This gentleman wore a suit! and rode a Divvy, one of our city rental bikes. There was a Divvy component, with 100 Divvy riders this year. John and Sarah also saw a bride on a divvy in the race.

After the bike there was the running component, and I found that the hardest part. For next year I definitely need to work on my running, and also practice cycling for several miles then running. It was hard to get my legs to run after being on a bike! The first half was hard and I walked some, but the second half was much easier. And at the end – a participation medal! Whoo hoo! Also water, towels and bananas. My goal was to finish in the middle of my age group and I did – 33 out of 66!