Hyannis Sprint Triathlon: A second chance
People around me know that my first triathlon (Lowell, MA, 2007) left me with mixed feelings. It was an accomplishment (especially for someone who reached the age of 30 not knowing how to swim), but it was rather frustrating. The majority of the participants in that race were fairly serious triathletes, who left me behind by so much that by the time I crossed the finish line the clock had already been put away —a pretty rude gesture from the organizers, considering that my time, after all, was a fairly decent time.
My experience yesterday, in Hyannis, was much better. It was a friendlier race, and a race with many more participants. I should say, a race with many more relaxed participants. It was a wave start, which had the effect of mixing slow and fast people all along the course. The obnoxious triathletes who are only concerned about proving that they are better than the rest, and who “make fun” of you out loud when they pass by you on the road (”Nuh, nuh, nuh… you need to work on those biking skills”), probably hate wave starts. To me, though, it was a great way to make me feel just “one more triathlete” on the course. And I enjoyed the race.
I just checked the results, and I am very happy. Clearly, my strenght is running, but I was happier to see that I did pretty well, relative to my own expectations, in the swimming leg.
The best part was that we had like three vacations days in one (do I need to say “as usual”?): race in the morning, bike ride with two beaches in the afternoon (Olesya’s first ride with her new bike), and visit to Provincetown in the evening (with Nilay and her parents). What a day. Not to mention the day after, with bad weather, but nice company (first in Hyannis, with Nilay and her parents, then in Falmouth, with Catalina, Beto and Alfredito).
With trips like this, I want to be a triathlete for many years.