Wild Dog SDT Triathlon Aug 17th 2008

Yesterday Jim, Marie, Cary and I–yes, I did say CARY– did the Wild Dog triathlon.  This was Cary’s first tri and boy did he get indoctrinated on the swim.  This was the hardest swims I’ve ever done.  The wind was making the waves so big that every time you took a breathe, you inhaled sea water.  There were people hanging off of the buoys holding on for dear life!  I say “swim” loosely because there was no swimming going on LOL  How you did all depended on where you were situated and how many people were banging into you!

The guys were in the second wave, so that was good. Unfortunately for Marie and I, we were in the last wave.  There were bodies floating EVERYWHERE!  I hope someone got a picture of it.  Firm also didn’t have enough life guards, so it was pretty hairy.  ANYWAYS, Cary made it through the swim by side stroking to the first buoy.  Which probably turned out to be smarter than trying to swim like I was doing.

The 10+mile bike was nice.  The slight uphill was only in one location, with the headwind, it made it challenging, but a nice change.  It would have been REALLY fast had I not rode 61 miles the day before for my IM training (LOL- very different throwing in a sprint race while training for an IM).  Everyone had a great bike ride.  I was surprised it wasn’t harder to pass people since all 400 people were on the same 3 mile path at once (it was a 3 loop course).  But except for a few spots, it was pretty much go at your pace.

The run was what surprised me the most.  I felt great on the run and ran it the fastest I’ve ever run 3 miles.  So that was nice.  Cary learned that being a fast runner does not make the fastest runner in a triathlon!  He went out of transition too fast, hit the hill with the headwind and never quite caught his breathe until the water stop where he could walk a little and get a sip of water.   Marie also had a great run.

Jim had a great race too and really cranked on the bike.  He also did well on the swim, considering the conditions.

We had a great breakfast afterwards and it was another fun weekend adventure for our group.

Next stop for me is Cranberry next weekend with Doug and Bruno.  Then Pumpkinman with Jim, Marie, Cary (#2 for him), and Kim.  THEN THE BIG KAHONA!! IT’S COMING TOO FAST.. LOL…