Who's the Bad Ass of the Week? -- Triathlon Report

I don't like to toot my own horn (o.k., sometimes i do.;)), but this time it's really called for. I think I've earned the Bad Ass of the Week award for completing the Ventura Breath of Life triahtlon yesterday without any training! I am not quite as much of a bad ass as I thought I was. I believed that I could swim 1/4 mile in the ocean, bike 9 miles, and run a 5K without any problem and it would be easy. Well, it wasn't easy.
First of all, the swim was COLD (icey... "my feet and face are going to fall off" type cold) and it was somewhat long. I thought that 1/4 mile would be nothing for me, but about 3/4 of the way to the first buey, I realized that ... "Damn, this is really difficult. I'm not sure I can do this." Then I realized "I'm in the middle of the friggin ocean. I've got no choice." And I just kept swimming. I just repeated... "stroke, stroke, stroke" as I swam. Things improved slightly after that until I passed the second buey and realized that I was farther away from land than I thought and I still had all that way left to swim. I kept repeating my mantra "stroke, stroke, stroke." People were going all different ways around me. There wasn't much to sight to and I couldn't tell if I was bobbing and weaving throughout the ocean or if they were. Also, it seemed like I was in a wave pool or a swim treadmill. I kept swimming, but the land didn't seem to be getting any closer. It was super frustrating. I then realized there was a line of life guards on surf boards leading a yellow shirted path to the shore. I started swimming towards them. "Good job" they yelled as I passed. "You're almost there!" and I was soon (thought not really soon enough) on the shore.

I got on land and started to run through the sand... quite challenging after such a swim... and started stripping off my wet suit as I ran. "Monick!" I heard my name and saw my cousin Alex running towards me. "What are you doing here?" we asked one another. "I'm here to watch a friend," he said. As I grabbed the flip flops I'd left on the path he came up to me. I stopped. "Wow, I didn't know you were doing this race!" "Yeah." He seemed like he wanted to chat, but the clock was ticking. I looked towards the transition area. I looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, I've got to run." "Oh yeah right. You do your thing, girl." "Thanks!" I yelled as I ran towards the transition.

My sister Cookie and Ilyse's family were waiting with cameras in hand as I ran towards the transition area. "Where's Ilyse?" My sister called out. I shrugged and said "She's coming, I guess." I lost her as soon as we hit the water. I then smiled for the camera and ran for my bike. Ilyse followed soon after and I waited in the transition area for her to finish. We had decided beforehand that we would try to do the race together. She finished getting ready and we were off on our bikes.

The bike leg is our favorite part of the race and we felt confident as we started out. "This should be no problem," I thought as we sped down the path. We passed many people and some people passed us. As we rode, I kept waiting for the turn-around. I figured it would come "any minute now." We then passed a 5 mile marker. "What?" I heard Ilyse say behind me. "I thought this was 9 miles." "Yeah, me too! I hope we didn't get on the path for the olympic triathlon!" We kept going and going. I thought we were never going to turn around. About a mile and a half later we did.

As we rode back Ilyse said "at least we only have a 2 mile run." "It's not 2 miles, it's a 5K ... 3.1 miles." "No, I read on the website it was 2 miles." "I don't think so."

When we finally got back to the transition area, we asked a woman in our row "how long was that bike ride? Wasn't it supposed to be nine miles?" She laughed "That was 12.7 miles." "How about the run?" Ilyse asked. "It's 3.1 miles. It's a 5K," she said and off she ran. Ilyse looked slightly crestfallen. "It's not that bad," we said as we started running. Our legs felt like jelly.

A little into the run, Ilyse told me to go ahead and run in front of her. She is a bit slower than me and was going to run/walk. I started running. Again, I felt a little bit like I was on a treadmill. My legs felt like lead. My shins were killing me as were my achiles, my feet and basically everything below my waste. I started a new mantra "step, step, step" and I kept moving. It felt like a really, really long run but eventually I saw the finish line. As I came around the bend, I sprinted towards it. Who knew that burst of energy was in me? Oh yeah! I deserve the Bad Ass of the Week Award. Well, at least I should tie with Ilyse.


Ilyse and I at the triathlon.