Being (nearly) last and what it taught me….

*grab a cup of coffee*👀

Sunday 16th Sept was my 1st and only sprint triathlon of 2018, I had entered three this year but unfortunately injury and fear had ruled me out of the earlier two so I was determined to complete this one.  

I had been thinking of calling this one quits as well, but a couple of things have happened which has spurred me on, I’ll let you one but keep the other one for another time.  A couple of weeks ago I was at my local Hanley parkrun, other pr’s are available, during my usual slog around with fellow runners, I happened mentioned that I was thinking of pulling out of the  Shropshire Tri and Graham said why not just complete it, it will feel much better than not even starting.

He got me thinking, I have said that to many a fellow runners and triathletes when we have been having similar conversations and my other favourite saying is that there are people who would love to be able to participate but can’t for one reason or another so really it is a gift to be fit enough to toe the start time.  It is about completing and not competing

Fast forward to the morning of Shropshire Triathlon, the weather was warm but drizzly, we woke up before the morning had really started with a quick coffee and bite of breakfast we were on our way.  Sean had said he would come along to be my support crew and so I would not feel too alone.  I did have a number of friends participating but they were in the Olympic Distance so would be set off before me.

After parking up the car and walking to registration, we stuck the race numbers in all the right places with not too much fuss and I headed off to transition to rack my bike and set up my area.  The weather started to turn and the rain started to fall, so thought it best to get into my wetsuit to keep warm.  The Olympic distance athletes were in the water and making fast work of their 1500m swim, getting out looking excited to get on their bikes.

They called us down to the water's edge for the pre-race brief, told us to BE CAREFUL on the bike for our course there was a sharp downhill, so remember that this was not the Tour of Britain and to take care, then a quick chat about the swim….which all I remember was buoys, left, buoys, kayaks and sticking your arm in the air…..now to get in to the water.

This is where my nightmare begins sorry to sound so dynamic, but I'm not a great open water swimmer, I am terrible in fact.  There is something about not being able to see very much, then there is something about seeing too much (was that a fish….), not forgetting the other people around you and then the buoys seem to keep moving further and further away. 

After my Blenheim Palace experience I had been getting in open water more and this year I had been to our local lake a number of times and on my last trip in late July I had made it around the full 750 meters.  It wasn't pretty and only managed around 250 of it freestyle the rest was breaststroke.  Due to work commitments and busy weekends, I hadn't been back since, but I had been in the pool (cough, once or twice).

I digress again, we are in the water and it's not as cold as I was expecting, to acclimate and test my goggles I tried a couple of freestyle strokes and all was good to go.  The water was quite shallow the biggest problem was the amount of silt at the bottom, which really put me off putting my feet down and I tried not to think about it too much….gosh those buoys look really far away!!

 Then the countdown started 5,4,3,2,1,GO…..  I managed to swim around 0.75m freestyle and then the panic set in, out and the breaststroke, people were swimming past me.  As I slowly approached the first turn buoy around 350 in, I knew I was near the back of the pack and my next turn buoy seemed so far away…. I kept remembering Graham's words and just keep swimming, determined not to admit defeat and pull the rip cord, I swam on!

All in all I was in the water for near on 30 mins, got beached on the way out of the lake, stumbled on the out ramp and promptly burst into tears. I have to say a BIG thank you to the swim marshal who gave me a big hug and to Sean for telling me that it will all be better when I get out on the bike leg.

Of course, he was right, although it did take me a while to pull myself together. On the bike leg, I thought of the late Francis Hamlet about how he would tell to crack on and Smashit, then about my dad who is, currently going through radiation and chemotherapy and thought if he can do that then I need to suck it up and crack on.

Soon I was heading back in, having made up some places on the bike and ready for the run, which was not going to be pretty with my glute in its current form.

Lovely to see my fellow niteriders on the course both supporting and participating and of course Sean cheering me on despite the awful weather.

Once I had crossed the finish line, got my medal I headed to Sean for a hug and that’s a wrap for my 2018 season as pitiful as it was, so my results:

Pos Swim      Bike         Run         Total
43   00:30:34 00:52:38  00:30:34 02:02:20

But as they say onwards and upwards, more open water practice needed because I’m not stopping just because it’s hard, while life is hard and quitting is not an option.

Here’s to next year and a more happier race report.