Sunset Triathlon: Not Sunny at All

Around 5 am on Saturday, I hurried about shoving my pajamas and toiletries into my duffle bag, grabbed my bike, and opened the door to my hotel room only to reveal a torrential rain storm. Though definitely not ideal race conditions, considering that I had already spent time and money to get to Bridgeton, NJ (well, actually I stayed the night in Millville), and that the race was clearly advertised as a rain or shine event, I figured I might as well go to the race site to see what was what.

The drive there was not particularly fun. I hate driving in the rain, especially since I'm still recovering from the trauma of driving back from my visit with Lauren in Delaware during the huge storm a few weekends ago. But I arrived safely and by the time I did, the weather had cleared up a little. It only sprinkled intermittently in the time between packet pick up and the race start. At the race meeting, the officials announced that they had checked with whatever authorities youre supposed to check with, that the swim was a go, and that the storms would be cleared out within the half hour. One of the race organizers joked that he was going to check with the USAT officials to see if we could get a few minutes off our time for showing up in bad weather.

When we (non-elite women 44 years and younger) stood there in our pink caps waiting to start, the thunder started. And it started raining again. There was lots of yammering about whether we would still be allowed to go, whether there had been lightening, etc. We were the second wave starting five minutes after the first. The aforementioned race official leaned in and said, "Ladies, if you want to know your time, subtract five minutes from the official race clocks. And, if you want to subtract more time, just let me know." Hee. Soon enough, the race started, thunder, rain, potential lightning, and all.

The swim was a good course--basically a straight shot out and back, with calm water. Basically the closest you could get to a pool swim in open water. The bike went fine as well. I was probably more cautious (i.e. slow) than usual (if that's possible) because the ground was slippery in places and my brakes were wet. It was a good scenic route--not how you picture New Jersey, but this was quaint farm country. I rode by a sign next to someones mail box: "Fresh brown eggs--$1.25." I wondered to myself if that meant $1.25 per egg. Whats the going rate for fresh brown eggs? Or, non-fresh brown eggs for that matter? This is the kind of thing I think about during these races.

I was chatting with a woman before the start and we agreed that rain during the swim and the run would be ok, but we were hoping it wouldn't rain during the bike leg. Luckily, that wish was granted and it did not rain at all while I was biking. It did start to rain again lightly during the run. It was a pretty course through the woods and eventually across a baseball diamond (the race is put on each year by a local high school). I even ran by some adorable fuzzy yellow ducklings. About two minutes after I crossed the finish line, the torrential downpour started again. Luckily it was only a one and a half mile walk back to the car in the pouring rain with my bike and all my gear. J

All in all, Im glad I weathered the storm. It was an adventure and the race was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it was the third triathlon in a row where I had to rush back to DC to spend the afternoon and evening working. Everyone cross your fingers that this won't be the case when I do the New York Danskin with the girls in September.

Results: 184/221 overall; 62/88 woman's division
Overall time: 1:58:16; 1/2 mi swim: 17:29; 16 mi bike: 1:02:22; 5k run: 32:41 (note: the run time includes a detour at the port-a-potty). What was that again about getting time taken off for showing up in bad weather?

Race Review: Two thumbs up. Well organized, pretty scenery, flat course, fun and homegrown. Definitely on my list for next year's race season.