T1: 15 mins, 22 sec.
"Don't be hasty".
This time started once I crossed the arch at the boat dock and continued all the way to the mount line on the bike course. It's a somewhat long T1 time, and here's why.
One the way to T1, the wetsuit was peeled off. This took awhile, I couldn't get myself to stop moving since I wanted to keep running. Once I stopped I got a little woozy (Imagine swiveling your head straight ahead t0 right to ahead to right to ahead to right for 100 minutes...that was my swim...). The peelers has some trouble getting me to sit and put my feet up for them to pull. I kept trying to help which only hindered their efforts. Soon enough--the suit was off. Now off to the Terrace building to change clothes.
A unique feature of this race is the run up the helical parking ramps. They wind up 2-3 full circles on a slow incline lined with spectators. I thought this would be a struggle after the swim but I bebopped right up. On the way I saw Rich and gave him a big wet hug. One more turn and there was my family!! Mom seemed to be crying?!? This left my crying a bit too, but so happy to see them! The hard part was done for me! Now the fun stuff!
Once to the building, I was guided to my #2 gear bag. A volunteer called my number out and another volunteer grabbed it for me. Smooth efficiency. I grabbed my bag and ran off to women's changing. This room had rows of chairs for us to sit on. A volunteer followed me to a chair and she stayed with me the entire time.
I had worn my swim suit under the wetsuit, with the plan of completely changing my outfit for the bike ride. USAT has strict rules against public nudity, so the idea of being entirely naked during a race has a weird thrill to it. "Are you serious, I can do this?" I ask the volunteer. "Sure, look around you", she says. Sure enough. Naked everywhere. So off the suit goes (sorry readers, but if you havent figured it out already I'll remind you again. Triathletes seem to spend a lot of time talking and thinking about bodies and body functions. You get a new level of body comfort after a few years). And the new clothes came on: tri shorts, sports bra, cycling jersey. My volunteer helped with every step.
I was hurrying for no reason, so I kept saying "I need to slow down". In fact, I pulled out my index note card, on which I wrote "Don't be hasty". No need to hurry here, just get everything together, and savor the experience. Soak it in. I looked around a bit to watch other athletes. What a scene!
My wonderful volunteer (why didn't I get her name?!) was so patient and so helpful. She handed me everything one by one, and she seemed to understand what I needed to do. I was probably the 100th person she'd helped that morning, and I commented that she must have seen about everything already this morning and that nothing I'd do could surprise her. She laughed and nodded.
Halo headband on, gloves on, Garmin on , tissues in back pocket, gloves off because I forgot chamois butt'r. My volunteer offered to put this on for me. Although I promised I'd revel in the IM experience, I didn't want my volunteer rubbing body lube on my butt!! Again, it was a weird thrill to be have your hand down your pants rubbing lub on your crotch area in public. But given the choice between that and pain at mile 50, easy choice!! Wipe hands on towel, gloves back on, forgot HR monitor so put that on, helmet, shoes, no not the shoes carry those out instead. Arm warmers? No, another volunteer said, it's warm you should be OK. I tucked them in a back pocket instead. Wow, did I have everything? I took a minute to look around again. Still quite the scene.
I was ready to go! Thanked my volunteer for the umpteenth time and ran out. Time to find Frea and saddle up for 112 miles!
One the way out, I came across the sunscreen volunteers. They had vats (seriously, vats) of sunscreen that they would dip their hands in and just cover athletes to the point of white skin. Did I want sunscreen? Sure! I want the whole experience! So I was patted and globbed up with sunscreen as requested. They were having so much fun doing it, how could I refuse?
Next stop the portapotty. Good, I was hydrated! On the way to the bike, I noticed that my Garmin watch still hadn't sync'd with the GPS satellites. I turned it off and on again, hoping to help it along. This had worked in training. Being in the building had blocked its signal but now I was in open air. At the bike, I paused a bit. A volunteer grabbed Frea to hand her to me, but I held off. I needed to get the other GPS tracking device on my waist. I took my time, again, what's the rush? GPS tracker on, GPS watch still thinking about it. Don't wait just go.
I had a long jog with the bike to the mount line. It was a walk/jog really, it's hard to jog in bike shoes! At one point I stopped to get a rock out of my shoe, no need to have that bothering me for 112 miles! Finally the mount line. By now the Garmin watch had located the GPS satellites. I was ready!! Hop on and RIDE!
SUMMARY: I could have gone faster, but why. I needed to have everything together for the next 6-7 hours of racing. I did the right thing by waiting for my dizzyness to subside and taking time to prepare. By the time I hopped on the bike, I was fully ready.
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