Well I Finished...And I Didn't Die...And I Didn't Come In Last

This is me after the 1/3 mile swim. I am raising my arms in victory...
not because I'm telling them "I surrender"...really. The blue swim hat was mandatory...it was tighter than a chigger's rear end stretched over a boxcar on my head and
I couldn't wait to rip it off. And yes, those are people BEHIND me.

This is me after a grueling 13 miles on the hills outside of Forrest City. So why am I smiling?

Somehow during the swim I pulled or strained a muscle in my right leg, so the 3 mile walk/run turned out to be a 3 mile limping Bataan death march. This smile is real...I was done and I had finished a triathlon!

So I knew I could ride 13 miles and that I could run/walk 3 miles...the only thing was the 1/3 mile swim. On the Monday before this contest, Carmen and I went to Horseshoe and timed it. I was surprised that it only took 20 minutes and that I didn't give up and die.

However, on race day, it didn't look like the guys planting the marker buoys were all that concerned about precise distance so their 1/3 of a mile was farther than what we had measured. No bother...I did it in 19 minutes and 6 seconds.

I then limped up the ramp (my leg was screaming) and got on my bike (after it took 7 minutes to get dry and put on my socks and shoes). My muscle didn't hurt on the bike so the only thing was to get out of Village Creek and ride the hills of the highway for 13 miles. Along the way I passed some people who were out of the race (gave up or had a bike malfunction). I even passed a couple of bike racers (they later passed me in the 3 mile run). So the bike race went very well for me; however, I was surprised to see that my time and average speed were not what I thought they would be. (1 hour and almost 8 minutes)

The walk was not great, but I was bound and determined to finish the thing. I couldn't jog at all (I could barely walk...my time was 52 minutes and change--almost a freakin' hour). When I got to the end I was greeted by the supportive cheers of fellow racers but not of my loving and supportive wife--who chose to sleep in that morning and miss by "big FAT" finish. Oh well, the friend of mine who had talked me into doing the race was there...even though he didn't race himself (wrecked bike).

So, I got a medal for finishing and I feel good about having done that. A lot of folks started but didn't even finish the swim and some finished the swim but then stopped. I'm glad I took it easy in the water. Now, I am currently training for next year so that I can shave off 30 minutes from this year's time...boy, if I could only run that 3 miles!!!

Also, I am gearing up again for the 32 mile Tour de Heart in October. My butt is gonna hurt until Thanksgiving for that one.

Wish me luck. :)

Full race times and results are here... http://www.besttimescct.com/results/Mightymite08.txt I was in the beginner division (three or fewer official USAT races) and I am at the bottom of that. I was 263 out of 265 finishers (I beat two women, so nah). This race was really cool because I wore an RFID (Radio Frequency Tag) on my ankle and it tracked me when I crossed finish lines and transition gates. I would do this race again definitely and I had a lot of fun even though it was hot and I was hurt. Oh well, even Lance Armstrong only has to carry one person's body weight across the finish line...so he's a wuss.