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Flora-Bama Mullet Man
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Flora-Bama Mullet Man - TriathlonSprint
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 Swim
What would you do differently?: Get over this ^*&#$@@ swim issue.  Transition 1
Comments: T1: Uneventful but coulda been quicker. It helped being cheered on by “GatorJamie’s Road Crew” – as designated by Heather, who had brought blue Dri-Fit shirts for herself and our friends and pre-marked them. What would you do differently?: Learn to get into shoes on bike  Bike
Comments: This was a pretty straightforward out-and-back along the Gulf coast. There was a nasty bridge over Perdido Pass near the beginning and end. It was fine on the way out, but hellish on the way back. I could see whitecaps on the Gulf that indicated a kicked-up wind that made its presence known on the way back. I couldn’t tell how fast I was going – somehow my speedometer got dinged in the transition area, but I’ll guess that I averaged 20+ mph out on the smooth, new asphalt roads, and 10-12 coming back. What would you do differently?: Get my fat butt over that bridge into the wind without getting off. Transition 2
Comments: My philosophy is that if you’re over 40 and overweight and love this sport, you’d better have fun. So I declared myself the “MULLET QUEEN,” complete with pink satin sash and tiara, and crowned myself in T2.  Run
Comments: Mullet Queen or not, I was revisited by my old enemy, high ankle pain, immediately on the run. I’ve been working on ways to beat this, but nothing helped that day. My bike time had been so slow on the return that I knew that I wasn’t going to make my goal time of 2:15. I was reduced to a walk. The pain eventually subsided but too late to make up any kind of time when I returned into the headwind on the same course as the bike. What would you do differently?: Get over ankle pain. Post race
Event comments: Still, I managed to finish my longest event yet. I figured that I had finished DFL, so we all packed my gear and went back to the condo to clean up and dive into the first of endless dozens of oysters. Imagine my surprise when we later headed back to the Flora-Bama for post-race liquid-carb-loading and were advised by the event staff that (1) I was not, in fact, DFL, as a 72-year-old man had finished after me, and (2) I finished second in the Masters Athena category! Woo hoo! Luke N. had said to “Bring home hardware!” when we were on a W&OD ride just before I left, and… I did! All in all, a great race. Highly recommended for first timers and serious athletes. There were plenty of both in abundance. I learned some lessons and made some tough decisions based on this race, though. Primarily, I’m going to skip Columbia this year in favor of the Open-Water Swim Clinic held 5/22 in conjunction with the Jim McDonnell lake swims on 5/29. I also need to work on running, build leg strength, and drop a few pounds so that headwinds aren’t as onerous. Next up: Having decided to skip Columbia, I added the Worldgate Sprint this coming Sunday. Though my limiters are what they are, I love that I now have the ability to say, “hey, I’ll do a sprint race this weekend.” Good thing it's in a pool. Last updated: 2005-04-27 12:00 AM
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 2005-04-27 3:08 PM |
Extreme Veteran  414  Reston, VA |  Subject: Flora-Bama Mullet Man |
| 2005-04-27 3:20 PM in reply to: #149096 |
Veteran 166 Alabama | Subject: RE: Flora-Bama Mullet Man Awesome race report Jamie!! I love it! I choose to do the Emerald Coast Sprint Tri in Panama City instead of the Mullet Man, both were on my calendar for a long time. I love the "mullet Queen" tiara and sash comments. There are several of us around that no matter the conditions continue on with the tiara in place and the parade wave to all! Again, great race congrats to you!! Kristi |
| 2005-04-27 3:33 PM in reply to: #149108 |
Extreme Veteran 414 Reston, VA | Subject: RE: Flora-Bama Mullet Man Thanks, Kristi! I'll do one of the Emerald Coast races next year or the year after. Why did you choose that one over MM? |
| 2005-04-27 4:06 PM in reply to: #149096 |
Extreme Veteran 401 Plant City, Florida | Subject: RE: Flora-Bama Mullet Man Great race ....way to perservere through the change in swim and the high ankle pain....all I can say is how cool to bring home hardware....GO GATORS!!! |
| 2005-04-27 7:32 PM in reply to: #149096 |
Master 1480 Plant City, FL | Subject: RE: Flora-Bama Mullet Man YEAH!! You survived the swim!! Congrats!! |
| 2005-04-28 8:40 AM in reply to: #149240 |
Extreme Veteran 414 Reston, VA | Subject: RE: Flora-Bama Mullet Man |
| 2005-04-28 10:00 AM in reply to: #149096 |
Master 1741 Boston | Subject: RE: Flora-Bama Mullet Man Hey GatorJamie: What a fun race to do- I had heard of it when I was living in Gainesville...but never entered. Congrats to you for finishing- that's what it's all about. Way to make us Gators proud!  |
| 2005-04-28 3:57 PM in reply to: #149096 |
Master 1551 Virginia Beach, VA | Subject: RE: Flora-Bama Mullet Man Great race Mullet Queen!! |
| General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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Sunny
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = Masters Athena
Age Group Rank = 2/2
When I saw that the infamous Flora-Bama Lounge and Package Store was sponsoring an annual sprint triathlon called the “Mullet Man,” I just had to enter. For anyone who doesn’t know, the Flora-Bama is a beachfront dive bar on the Gulf Coast that sits on the Florida-Alabama state line. “Mullet” are the fish that jump and scoot along the Gulf and bay surfaces, not the haircut, though there were plenty of both in attendance. But hey, a tri that starts and ends at a bar? Sounds perfect for a slow, fat triathlete like me, so I entered the Masters Athena division. Heather and I packed up my bike, our gear, and Farley into the Element and headed south. I grew up in nearby Panama City, so this would be a nice homecoming treat.
Although we had been forewarned about post-hurricane damage, I was still shocked on arrival. It still looks awful near the beach. It had been tough to find (1) a condo (2) near the Flora-Bama (3) that was open before Memorial Day (4) that accepts 85-pound puppies, but we were lucky to stay in deluxe quarters in The Pass. We joined by The Squaw, my fun friend from Orlando who earned her name due to her allegiance to the FSU Seminoles. We brought a blender, she brought a blender, and there was a blender in the condo. There was no shortage of frozen blender drinks fit for a Masters Athena.
But first, the race. The swim was originally supposed to be a 400-yd swim in a brackish estuary across the street from the Flora-Bama. However, when picking up packets on Friday night (it was a rare Saturday race), we were told that the swim was moved to the Gulf due to high bacteria counts in the lagoon. That, and the fact that there were still trailers, appliances, homes, and goodness-knows–what else in there. I had taken a brief trial run in my wetsuit that afternoon, and it was scar-ee.