First Oly, done!

Fantastic. Times look good. I'm looking forward to reading the race report.

awesome awesome awesome! that is fantastic! you are an inspiration!!!!!

Nice job! Finishing an OLY must feel great!!!

Tony

My race report will be for the Quadrathlon.
I created an entire event in itself at T1. I hate T1.

Hey Ellen!!!! Yes, I am a pilot, but not really Type-A. It's what I do for work to help pay the mortgage. Had I any real appreciable skills, I'd have gotten out of the profession years ago.....but i digress. It was great meeting you, your great personality is everything I'd expected after reading your posts here!

Feels great to finish that first Oly, huh? Great race, awful heat and humidity. Indeed, the run felt like a death march.

Still no official times last I checked, but my swim *when* I hit the split button a quarter way up those damn stairs it read a little more than :25. Don't recall where timing mats were located because I wasn't paying attention - were they at the bottom of the stairs coming out of the water? I thought it was waaaaay tooo hot for me to be wearing a full suit today. The water felt very warm.

T1 as usual, a 3-ring circus for me. It began with getting my wetsuit stuck around my ankles FOREVER (one day I am going to tear my wetsuit to bits getting out of it). 4th time wearing this thing, and it's not getting easier. First time using my new road bike - I am used to using my mountain bike, and the way I used to hook the handlebars onto the bike rack, I can pretty much just easily unhook it and go. Weeelllll.......with the new bike, it's brake levers hook around the pole much more, and when I was ready to go, I tried to pull it off the rack like I'd have done with the other bike. NICE!!!! Nope! Dragged the entire rack about a foot. There were 3 other bikes on the opposite side of the rack - thank goodness they didn't fall down! As I begin to leave, something made me look down. When I did look down, I saw my timing chip and strap lying on the grass. NOOOOOOOO!!!! Sonofab!tch. Total time in T1 was over 5 painful minutes. Hey, it's my first season.........................LOL

I saw Ellen's husband Mike on the twice on the bike and run as he volunteered out on the course - he's great! Gotta love volunteers with alot of spirit! I forgot to say thanks to him, and to Mark for doing the bottle handup, could you make sure you pass on the word?

I guess the bike for me was ok. "Flat" to me here, still is rolling hills in my book. 1 hr 25-ish, maybe about a 17.5 mph rate? Honestly, I'm deathly afraid of speed if I don't have metal enclosed around me and a seatbelt. Hence my bike performance. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Maybe next year I'll get over my irrational fear (and actually train more on a bike LOL).

T2 was uneventful. About 1min 48 sec. Except I had no initial clue where the RUN OUT was. Took a couple seconds and a few double takes, but all went well. (Talk about situational awareness!);

The run was like I said DEATH MARCH. More water was poured on me than ingested. 10K by my oh so accurate timing says 1hr 33 sec. I seriously doubt that's correct....because I know I wasn't running sub 10-min miles. I was dragging some serious butt. It's hard to run when your shoes are melting onto the pavement....you know how it is!

But all in all I had a great time, and Cranberry Country Triathlon is a beautiful New England course, the post-race chow was awesome (I hit the Baskin Robbins ice cream truck twice), the race director did a great job, and the traffic control was wonderful. AND we got colored T-shirts (cranberry, no less). No lipstick

So I met Glen (Hi Glen!) but missed Max. Was he the one with the Softride and nice smile?

Well, congrats to both of you! Sorry about your T1 girl pilot; just think about your improved times next year.

OMG, your T1 sounds like so much fun......NOT! I was shocked when I got there to see all those bikes still there. They are usually looong gone by the time I get there. Being in the first wave was such a treat.

The run was definately a death march. You looked pretty damn good when you passed me tho.

I'm sorry I didin't get to introduce you and Max, definately next time. The guy with the great smile and Softride is some I know from our local track club. He did IMLP in 11:57.

official times are up now. I'm off to look at yours, Max's, and Glen's, then I am going to bed! Please pass the ibuprofin......

Actually I didn't think it was too bad. Yucky nonetheless, but comparatively speaking, not too bad. At least at the shallow parts you could see something on the lake bottom. During the swim, I couldn't touch the bottom, but then for a <5'4" person, my arm span isn't that great either.

My first tri's swim was in the dark Ashland Reservoir, followed by some NH pond for Mooseman (at some parts the vegetation came at you like octopi) , and then another hideous pond at Camp Yomechas.

Perhaps I am just getting used to swimming in disgusting and murky water!

it was pretty gross, huh? I was trying so hard not to get a mouthful of it because I thought I'd be sick as a dog if I did. I did have some stomach cramps on the run tho.

Oh, and the OTHER thing kicking my ass, I forgot to tell you, or was too embarrassed to before, but I've been doing some full-contact painting this past week. That means Mike leaves gear (the closet shelf) in the middle of the room, and even tho it's as plain as the nose on my face, I trip over it. Yes, it was trashed, but so am I. At first I thought I punctured a lung or broke some ribs, because it hurt to breathe for a few hours. Before I went to bed I could see the bruises starting to show up......from the middle of my chest all the way to my waist, right along my ribs. That was friday and I am still bruised and swollen. So of course that's the only place I was kicked in the water today, right in the ribcage. I sure could feel it by the time I got to the run.....as if my running isn't bad enough! Good thing I don't make a living painting......I'd starve!

And speaking of starving....I feel as if I could eat a horse today! LOL

Max, next time we do the same race, definitely we gotta meet.

I had considered cutting off the bottoms of my legs after I bought it. I was afraid that it would compromise the stuctural integrity of the seams (but I suppose not since they are glued/fused?). I'm swimming in an Ironman Instinct, if you are familiar, are your seams similar?

And about the PEEING!! I've peed in my diving wetsuit, but only in the water!! Did you pee while you were on land? LOL That is too funny. I haven't gotten up the nerve to pee in my tri wetsuit yet because I'm afraid my shorts underneath will itch and smell like pee when they dry! LOL You da man.

Another friend of mine, also who started in your wave, got pee-pee and butt naked out of his bike shorts into running shorts in the transition......anything goes I guess!

you know the saying.....Just Do It!

OUCH Ellen!

Yeah, I got a few good kicks too trying to go between swimmers. Those girls weren't playing around....hey where are the race results? I don't see them on the CCT website or on coolrunning.

Well, does it itch and/or stink? I gotta know.

Ellen? Similar experience and self-disclosure?

it's on coolrunning, just not easy to find:  http://www.coolrunning.com/results/04/ma/Aug29_3rdCra_set1.shtml

who knows?  I had so much itch and stink going on it's hard to tell what it's from.   Ok, I don't think it's from pee tho.  I probably went three times while in the water.  Did ya really want to know that?  LOL  I had so much coffee and water by that time, oh well.  Gotta do what you gotta do!

Well, Max.. next year is always there. Hope to see you someday!

I found my way to the results, thanks for the link Ellen.

Ovetta, I'm so glad you feel my pain.....OK enough T1 drama, I didn't spend as much time in it as I'd calculated. :49 seconds less. And I suppose it is possible for me to have run that 10k averaging sub 10-min/mi.

But this whole urine thing! Yes, TMI but I need to know what I can get away with!!! Its life and death, mano-a-mano. McGyver-rigging all the equipment. Whatever's necessary.

Fantastic! Love the re-caps of the race...very funny And inspiring...can't wait to be able to post my first tri experience here! Y'all did great!