John Tanner Sprint Tri

My first tri back in the States was really only part of a tri, since my friend Sharon ran the run leg for me, since I'm still not able to run. I go to the orthopedist tomorrow to see what the dealio is - I'm pretty sure this is a stress fracture - so that'll mean no running for a while. But I really wanted to do this race so Sharon stepped up for me, which was awesome, especially considering the race conditions... far from ideal!

The race was held a the John Tanner State Park, in Carollton, GA, which is about an hour away (directly west) from Atlanta. The race was at 8 am and we were meant to register by 7 am, so we left Atlanta at 5am to get there by 6 - 6:30. It's good that we left a little time, cause it was thunderstorming like crazy the whole way west. There was a crazy storm heading towards Atlanta yesterday morning and we got all of it on the drive out. THer was also a heap of lightening (hard to have a thunderstorm without lightening,,,) and I was worried we were going to drive all that way and have the race called for the weather, since the swim was in a lake. Sharon listened to my early morning inanities and ramblings (well, at least she pretended to listen) on the way out and was supportive when we hit the stormiest part at about 5:45 - couldn't see more than 5 feet in front of the car! The bikes were nice and clean by the time we got to the park.

The race was really well organized and smoothly run, despite the rain and terrible conditions! I'd switched from my individual registration to the team registration only this week, so had to do some last monute paperwork, but it all worked out and we were getting ready to go.

The weird thing about this tri (and probably all US tris) is that there is a weight class (Clydesdales for the men, and Athenas for the women). There was actually a scale at the registration to check their weight (200+ for males, 145+ for females). I just find that strange, and technically that makes me an Athena, but I'll be damned if I ever weigh in for a 'fun' triathlon. What the heck? The little research I've done makes me think that this is just a separate category, but that most people actually register in their AG (age group) category and race against everyone else, rather than just against the other Clydesdales/Athenas. And for USAT (USA Triathlon) Nationals, you have to qualify in AG, and then there are awards for Clydesdales/Athenas within the AG categories, so why would you race in that category anyway? All very strange to me... and such a thing so does not exist in Australia! (at least as far as I know!)

The other stand-out thing to me was the national anthem and the prayer before the race started. WHile hearing the national anthem was great, I'm just not sure it needs to be before every event ever done. Is it sung before youth soccer games on the weekend? This was just a fun tri, not a qualifier, or a regional, or something on a larger stage.. where you might expect the national anthem. This was followed by a prayer for the christian athletes. Yes, you read correctly. What the heck? I don't mind people praying on their own (obviously), but to lead the whole crowd in a prayer seemed inappropriate to me. I'd bet the crowd is not as homogenous as one might think, even in rural Georgia. My liberal sensibilites were tweaked by the prayer, just because it was exclusionary even while pretending to be inclusive.

The swim went weel (600m) - the lake was warm, so I didn't wear a wetsuit, and even though I was in the last wave to go (all teams and novices), I still had a good swim. The water was really nice actually, and my watch said just over 12 minutes, although my chop time was 13:13. On to T1, through the rain and up a muddy hill. Got on the bike (11.2 miles) after having to re-poke a new hole in my race number which I stepped on as I was putting on y race belt and tore the existing hole. The bike was good, I felt really strong - 37 minutes by my bike computer (the timing system for the bike wasn't working cause of the rain, so no official split time for that leg). Came flying back into T2 (I remembered how to dismount out of my shoes like I used to do!) and quickly put the chip and race belt on Sharon who kicked ass and took names on the run (3.1 miles, 23:58) for a total race time of 1:19:11). Not too shabby! I don't run anywhere near as fast as Sharon, even on a good day, so I'm glad she was doing that leg.

We stuffed our faces with bananas, oranges and chocolate chip cookies, I iced my knee, and then we headed back to Atlanta, just in time to catch the next thunderstorm cell as it rolled through and took out the power at my house! It rained all day long. Today (Sunday) was gorgeous, of course!