Blackfoot Triathlon - Round 3

Yesterday I made my third trip to Blackfoot for the good ole' Pride Days Triathlon. The Pocatello TRI club had quite the showing... about ten of us! So that was cool. I really didn't want to go! I was sick all week coughin' up some serious flem. My lungs were awfully tight... the THREE mile bike ride on Friday just about killed me! But Friday night at the rodeo, we had a kid get really seriously hurt. I rendered the initial care on the kid and it didn't look good by the time I went to bed. So I figured I needed the Blackfoot TRI... to get my head clear!

So off I drove... coughing and all... to Blackfoot for what typically is the most unorganized triathlon in Idaho!!!

When I arrived... HAHA.. the traveling carnival people had taken over the area that was supposed to serve as the transition area. When the race officials arrived (yes.. I beat them there by a good 20 minutes!) the master plan had to be rewritten. Their improvisation was pretty good, I have to admit... we just worked AROUND the carnies' big OLD trucks and even OLDER school bus (of course they were no where to be found!).

A good laugher.... rather than keep track of the number of competitors who showed up at race registration, they had us COUNT OFF (3 times to be exact) so they'd know how many were in the water. They wanted to make sure they didn't lose anyone! haha!

The water was pretty chilly. Some Poky TRI clubbers and I swam Jensen's Grove a couple weeks ago. I thought it was a little colder yesterday. Still... it was a decent swim. I wore a sleeveless wetsuit. I went through the typical "on the verge of panic" about 100 yards in but I eventually calmed down after exhaling really heavily through my mouth in the water. I think I was about the 5th person out of the water. It was by no means a great swim for me... I was pretty stiff and my lungs weren't working too well.... but at least I made it out feeling "okay." Here's a hollar out to that guy who didn't make it out of the water so well... Hope you're feeling better! And keep TRI-ing... just wear a wetsuit! (he had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital after the swim!).

They changed the bike and run routes... for the BETTER! The bike route was great. Pretty much the same route only we cut off about 1.5 miles of it and just headed out on the greenway immediately after the swim. I didn't like the shortness of the course... but the directiion change was MAGNIFICENT! They also had better support at the turns... and thanks to Bob Marcinko, the far turns were covered too!

After a nasty transition in which I was suuuuper dizzy (Barrie put my socks on for me and somebody else - not sure who - held me up from behind or I wouldv'e been down for the count!) I was off on the bike. It took a couple miles before I started understanding where I was and that my legs were not on battery power. I had some G2 in my aerodrink... and took a sip or two at about mile 4. Then I immediately threw up. Not a good idea! But I actually think it helped me feel better! And no... no vomitus on my nice P2C! Sweeet. I labored through the rest of the bike... holding between 19 and 22 mph for the most part. No women passed me... but about 7 guys went sailing by.. including Dean and Johnathan!

T2 was much better. The dizzy spells were gone. Michael's dad took my bike, Bill McNabb made sure I didn't fall... and I actually hustled through and started off on my run!

The run sucked, as usual. I did the ole' run walk run walk thing the whole way. Three women passed me, OF COURSE. So I ended up 5th overall woman and 3rd in my age group. No athena class.

As soon as the race was over, I hugged my Tri clubbers... and off I ran back to Pocatello for the rodeo.... with my mind much more at ease.

By the way, the kid is still in a coma. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

I'm off to St Louis tomorrow morning for a meeting. Then I've got Redfish Tri next week. Maybe.