Chocolate and Chilliness: My Dilettante Women's Triathlon Recap

Ahem.

Is this thing on?

I cannot believe it is September.  This summer has been ridiculously busy. Work, training, and travel have left me with little energy to draw.  And I want to give you the best bang for your proverbial buck so it takes time.  Plus, I'm kind of totally a perfectionist. So, now that it's almost fall, I'm ready to start talking about my summer races!  Sorry it has taken so long.

In June, I got to do the Dilettante Women's Triathlon.  I was fortunate enough to be a race ambassador, which gained me free entry.  I had a discount code to offer my readers!

But it turned out all the people I knew who were interested in the event were race ambassadors too!

Only for the fact that I didn't get to share my discount code.  I was totally happy they were going to be there!  

The morning of the race, TriGuy and I drove to the location and only got somewhat lost trying to get there.  I got into the transition area and prepared to rack my bike.  A lot of ladies were doing the race with friends and wanted to be side by side.

Ermmmkay then.  I think tensions may have been a bit high.

Once I squeezed my way into my spot, I hung out with fellow runner/blogger/ambassador Kerrie while we waited for our swim start.  We chatted about all kinds of things.

Actually we did talk quite a bit, and I found out that, along with being a speedy and amazing runner, Kerrie was quite an accomplished swimmer.

*Non-sequitur*  You may have noticed our swim caps, but if not, here is a closeup:

The reason for this was not some new-fangled triathlon fashion trend, but an attempt to keep on what were surely the largest swim caps ever made.

In. Sane.

When I actually did get in the water, I'm not sure what my problem was, but I felt very sluggish throughout the swim.  For only 400 metres, the buoys seemed really far away.

Once the swim was over I meandered over to T1, where I have perfected the art of struggling for as long as possible to get out of my wetsuit.

Having uselessly burned about 1,000 calories on the wetsuit removal, I was ready to get on my bike for my first non-trainer ride since my race last July. Luckily, I hadn't forgotten how it felt to ride it!  The course was pretty straightforward, other than the hill at the end.  Oh, did I mention we had to go around it twice?

There were plenty of volunteers and police officers directing us though, and I didn't crash once!

However, I did get confused when I got to the first volunteer at the dismount area.

 So I did...and was called at by two other guys to get off my bike immediately.

Finally, it was time for my favourite part, the run.  There were a number of first time racers and it was cool to encourage them.

For some reason there was no course support at the last section of the running route to remind us we had to run around the park before we could finish the race.  So, a few spectators poached an orange cone and made sure we all knew where to go.  TriGuy joined them.

Sadly, there was no chocolate fountain at the end of the race, but there was plenty of chocolate.

For a fairly new race, it was quite well done.  I found it slightly odd that the Olympic distance swimmers had to swim out of the water, "run" around a cone on the beach, then jump  back in the water for the second lap, but since then I have seen other races do the same.  Also, while the course map was on the website, it would have been helpful to have a person on course to remind us to run around the park before the finish line. This was a great race for first-timers, and it offered lots of support during the race.  The swag was nice and the post-race food was delicious!

Overall, I give this race two thumbs up!

P.S. Several of my runner friends did this race, including Kerrie as I mentioned, and Becky.  Two of the "newbies" even won age group awards!  Congrats Lindsay and Robin!

Good thing I'm not the jealous type.

UPCOMING POSTS: MORE RACE RECAPS!

I'm linking up on Yeah Write's Moonshine Grid this weekend! Click on the button and you can share your post, and read some great blogs!