The last triathlon I participated in was the Shinwa (Japan) triathlon in the spring of 2000! Eleven years…oh boy. I still run and swim quite regularly, but I am not sure you could really call it “training,” so when my friend, Richard, suggested that we compete in a standard distance triathlon I hesitated – but not for long. We also managed to get our school’s Athletic Director, Mike, to join us.
Since the beginning of this term a group of us began training in the pool every Monday night. We also continued with our regular runs (3 or 4 times/week). Cycling is definitely my weak spot, but I did manage to fit in about 3 longer rides before race day. The lead-up to the race was fun and it gave us a goal to aim for. We often joked that we were experimenting to see how little real training we could get by with!
So, this past Friday we drove four hours north to Chiang Saen. Saturday was spent picking up our race kits, attending a pre-race briefing, resting and just hanging out. Saturday evening Sean, Siarra, Kai, Richard, Mike, Mike’s wife Karrie and I shared a nice meal in the hotel restaurant, followed by early bedtime. We had had a 6.8 earthquake here in Thailand on Thursday followed 2 hours later by a 4.8. The epicenter was reported to have been on the Burmese/Myanmar border, very near Chiang Rai. As a result, our sleep was disturbed on both Friday and Saturday nights by after-shock tremors. Nothing serious, but a little scary nonetheless.
Sunday morning was quite overcast – perfect race weather! As you’ll see in the iMovie, we swam in the Mekong river. Yuck! Enough said. Otherwise it was a nice course and Mike, Richard and I were all pleased with our results. Mike even won a bit of prize money for coming in 5th in his age category. I was 6th out of 12…and I can live with that! As I told Kai when he asked me if I’d won, for me winning was crossing the Finish line. And the best moments of the race were each time I came around a corner and saw Sean and the kids cheering me on with great enthusiasm.
It was a great weekend.
