An Olympic Experience

I DID IT!!!! Nobody (at least in my

family) thought I could, and I

DID!! Oh, “it” is the NYC Triathlon Hip Hip Hooray! Ok, ok, it was on Sunday July 26, and it’s now August 6^th, I think,

but we are taking a very, very long road

trip home. Sorry for the delay, here’s the race report:

It was the longest distance I have done before, and to be honest I was kind of nervous, and so were my mom and dad, but I think my brother could have cared less! It was a little less than a mile swim, a 25 mile bike, and a 6 mile run, or in simpler words, an Olympic distance triathlon.

On Wednesday, July 22, my mom, dad, brother, my dogs and I piled in the car for the nice LONG trip! We dropped off the dogs with their real Mom, had lunch with a good good friend, Magda, and went toBirmingham, where we would spend the night with my mom’s parents, I love them, and there great big sweet German Shepherds. Then on Thursday it was off to Nashville to drop my mom and brother off at the regional swim meet. On to D.C. to spend the night with some friends, and it started lightning and thundering like a disco. To make the story short we got to NY safely, and then spent the night at my grandma’s house.

Now, really, the Race Report…

O n Sunday morning we woke up at 2:55, and I went to the bathroom (I was very happy about that so I wouldn’t have to go in a Porta-Potty—read about Atlanta if you want to see how important this is to me)! Then I ate some banana, and we were off. If you have never been on the street of NYC at 3:30 in the morning, it is VERY easy to get a taxi. 15 minutes later we were at my transition (my dad and I were separate), and the security man told us that transition opened at 4:30 not 4:00 so we would have to wait for a while. While waiting we met an 80 year old man who was doing the whole race, and he looked like he was only 60 and maybe even younger. I was so impressed and I hope that when I am 80 I can do triathlons!!

At the race start, we got body marked, and then we put our finisher bags into the truck. I kept having to go back to the truck, because at first I forgot to put my flip flops into the bag, and then I forgot to tie up the top, but luckily the volunteers did it for me! Then we went, and put on our wet suits, which I HATE doing, one because it hurts, and two because it is hard. We learned from the wetsuit instructions, that if you put a plastic bag on your foot, that the wetsuit just goes right on up your leg, or you can be like Big Chloe, and spray Pam all over yourself. Then in my corral for the swim start I met Regina Chiu (sorry about spelling!!) one of my blogging buddies. This is amazin

g because there are SO many people. NYC Tri is huge – 3700 people. But I was ok because it is so well organized. And that makes a difference so you don’t have to worry about anything.

I think that this race was the hardest swim start even though it was a wave start!! When you get down to the dock to swim in the Hudson, you jump in, and hold on to a rope, so you don’t get carried away by the strong strong current. I totally felt the current when I jumped in, and then this man ( my wave was 24 and under, and also relays) jumped almost on top of me. Then the horn sounded, and I was kicked and swam on top of, yuck, but I know it happens to all of us!

The swim was fine and not as bad as everyone joked it would be. Nothing yucky in the water at all! Then after the swim I had to run a MILE to transition, and I wish that it counted for the 6 mile run later, but unfortunately it didn’t.

My first transition time was SUPER slow, I had a time of like 7 minutes, and I have no idea why it was that slow, but oh well!

Then bike was cool – they closed down the highway for us. But for me 25 miles is a long way without music or just talking to someone, and I got really bored. And my foot kept falling asleep, and it really hurt! The

hills weren’t so bad (we have none to train on). And, every time I passed or got passed by a man I would hear a couple of bad words, and I don’t know if20it was because of my age or what, but I definitely wasn’t imagining those words). I saw my dad at mile 20, and he asked if I was ok, and I was, so he breezed past me like I wasn’t moving at all. I was super happy that it took him all the way til mile 20 to catch me even though he started like 10 minutes behind me, and I totally think that Heed helped me through the bike, it tastes better than any other sports drink, and I think it works better also!

My second transition was a whole lot better, it only took me like 1:45 to switch.

I was most worried about the run, but it was my favorite part. We went through Central Park and it was awesome. The first 1.5 miles people were cheering, and there were so many people! The whole run I felt like I was just breezing through it! Mile 4 was the hardest, because I knew that I was more that halfway through, but I still had 2 miles to go, and 1mile is ok, but TWO… Then the last mile there were people and people and people just cheering, and that helped so much! I finished with a time of 3:34.

This was the best race ever! I was in NYC, which is great and exciting, I did it all by myself, and I’m proud of my time.

I even got to be on the front page of the local papers’ sports section. here is the article if you are interested…. http://www.newsherald.com/sports/chloe-76396-mile-directed.html

Pretty cool, huh?! So sorry that it took me 2 ½ weeks to post this, but my family and I are on a m

ajor road trip, and we haven’t had Internet connection for the longest time, and I can’t post pictures until I get home ( hopefully will be home soon), so be sure to keep checking back!

Thanks for reading!

P.S. my mom had a Scott bike,and it was malfunctioning, so she got a brand new one for the price of....

NADA!! Crazy huh!? The Scott people just gave my mom the Scott Plasma! The brand new one! The deal is that if I can out bike her on my bike, then I get to get hers! Here is a picture...