Buffalo Sprint Tri Complete

The Buffalo Triathlon was on Sunday, June 7. A couple of friends from where I've been working for the past two years wanted to do this event. We all signed up February thinking it would be a nice June day. Oh were we wrong!

Air temps were in the upper 40's. Waking up at 04:00 to get breakfast, and then drive over to Brooklyn Park to pick up Michelle, I am asking myself why this sounded like fun in February? Oh well, it beats wasting the day sleeping. By the end of the day I will have accomplished something new.

On the drive over to Michelle's, I pass a house engulfed in flames. I feel bad for the family whose home this is. Their day is being dictated to them, and I am doing something of my choosing. Several emergency vehicles are on site, I hope all involved are safe.

Michelle and I drive up to Doug's place in Buffalo. We got a little lost when we got into town. We had to call and wake sleepy head up to get the last few directions to his place. Doug has to run over an pick up his son Zach who is also doing the event.

Michelle and I drive down to the race site to pick up packets and get numbered. By the time we get back to Doug's to drop off the truck, he and Zach have ridden down to the event. Michelle and I complete prepping our bikes and gear with numbers. We take off on our bikes and get ready to set up our transition areas.

While setting up in transition, I see a lot of my TNT teammates. This is comforting to me. I introduce my coworkers to my teammates. It is nice to have so many people I know on the course. I can draw energy from them, and hopefully can provide some to them.

Off to the pre-race meeting. Quick course review and instruction. Motivation from last years winner from the pro group. Inspiration from a man diagnosed with Myeloma. He has fought through his treatments to get here, and he is racing with us! Comfort from the singing of our National anthem. Surprise from finding out my sister and her husband have driven up to watch this spectacle.

This is a wave start. Michelle is in wave 18, I am in 19, and Doug and Zach are in 22. We get into our wave groups and prepare for the start. The horn sounds and I am running out into the water. The water is shallow, so I am able to get out pretty far before I need to start swimming.

This is my first ever open water swim. It is different from pool swimming. It is murky, it is crowded, it is chaos! Team swims have prepared me for some of this as you do get bumped into in the pool. You will be kicked. You will be hit. You will drink lake water. I achieved all of these in the first 10 yards of the swim. I told myself calm down, you can do this. Relax, stroke, sight the buoy, stroke, stroke, stroke, sight the buoy. Sighting is important, because there is no line to follow on the bottom of the lake. You can hardly see your hands during your stroke. I complete my swim in about 10 minutes according to my watch. I exit the water and head to transition to the bike.

I am not feeling well from my drink of lake water! I force my self to burp, and this helps some. I get into my socks, I get my cycling bibs on over my tri shorts. I pull my jersey on and get my bike shoes on. I slam on a skull cap to keep my head from freezing. I am getting cold from being wet and the wind is blowing. Get my helmet on and grab my bike. Here comes Michelle into the transition area. I wish her well, and jog with my bike to the line where I can start riding. I am now in my strongest section of the event.

The cycle course course is windy. My right ear is hurting, I think I have water in there and when the wind hits that side, I am getting a sharp pain. Ignore it and keep spinning the crank. This course is more hilly than I expected. Nothing that cannot be overcome. I get passed on the climbs, but on the downhill I blow past those that have passed me. I thank the volunteers that I can when I am going by. I have my watch on my wrist, so it is harder to check my distance and speed than if it was mounted to my handlebars. This will save me time in transition, but it is definitely something different. I am on my large ring in front and somewhere in the middle of my rear gears when I come around the corner and see runners. I'm almost to transition two. Ride into the transition area, unclip and walk jog my bike into the transition area. I am a bit sick to my stomach, but I can make it.

Kick my bike shoes off. My kids would probably yell at me for not unfastening them as I yell at them for not untying theirs. Slam my feet into my running shoes and tie them up. I think to myself, I wish I had something to sit on to get these shoes on easier. Stop my watch to change it to logging my shoe pod that measures distance and speed. Run out of transition area to the run course.

I am not suffering too much from the BRick feeling. BRick stands for Bike Run ick. Your legs are lead, your feet are boulders, and you gate just feels funny. I am plodding along, and occasionally see some of my teammates. Smiles, nods, high fives and "go team" are exchanged. I am encouraging others, and they are encouraging me. I am getting pats on the back from some that are passing me. This is where I need the most support. I am not a strong runner, but I am not going to quit just because I am not good at it.

About 3/4 of mile in I see Doug and Zach. They are just coming in on the end of the cycle course. Doug is smiling and yells "Hey Marc", and he is past me. About one mile in, here comes Michelle, and she has a grin. I know they have made it through the swim and the bike. Way to go guys! I push to the turn around point. There is a water station here. I slow way down so that I can slam a couple of Dixie cups worth of water into my system. I pick up the pace again. I am feeling better now. Getting through the first mile of the run, my body seems to accept what it is being put through. About two miles into the run for me, (a mile for them), here comes Doug and Zach. They are both very strong runners. High fives and on we go our separate directions to the same finish line. About two and 1/4 miles here comes Michelle. Keep going you can do it! I am on the home stretch now. Smile and joke with those around me. Picking up the pace, not feeling real great, getting winded. Push through to the finish.

Clock time 2 hours 25 minutes. I stay by the finish to see Doug, Zach, Michelle, and some of my teammates cross. My sister and her husband come over and we laugh and chat. This is the first race that I have had, that a family member was there to cheer for me on the course. Jenny and I did San Diego last year, and we were cheering for each other but we were both participating. It was very supportive, and I enjoyed the surprise.

After Michelle finishes, I can see that silly grin on her face. I know that grin. It says; "I just did it. I don't know how, but I just did what I set out to do. Damn I feel good!" I saw that look on Doug's face later too. Doug and his wife invited all of us back to the house for kabob's and some beer. Very tasty!

We were all cold. We were all content. A winter idea and goal was complete.

Doug, thanks for suggesting we do this together. Michelle, thank you for joining the group. To the Schmitz's thank you for your hospitality. To my sister and brother-in-law, thanks for being there. To those that encouraged me on the run whether I knew you or not, thank you. To my teammates from TNT, you guys are awesome. And to those of you that followed this narrative to it's conclusion, I hope you enjoyed the journey.



http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_individual.php?make_printable=1&bib_num=1033&race_id=10936&type=result