Wetsuit-check, googles-check, swim cap-check, swim shorts-check, tank top with number-check, the list continues: bike, bike shoes, helmet, socks, powerbar, water bottle, then the run: running shoes. Need a towel to wipe off feet after the swim before I get into my socks and bike shoes....anywhere...crap it's wet. Toss it in the dryer, no problem. Back to the list. Bike, bike shoes..wait, swimming's first let's do that. wetsuit, googles, swimsuit. Okay, bike, bike shoes, socks, helmet, waterbottle, glasses. Running shoes. Some fruit and a couple Clif bars for the morning. Water, Gatorade, and a change of clothes. I got to get to bed, waking up at 5:00am on a sunday is going to be hard enough and it's already 10:30.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!!!! Jesus, it's already time to get up?!! I just went to sleep a couple of minutes ago. Here we go. Got up, had a small bowl of cereal and a banana. Surprisingly, I ate fairly healthy all week and topped it off with a pasta dinner on Saturday evening. I was proud when my grocery basket was full of fruits and vegetables, instead of frozen pizza's and beer, the staple for any bachelor.

After breakfast I went through the checklist one more time and was confident I had everything I needed. Loaded up my truck, woke up my roommate, Tom. He wanted to come watch and hang out. That was really cool, he ended up taking some pictures for me and meeting some of my teammates. And we're off to Seward Park, the location of the race.

Still rubbing our eyes, we piled out of the truck at 5:50am that bright, early sunday morning and grabbed my gear from the back of the truck, checked the air pressure in the bike tires one last time, then made our way down. With a big event such as this and the way Seattle is, I was expecting to park at least a mile away from the park, but that morning the parking angel was watching over us because we found a perfect spot a couple blocks away.

We arrived there just as I was hoping, around 6:00. Not really knowing where exactly I needed to be, I was just following the herd and hoping for the best. They just shuffled the participants into the transition area and the spectators had to go around.

The transition area is where you change from swimming to biking and then from biking to running. It looks like a big lot full of bikes and clothes, remenesent of a rummage sale. The rows are numbered to correspond with your number, so it was easy to find my place. My number was 721. Overall I think there was just over 1100 participants that registered, so you could imagine all the bikes, people, and excitement milling around.

I picked my place on the bike rack, said hi to my fellow Team in Training teammates, and proceeded to get my things in order of how I felt would be the quickest way to transition. Our coach, Wade, had given us a countdown timeline of what you're suppose to do before the race, such as eat 3 hours before the race, get to the race location 2 hours early to get the best spot for transitioning, go for a short run 30 minutes before the gun to get the blood flowing, etc. etc. Turns out the timeline was difficult to follow being that I didn't even wake up 3 hours before the race so I was already behind. I put on my running shoes and went out for a quick jog and then ended up stretching for about 10 minutes. It's about 6:30 now. We meet with Wade for some more stretching and last minute suggestions and encouragement. By now the announcer is telling the elite athletes to make their way to the starting line and then he procedes to tell the order of start.

You would think with over 1100 people hanging out waiting for their start time would be choatic, but actually it was very organized. I heard quite a few people say that the Seafair Triathlon is one of the most organized events out there and I began to see why. Everyone has to wear a swimcap and the color of swimcap corresponds to your start time. The red swim caps were the elite athletes and then it went dark blue for men 35 and older, purple for women 35 and older and light blue for men 29 and younger and so on. My cap was light blue. The elites started at 7:00am and then it was five minute intervals from then on out. My start time was 7:20am. You wonder how they keep track of all those people and all the different times? I was wondering that too. In your racing packet you get a timing chip that you strap around your ankle with an adjustable plastic band. As you leave the water into the transition, you'll run buy a scanner, something like they scan the bar codes at grocery stores. That will register your swim time, and as you leave the transition area with bike in hand, you'll go thru another scanner and this will give you your transition time. Same thing goes when you get done with your bike ride and then the run. Very cool stuff.

The morning turned out to be overcast and with a slight breeze, so that was nice considering we're standing in the staging area in full wetsuits and swimcaps. You could imagine how warm it might have been if it was in the middle of the day or even if the sun was out. We were quite fortunate. Still, though, gettin' a little sweaty.

Already the elites were in the water and the tension's mounting. You start in the water, it's not a mad dash to the water like some other triathlons. I was thinking of all the training i've done, all the time i've spent on the bike and running and now it's go time. BANG!!! and their off. My heart jumps a beat as they take off in a maylay of arms and water splashing every which way, somewhat organized chaos. Five minutes later the next group takes off. "Calm down, relax, get through the swim. Damn, but i've never swam a half mile all at once before. I know i can do it, just, oh man, that's along ways. Just take it nice and easy, i'm going to make it up on the bike." Knowing that the bike is going to be my strongest leg, i could take it easy on the swim and hammer on the bike. BANG!!! There goes the next group. We move up to the on deck box. Now my heartrate has definately gone up and the butterflies are churnin'. BANG!!! And the next group and now my group slowly makes it into the water. Brrr the water's a little chilly. I sit down in the water to get the shock factor out of my system and try to regulate my breathing. I position myself on the far lefthand side of the course to be away from the kicking legs and punching arms of the faster swimmers. The course runs clockwise so i'll be on the outside the entire time. Five, four, three, two, one, BANG!!! and we're off!!!!

Here we go!!! I dive in and start swimming. Nice and steady. Have you ever swam in the open water before? Well, the first couple of times it's spooky because you can't see the bottom or in this case, I was just above the millfoil and actually touching the slimey weeds with my hands. Kinda gross. Every so often I would have to look up to see if I was still on track and see if anyone had stopped in front of me. Being that I was so far off to the left, I wouldn't have to worry about somebody climbing over me or kicking me in the face. There were times during the swim that I couldn't wait until the end and there were times I was actually enjoying myself and there were also times I was looking down and wondering if I was going to see something I didn't wait to. Lake Washington isn't the cleanest lake. Going down the homestretch of the race seemed.....to.....take....for....ev.....er. The shore was so far away. Finally, I could see the bottom again. Closer and closer....closer, bamm! I could touch it with my hand, that's when you're suppose to stand up. I stand up, woooo, watch out, little tired, legs aren't used to standing and then running. I start taking off my wetsuit and still running back to my bike, pose for a quick picture for my coach. He was taking everyones picture as they came out of the water. Run to my bike, struggle to get my legs out of the suit, almost fall over, dry off my feet, socks first, then shoes, helmet, glasses, and of course, bike, and i'm off on the bike. My transition time was 1m50s. Not bad, but not great. Under 1minute is a great time. You can't ride your bike in the transition area so I had to run with it to the start of the bike, jumped on my bike and i'm off.

Now it's time to put the hammer down, i was really looking forward to the bike leg, just to see what I could do. A buddy of mine gave me some aero bars, the bars that you see triathletes use, so I felt good about having those and those helped out tremendously. All my energy was going to the legs and not having to sit up the whole time. I felt great and I started to pass people left and right, flying by them. That's such a good feeling. The bike leg was 12 miles, so i knew that I shouldn't go all out the whole time, just at a good pace. In triathlons, there's no drafting, you can only pass on the left, and you can't go over the centerline. As I was passing one of my teammates, I went over the centerline and he yelled out at me that I can't do that, which at that time I didn't know. Whoops! And then I came upon another rider that i wanted to pass, but he was passing someone and I ended up between them and passed him on the right, but thank god no one saw. That could have been a two minute penalty. Passing over the centerline is a disqualification. The bike leg went along Lake Washington Blvd, up onto the I-90 express lanes, over to the end of the first tunnel on Mercer Island and then turned around. There was a headwind off of Lake Washington after the turn around, so that made things a little more difficult for the ride back to the transition area. Still flying by people. I could have done that all day, but my legs were starting to feel the strain of the ride. Keeping my head up I see the final turn and the transition area. Getting closer to the transition area, the Team in Training supporters are yelling for each and everyone of us. We all were wearing a purple tank top. Coming around the last corner I started to take off my shoes to quicken my transition time. We had to dismount outside of the transition time, go thru the scanner and back into the transition area. Run to my place, hang up the bike, helmet, take off the shoes and throw on the running shoes and off to the run. woooo, legs aren't working right. C'mon now, run, we're running here, not biking anymore. Okay, thank you.

The run is 3.1 miles or a 5K. Not bad. Something I knew I could do, but just didn't know what to expect. About 100 yards into the run, I could feel both of my calves starting to crap. That's the last thing I wanted. Need to stop, need to stretch, but that's precious seconds off my time. I should have stretched out my calves on the last part of the bike ride like Wade told us, but I was thinking about stopping not stretching because my bike is a 1985 Peugeot, and the brakes ain't all that great. I bit the bullet and stretched out my calves on the next tree. And back to the run. The run was flat except for a hill about two miles into it. That hill was bittersweet. Going up it strained my legs, just had to put one foot in front of the other and keep on truckin'. There was another slight hill and then the turnaround, back down the hill. Coming down the hill I felt that I got my second wind and was ready to hammer out some more mileage, but by then I could see the finish line. "holy crap, i'm going to finish this thing strong. I can't believe it. let's do it again, well okay, maybe not today." What a good feeling coming over the finish line head up high, smiling and having a great time. I felt great, it was a great day, the cheer squad from Team in Training was there along with everyone else that was watching and cheering. I just finished my first triathlon, and I feel energized. I could sense the same feeling in other teammates as i talked to them. Not one of them complained about being tired or said they felt like crap. After grabbing a couple bagels, banana, and water, we waited at the finish line to cheer on the other Team in Training folks as they crossed the finish line. We waited until the very last person crossed, 2-1/2 hours after the start of the race. She got last place, but she's finished a triathlon, and with a smile.

I ended up placing 266 out of 1025 finishers. Not bad for my first one. My time was 1h20m38s. For the swim leg, I placed 596th with a time of 17m19s; bike leg, placed 100th with a time of 34m14s averaging just over 21mph, and for the run placed 596th and a time of 26m11s. Overall, not too shabby. But I know the areas I need to work on. You can view the results at www.racecenter.com.

And for my fundraising, I ended up meeting my goal of $2500. Thank you so much for your contributions. It's going to a very good cause.

The next race is September 7. The Escape From The Rock on Mercer Island. Any takers?

Thank you once again for your support.

Tyler