This is Part 2 of my Kure Beach race report. Read Part 1 first, and then read Part 3. Part 3 is the actual race report, so go there if you just want the facts!
Well, I figured if I didn’t write the rest of this story on my day off work, it wouldn’t happen for a long time. My weeks go by really fast between working long hours, doing the Tuesday evening IOS ride, my Wednesday evening spin class, etc, etc. I don’t usually get home until 8pm, and then I am doing laundry, housework, and spending time with my teenage/adult aged children if they happen to be around.
First, let me describe the Kure Beach race. It is a double sprint consisting of 375m ocean swim, 1.5 mile run, 12 mile bike, 1.5 mile run, and ending with a final 375 meter swim. There is a beach transition area and a bike transition area. Makes for a super fun race, but a little hectic for setup.
I opted not to do packet pickup on Saturday night because I was too busy having fun in Carolina Beach. So, I get my bib number in a tweet from my friend Scottie in hopes of helping make setup easier. Unfortunately, that didn’t help. You really need to get your race packet the evening before for Kure Beach.
I parked near the bike transistion and racked my bike. Then I had to walk four blocks to get my packet. (In retrospect, I should have ridden my bike). Then I walked down to the beach transition area and set that up. I left my cap and googles there. Then I spent some time scoping out the swim area to be sure I understood how the final run to swim transition worked. Last year I made a big mistake there and it cost me 3 minutes. I didn’t want to do that again.
So then I walked the four blocks back to my bike to put my numbers on my bike and set up that transition. My feet hurt from all the walking, as I was not wearing any socks with my sneakers. And it was getting late and I had to rush. It was so late that I had to run those four blocks back to the swim start. I tripped on the boardwalk and skinned both my knees. I looked down, and they were raw and red, but no blood. I bet it was one part per million of blood tho. Dangit, get those sharks out of my mind.
Then I remembered I had left my swim cap and goggles by the swim transition. That was 500 yards up the beach. I had to run to get them. As I ran back to the start, I saw the yellow caps (my wave) line up near the water. FML – I was really late! The next wave, green caps, were blocking the entrance to the swim. As I ran through the green capped athletes, I had to yell “Oughta my way, coming through”. I felt like a bitch, but I had to cross the timing chute, so I had no choice. I finally got down to the beach with the other yellow cap girls. They said one minute to go. I had just enough time to put on my cap and goggles. At least my frantic rush kept thoughts of sharks out of my mind. Mostly, anyway.
Oh no! Not good to have such a fear of sharks in an ocean tri! I can’t wait for part three! My husband did this race too! I wanted to so bad but I was doing Seattle Rock n Roll Half on the 25th. Next year though!!
Sorry about your race buddy moving away. That must be hard, on both of you. I moved away from all my race buddies and it plain old stinks. I wonder if we live close enough to be tri race buddies?? I’m in Fayetteville.
I’ll be back for part III!
Happy 4th!