ASHBETTY.COM

I just finished my 4th triathlon (my second in 2007) and I am pretty tired.  The quote in this title actually came originally from Eli when he was coming down with strep throat (unbeknownst to me) and was complaining of exhaustion that physically prevented him from being able to practice the piano.  As he had just finished an hour of frenzied play with his sister and the kitten, I refused to believe that he was debilitated and flogged him with piano books until he finished his 30 minutes.  I will admit to massive guilt when shortly after he finished, he said that he wasn’t “feeling up to having pizza,” and asked if he could have some soup.  That’s when it dawned on me that he was sick.

Anyway, this post isn’t really about Eli.  IT’S ABOUT ME!  And my amazing triathlon-ing.  Here are brief reports from the two races I have competed in so far this season. 

Whidbey Island “Race the Rock” Triathlon  – August 4, 2007

This is the prettiest triathlon course that I’ve seen.  It was also a small and well coordinated event.  I definitely want to do it again next year.  An interesting aspect to this race was that the transition areas were 5 miles apart.  After setting up the area for T2, the bike/run transition, we had to either bike or shuttle over to T1, swim/bike.  The bikeride helped a lot with my pre-race jitters.  Isaac dubbed the distance a “Sprint plus:” 1/2 mile swim, 20 mile bike, and 4 mile run.  It was a good distance for me and my total time was 2:11:39

Swim (.5 miles):  The setting was a beautiful, small lake.  It didn’t feel very crowded and I found it easy to stay on course. At first I felt heavy and slow.  Almost as if I was sinking.  It got better.  I did breast stroke briefly, but was able to stick with crawl stroke for most of the time.  My time was 20:14, which seems very slow.

T1:  This scene was a bit of a madhouse.  We had been given a plastic bag and told to put all of our transition items into it.  As we came out of the water, we were to grab our bags, run to a new spot away from where everyone would be coming out of the water to grab their bags.  Then after we got ready for biking we handed off our bags to volunteers and ran into the bike area to get our bikes. This transition went alright despite the craziness.  I grabbed my plastic bag and changed into my bike shoes and helmet, sunglasses and gloves.  A drink of water and a bite to eat and I was off.  (3:42)

Bike (19.5 miles):  Very hilly, two loops of one section of the course, but it didn’t seem boring.  The scenery was lovely – almost distracting.  I found myself slowing down to look at pretty farms and views.  Fairly uneventful except for the one place where I turned a little too early and went through a parking lot instead of continuing to the turn-around point about 100 yds ahead.  I worried for the rest of the ride that I might be disqualified for not going the full distance, but luckily I wasn’t. (74:15)

 T2:  When I finished the ride, I saw Isaac was there cheering me on, which always gives me a great feeling!  I felt charged up by his presence.  I ran to my spot in the transition area.  I ate a few Shot Blocks and drank some water.  I changed into my running shoes and I was off. (2:16)

Run (3.8 miles):  Hellishly hilly to begin with.  I started at the exact same moment as a sprightly 26-year-old woman who kept me at a good pace.  We took turns passing each other and saying encouraging things, but in the end, I beat her. (31:14) 

The Danskin Triathlon – August 19, 2007

This is a sprint triathlon and it was the first triathlon I ever did in 2006.  It is a very inspirational scene.  All women.  Survivors. Women who never thought they could do anything like this, do the Danskin as their first one.  There are a lot of tears, a lot of well wishes and, well, it’s just A WHOLE LOT of people in general.  Nearly 4000 women competed!  I loved it last year.  I enjoyed it this year as well, but I found myself wishing it was just less crowded.  I think that in the future I might just leave this one for the newbies.  My total time was 1:30:55

It was a very rainy, windy day.  Surprisingly bad weather for August.  When I woke up to the drizzle, I thought, ‘Big deal.  I have to go jump in the lake and get all wet anyway.’  This is true, but while setting up my transition station I found myself trying desperately to keep my stuff dry by putting plastic bags under and over all my gear and tucking my glasses away in my bag.  Mistake!

Swim (3/8 of a mile):  This swim felt very crowded.  They made the waves larger and the distance smaller this year.  At the beginning, you’re standing there with all these women in different colored caps and you find the ones who have the same color as you and wait until they announce your number so that you can pass through the gate and get into the water.  As you stand in the cool water waiting to start, Sally Edwards is standing on the dock above you, shouting out encouragement.  As far as I can tell, she stands up there for many hours cheering people on.  She’s amazing!  I hope Danskin pays her alot of money.  The swim was a little shorter this year and I could really feel it.  Still I think I went faster than I have in past swims.  I ran into a clot of women at the end who were all the slower swimmers from previous waves.  I have to give credit to my new fast swim top (not pictured above).  (14:28)

T1:  It was raining when we got out of the water.  I felt cold and disoriented.  I tried to move quickly, but felt pretty sluggish.  After an extended struggle, I gave up trying to pull my gloves onto my wet hands and threw them aside.  When I was about halfway out of the transition area with my bike, I realized I had forgotten to put on my glasses and had to go back.  Doh! (5:53)

Bike (12 miles):  This was where the wind and the rain really got annoying.  My bike shoes filled up with water; not a pleasant feeling.  On the fairly steep, short hill going up to I-90, everyone was dismounting and walking their bikes up the hill, so everyone HAD to dismount their bikes and walk up the hill.  A woman next to me fell over at that point because she couldn’t get her feet loose in time.  Once we were riding the flat I-90 route, things seemed pretty easy and fast despite the weather, but it was certainly not ideal.  I passed a woman who was down and surrounded by concerned people.  Didn’t look good.  Later I heard that several people were injured in this race.  I played back and forth with a few people, one woman who was on a mountain bike and looked like she was really working hard.  I have to admire her determination.  But, still … I beat her.

T2:  Again, this was the moment I saw Isaac, or heard him anyway (my glasses were very fogged and hard to see through at this point).  I smiled at his voice through the glaze and ran to my transition area.  My socks were soaked so I decided to change them.  This was a waste of time since I promptly stuck my nice dry socks into soaking wet running shoes.  I ate a few more Shot Blocks (love them!) and took off for the run start.  (Did I mention that my spot in the transition area was far away from EVERYTHING!) (3:36) 

Run (3.1 miles):  I felt very fast.  Only two women passed me the whole time.  This was my favorite part.  The only part of this race where I got to go as fast as I could.  I was so grateful for all the fantastic volunteers and the awesome drummers on the hill.  They deserve the prizes.  Amazing that they would come out in such nasty weather to cheer us on.  I finished strong and fast, beating EVERYONE who was in my path.  I’m pretty sure I won.   (26:02)

I have one more triathlon to go in a couple of weeks.  This one is pretty close to a true Olympic distance – 3/4 mile swim, 30 mile bike, and 5 mile run.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

In May we got a new kitten.  We didn’t plan to get one, exactly, but once we saw her, we had no choice but to bring her home.  At her first veterinary appointment in early June, she was estimated to be about 4-5 weeks old and weighed about 1 pound.  She is ridiculously adorable.  It’s nearly impossible to resist her charm.  Even people who don’t like cats are pretty enamored when they see something like this.

She arrived covered in fleas and other pesky ailments.  Not only that, but Eli broke out in a head to toe rash within days of her arrival.  Despite being raised around cats, he exhibited a sensitivity to her particular dander.  Nonetheless, we were so bewitched by her tiny cuteness that all we could do was coo in her presence.  Even Eli begged us to ignore his ailments.  We had no choice!

Now she is like one of our own, doubling in size every couple of weeks.  It’s as if we birthed her out of our own bodies.  There is no question of giving her up.  She is a valued part of our little clan.  Look at the resemblance between her and her adopted sister

She races around the house, claws flexed slashing upholstery and flesh at every turn.  She is a quite a wild and ruthless creature.  We are working to tame her somewhat, but it is clear that she is capable of doing serious damage and although we make attempts to be strict with her about biting, clawing, and destroying the furniture, it is very difficult to do anything other than beam at her and tell her how amazingly cute she is.  Here she is walking across the work table in the kitchen which is definitely not allowed!

I’m sure you can see our dilemma.

In September of 2004, Isaac and I took a bike tour of the Yakima Valley wine country.  Oh it sounds picturesque, I know.  And it was … mostly.  Quiet country roads and lush rolling hills created a perfect backdrop for a romantic weekend away.  It might have turned out a little better if I had ridden my bike even once during the two months prior to the event.   As it was, there was quite a bit of swelling.

Another issue that cropped up during the two-day ride was my faulty rear tire.  It went flat 3 times in the first day of riding.  As I had not learned how to change a tire yet, it fell to the birthday boy to take care of this problem, which he did quite graciously.  But by the third flat, we were out of tubes and feeling pretty frustrated.  

Luckily one of the friendly mechanics happened by at that point and offered his help.  He pointed out some damage to the tire wall that was making the tire vulnerable to flats.  As he didn’t have any replacement tires to offer, he showed us a handy trick which can be done with a dollar bill.  Having only twenties in our billfold, we used one of those, knowing we could retrieve it later.  The bill was folded up and neatly tucked between the tube and the tire reinforcing the damaged area of the tire.  It worked beautifully.  We had no further incidents and finished the ride sore and happy the next day.

Yesterday, pulling my bike out of the garage to ride it to work, I noticed that the rear tire was flat.  I pumped it up, but it went flat again.  So I changed the tire.  That’s right!  Me!  After over twenty years of bikeriding, I’ve learned how to change a tire.  Impressive, I know.  Anyway, as I extracted the tube, out comes this folded up and very worn twenty dollar bill.  And I was, like, ”Score!”  

At that moment I realized that I needed more than just a new tube.  I needed an actual new tire or needed to put the twenty dollars back in and see how much longer it would last.

One thing about this story that really tickles me is thinking about how last summer when I rode the STP (Seattle-to-Portland bikeride), almost everyone I was riding with got flat tires.  My sister, Erin, got several.  But not me. I didn’t get any.  I just love it when I get so lucky!  I have ridden a hell of a lot of miles on that twenty dollars.  What’s really cool is that I still get to spend the money.