Sunday, June 14, 2009

750m Swim, 17.5 mile bike, 5k run

Mary, Cherie, and I took off on Friday down to Asheville, North Carolina, to participate in the Enka (Sprint) Triathlon. It was a fun weekend despite the thrashing I gave my body. I did not train for the event and I will never do that again (not training).

We started with a 750 meter swim in a beautiful lake. I was in the first of four waves. By the time I finished the swim, everyone but about five people had passed me. We're talking young teenage girls, old men, everyone! The swimming killed me. I should mention that I have had pretty bad back pain for over a month and I was getting a cold at the same time as the race (excuses, excuses).

After the swim I jumped on my (rental) road bike and headed out for the 17.5 miles through gorgeous North Carolina hills. I caught up with Mary and we chatted the rest of the way. The 5k run was the last part and I barely made it to the finish line. I was exhausted.

Trying on my swim gear.  They marked both of my arms (166), both of my thighs, and they put "30" on my right calf (supposedly my age).


I finished in 2 hours 25 minutes.  To give you an idea of how slow I must have been going, there was a man in the 70-74 age category who finished in 2 hours 20 minutes.
The lake we swam in
Me, Cherie, and Mary
Walking the bikes back to the car.  What a fun time!
Mary had to go further south for work, so Cherie and I drove over to the Biltmore Estate to check out the largest house in the United States.  I highly recommend it.  Gorgeous house, gorgeous gardens, lands, etc, etc.  Absolutely stunning.  They even had a bowling alley built in the basement. 







1 comment:

Marcia said...

I like the 'cool' house sign with the cool guy in the picture. Thanks for sharing. Very funny that you almost came in last. Oh well, you did it. Next time do a bi-athalon with no swimming.