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.
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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!