Gator Bait Race Report

Felty* and me in the rain, approaching the finish line.

They don't cancel triathlons due to rain. It rained off and on the entire time yesterday at Gator Bait. All my stuff is still drying out right now.

The official results:
5th out of 22 in my age group
116th overall out of 240 finishers
600 m swim: 13:40 (3/22 in my age group!)
T1: 1:32 (11/22)
4 mile run: 38:36 (13/22; 9:39 min/mi)
T2: 1:19 (6/22)
12.2 mile bike: 43:43 (5/22; 16.7 mph)

I think Shelly and I both had great confidence going into this race because it was held in the same place that we practice every weekend. We swam from a different part of the lake than where we usually train because of the water levels; it was a triangle course around 2 buoys. There were 4 or 5 waves of swimmers and Shelly and I started dead last in our wave. But! We swam pretty much side-by-side the entire time and exited the water together, finishing the swim in the front of our wave. I can't believe I was 3rd place in my age group on the swim! Later, we found out that the swim course was long by 100 extra meters.

Because the swim was in a different section of the lake, we ran next. Shelly and I got to run together too. We pushed each other through a very quick (for us) 4 miles. It started raining on the bike segment. Thankfully, they shortened the course due to wet roads, so we didn't have to do the monster hill at the turnaround. On the way back, I battled it out with another girl in my age group (I knew she was in our group because she passed us on the run...grr). We passed each other a couple times but I picked it up on the way into the park and crossed the finish line first. She finished right behind me, and behind her were 2 other women in my age group. Hooray! It was really weird finishing the race on the bike. We had to dismount and walk across the finish line with our bikes.

We enjoyed post-race sausage wraps, Cheetos, and cookies. And then, to cap a fantastic morning, Shelly won the grand door prize! She got a free pair of Newton shoes from Tri-Sition Area. Even in the rain, it was a wonderful race day.

*Yes, I renamed my bike Felty. It just fit better than Eisenheim the Magnificent.