Race day! D&D and I left around 7:15 for AISL for Mrs. D’s start time at 8:30. It was amazing watching the people in the Sprint category early in the morning since these were all the really good ones. They flew through the pool; it was crazy. They can swim the 400m in the time it takes me to do the 200m! Anyway, SB and PB came too, and we all cheered on Mrs. D during the swim and got her bike set for her and helped with that transition. Then, Mr. D&D and PB were set to start at 9:00, so SB and her daughter and daughter’s friends and I watched them swim before T and DS picked me up for the market!
Yes, it was kind of crazy to go to the market right before my race, but the Dutch Reform market happens only one Saturday a month, and we’ve missed the others, so it was now or never. They have food there, unlike the Sunday market, but I couldn’t partake anyway…..T and I had fun meandering through the grounds looking at all the curios. Many of the vendors are also the Sunday market vendors, so we ran into the ladies making our bags for us to pick up on Sunday! T and I bought a few curios in the 45 minutes that we had before heading out again for AISL.
Back at the school, I got there 20 minutes before my race, and of course I was supposed to be in the “waiting to compete” tent by then, but I needed to get all my things ready…..oh well, it gave me less time to be nervous. AISL gave 5 lanes in the pool, so in my Senior Women division (this is the first time I’ve ever been referred to as a senior in that sense!), which is 16-39 year olds (because most of the ex-pats in Zambia are families, so there are hardly any people in their 20s), I swam with three 39 year olds and a 44 year old. I was the only person in their 20s in the Intermediate category. So, no matter how I did, I could say I won for the 20 year olds! J Anyway, I was starting to get nervous by the time 11:10 rolled around, but the swim took the nerves away. It’s a 200m swim, followed by a 6k bike, and a 2K run. The Sprint category is double that. That’s what everyone else was doing, but there was no way I could do that without really training. It was funny while I was swimming because I could hear D&D, SB&PB, and T all cheering for me. I even gave them a thumbs up during one of the laps. J So, the swim went alright; about the same time as I normally swim, but the change of clothes and putting on shoes for the bike took a little longer than I wanted. I ran to the bike, putting on my Mickey Mouse helmet and trying to strap on my ipod, jumped on the bike and was off.
Now the biking is where it got interesting. So, I—being the clever person I am—decided, hey!, I’ll bike and run with my ipod. Start idea? Not. Well….when you’re swimming and your arm is wet, an ipod holder isn’t too easy to put on. So, as I ran to my bike, I had to put on the ipod and my helmet and off I went. Long story short, the I couldn’t get the ipod holder on my wet arm, so I just had to hold it. That’s all fine and dandy, except that one of my ear buds caught on the bike frame, making everything just a bit trickier to hold while racing. The route is on dirt roads filled with rocks, too, so it wasn’t very easy to balance and readjust things…Anyway, I was doing all right, except on the top of the big hill I had just climbed, my ipod flew out. So off the bike I went to pick it up and resituate and off I was again. Lost about 45 seconds and lots of momentum….but I learned my lesson.
I traded in my bike back at the school and my helmet and off I was jogging, and this time I was able to adjust the ipod. Hurray! Again, the route is bumpy and rocky, and in previous days I had told D&D that I was going to trip on one of those rocks. Well, me being the gracious person I am, I tripped on not one but two rocks, and fell once. So that took a bit of time from the racing too. Anyway, I finished in 48 minutes flat. Not fast at all, but I finished, which was my goal, and I was hoping for under 50 minutes. And I wasn’t last. J So, triathlon = conquered.
D&D told me about their results after my race. Neither of them had beaten their times from last year, but Mrs. D&D won for her age division overall. And PB had improved by 4 minutes from last year, coming in third for his age division. So it was a good day. J We waited around for the awards ceremony and watched SB’s kids that she teaches doing the triathlon in the afternoon. It’s a big family event, so they have fun races and junior races for the kids. My favorites were the two four year olds: one little girl had streamers on her bike and training wheels and the other boy had a bike with no pedals that he just had to push off the ground on. They were adorable. J It was a fun day, and I was proud of myself for finishing.
After race day, we headed back to the ranch. I had gotten an sms earlier about playing for church in the morning, so after a quick nap, I went in search of the keyboard and hymnal. Then D&D invited us into town, so T and I picked up some supplies for our goodbye party and we all ate some pizza at Debonnair’s. They forgot about our pizza though, so D&D waited with theirs an extra fifteen minutes…. L After pizza, we all headed back. I was pooped out, but I needed to practice my hymns for tomorrow. Then we watched The Hangover and headed to bed early for a good night sleep.
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