Crabman Sprint Triathlon Race Report

It was the inaugural Crabman Sprint Triathlon. I was really excited about this one. Finally a Sprint tri only 15 minutes away from my house! After my 10k race at the end of February, my focus switched from run training to Triathlon training. I really wanted to kill this race since it was in my home town. But as we all know, my left knee had other plans.

After Friday's MRI of my left knee I knew I was going to walk the run portion of the race, which I was fine with me (until the run). The morning started off early. I woke up at 4:00 and was at the race by 5:00. I told the race director that I would help out if she needed me until the volunteers showed up. So I helped out with body marking for a bit and then handed out timing chips. After that I set up transition, chatted with a few of my rack mates. With about 30 minutes to go before the race, the rain started. It poured for a good 10 minutes and then settled in as a sprinkle. I really didn’t expect rain that morning. I used my shirt and an extra towel to cover my running shoes to keep them dry. Joe and one of our rack buddies decided to put our wetsuits on for a quick warm-up in the ocean.

The ocean was a little choppy but not to bad. After doing a few open water swims and the race clinic earlier that week, I was not worried about this ocean swim. After our warm-up we had about 10 minutes before the start of the race. At 6:50 all the athletes gathered for a few announcements. The race director, Kathy, was going over a few rules and mentioned helmets. As soon as she said that, the lady in front of me gasped and said , “oh my god! I forgot my helmet!!!” Really, how does someone forget their helmet? I saw her call someone so I hope she got her helmet by the time she was done with the swim. After announcements we were off.

There were 5 waves and I was in the 4^th wave. The swim was a little crowded. I spent a lot of time swimming around the slower swimmers from the previous wave. I had to stop once and get some water out of my goggles. I didn’t see any fish or sharks out there. So my final swim time was a minute slower then I expected.

T1 was a little slow. I had no trouble taking off my wetsuit. But it was a chore to put on my socks since my feet were still wet. I got the socks on, sneakers on, grabbed my race belt, put on my helmet and I was out. It was a good ¼ mile to the bike start.

It was a 2 loop bike course that was flat and fast. It felt good to pass people on the bike even though most of them were on mountain bikes!!! There were a lot of newbies at this race which is really awesome! I am not very fast on the bike and to average around 18mph felt really good. The roads were wet but not slick. I felt very comfortable out there. Upon starting my second loop I did see a few riders going the other way. Apparently they didn’t know where to enter after the 2^nd loop. All I have to say is…”Know the Route!”

Felt really good coming into T2. IT was a quick transition since I already had my sneakers on. Helmet off, grabbed my Crabman hat and I was out in a flash to start my Run/walk. I felt so good and I wanted to run so bad.

I walked out of transition, around the corner. I found my mother and sister and waved hi. I told myself I would start running after I get passed the race photographer. Once passed him I started to run. It felt so good to run. I looked at my Garmin and it said I was doing a 9:30min mile. Nice! Around the mile 1 marker the back of my left knee started to tighten up. So I stopped and walked for a bit. I tried a few more times to run, but I just couldn’t. I wanted to so badly. Spectators were cheering “you can do it” , “Come on and run your almost there!” I just wanted to yell back, “I can’t! I have a busted knee!!!!” Even the other triathletes were encouraging me. I know they were just trying to motivate me and push me along, but it just frustrated me even more. I swore to myself I would never walk during a run again. (That’s if I could ever run again) There was one time I looked at my watch and it showed the time I would have been finishing the race if I ran the whole thing. I could here the announcer saying people’s names as there were coming into the finish. I was getting close to the finish. I saw my step father and then my mother and sister. After I saw them, I said started to run. How can you not run to the finish? I sprinted as fast as I could and crossed the finish line in 1 hour 33 minutes.

I was happy that I completed my 3^rd Triathlon. I took a moment after finishing to think about how this was probably my last one I would do myself. All other races will either be relays or Aqua bikes. I chatted with a few people I knew. Grabbed a bagel and some water. There were ice cold towels for us, but the rain had kept me cool for most of the run/walk so I didn’t need it. I packed up my transition, said thank you to the race director, and rode my bike back to the car. In all it was a great race! Congrats to Kathy and the rest of her crew for putting on a great race. I will be there next year as part of a relay!