Once we get to the race it’s a flurry of activity to get gear unloaded and over to the transition area. I go to put little sister’s pedal back on her bike. You would think that a simple ‘lefty loosey’ ‘righty tighty’ would apply here. I took the pedal off by unscrewing it so it makes logical sense that all I would need to do is screw it back on. Simple physics.
I never took physics.
I couldn’t get out of geometry.
Did you know the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result? Well, I went a little insane in those twenty minutes. I kept trying to screw that pedal back on and when it would not go, I started to lose it…internally.
We take a breather and walk over to transition, getting our timing chip along the way. We converse about the pedal in line and the guy behind us who clearly divides his time between working for NASA and the CIA asked if we were having trouble with our bike pedal. HE says he thinks it has to be screwed on in an opposite way than you think it would.
What?
WHAT?
I give him the ‘you don’t know shit’ look and get my timing chip…the girl who hands me the timing chip tells me how the timing chip is supposed to work cause she sees the ‘you don’t know shit’ look and thinks it’s for her. Well no Twilight Tween in short shorts and a side braid with full on make-up at 5:00 in the morning is going to tell me, a seasoned triathlete, what to do with my chip.
I already know.
So I tell her.
In my defense, I was truly concerned about this pedal business not to mention the fact that I was failing miserably at Big Sister and working really hard not to show it…but groundhogs do less damage in a month than I did in that two minute time span.
Once older sister and I get our transition areas set up, we rally over at little sister’s area to readdress the pedal issue. I see little sister standing there like a lost puppy, not setting anything up, with a despondent look on her face and realize if I don’t get this pedal on, she can’t race and I feel the full weight of her disappointment since I’m the one who took the pedal off in the first place.
I go back to screwing and just like before it doesn’t work. Who knew changing location wouldn’t help.
There are six hundred people at this race and we are right in the middle of them.
Three sisters.
All frustrated.
With time running out.
I’m sure I blacked out, time MUST have stopped, because there is no way… No. Way. …we started yelling at each other.
I knew then it was a lost effort. I couldn’t get the pedal on. So, I recon the crowd to find a nice guy who looks normal AND fully trained in bike mechanics. Sadly, there were a pitiful few who met this criteria. One does come over, he does get the pedal on, and he does do it in the opposite way than you would think. In less than five minutes.
Humph.
Little sister gets set up, we walk to the swim start all apologies and high fives and the earth resumes rotating on its axis. Only now I’m exhausted from the morning’s efforts and need a few minutes alone to decompress.
But I’m with six hundred strangers and two sisters. So naturally, I head to the ladies room.
There are some people who get the nervous pee trickle before a race. Older sister gets the nervous something else. Since this is the same woman who gets her life motivating encouragement from Sylvester Stallone movies, I’m not at all surprised to see she is in the stall next to me, her seventh trip in. I would know those feet anywhere.
I routinely seed myself high for the swim portion of a race. It means I get in the water faster even though big hairy men are going to plow over me in some ceremonial type mating ritual. They plow over me…I’m not careful with my elbows. It’s a win win.
Older sister follows me in and as I’m exiting the pool, little sister enters. I like to sprint from the pool to transition as if ESPN is filming the whole thing and featuring me as your everyday working mom and powerhouse. I visualize the short vignettes during filming where I talk about how it all began and the inspiration I was to my sisters causing them to follow me in utter admiration and respect into the sport and at the same time commending me for my raw honesty and humility. It’s a tearful moment that will tug on the viewer’s heartstrings for sure.
The bike portion of the race would have been phenomenal had it not been for the piercing rain slapping me in the face making me feel like that creature from Hellraiser. Older sister is stupid fast on the bike so I expected to see her backside at some point as she passed me.
With it being so cold, I couldn’t feel my feet when I started the run. A hindrance when running. I hobbled along like an epileptic hoping at some point I would feel my feet again. Except the run is through campus, up and down sidewalks and getting up on the sidewalks was more like a crippled hop. Had it not been for that I would have looked like a gazelle. Really.
In sweet cheer filled moments I got to see both sisters during the run. We each finished well and enjoyed the race immensely, except if you’ll remember little sister’s bout of T.H.O.
Here’s how it all shakes out:
Older Sister: Overall Place=206, Age Group Place=4th, Total Time=1:26:17
Me: Overall Place=274, Age Group Place 5th, Total Time=1:33:38
Little Sister: Overall Place 375, Age Group Place 23rd, Total Time=1:45:32
Shazaam
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