Nobody TRI's Alone!

 Nobody TRI's alone!

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Whew! I'm glad the support team could talk for a while (I was pretty beat)! But so far it's been the anthropomorphized equipment that I whimsically name. Now it's time to talk about the important thing: the people who support those of us who "event". 

These kinds of events don't happen without a lot of support. I wrote about it from the perspective of the volunteers and organizers that make the Lincoln Marathon work in an earlier blog. Similar people support a touring race series like the Rev3 and IronMan ones. They have paid staff, but they also rely on local volunteers. It is how I ended up being able to hang ON2VICTORY's finish medal around his neck last year. 

When we got to the check in early, one of the staffers was driving a golf cart out and he stopped to greet us. He introduced himself (Bob), obviously a strong extrovert. We swapped stories, of what my motivation for the TRI was (see blogs about "For whom the race is run" from last week... here's the first link: 

and here it breaks because the Spark blog it would have linked to won't be there after August 17th, 2021). 

Then he rolled up his sleeve to show his Boston Strong tattoo, and proceeded to share his story. What an amazing man! Of course I became immediately jealous in that he not only had met Sister Madonna Buda, but had a photo taken with her... and then we had to take a photo of the two of us... showing his Boston Strong tattoo and my hero bracelet! 

Behind the camera was my "Sherpa", ALICIA363, but I got her out in front of the camera a little while later at one of those event photo booths. She quipped that her eyes were shut, but look at those grins! 

More about the Ace later, back to Bob. He made a point at check in of introducing me to some of the other staff, and after I'd mentioned my anxiety over the cut off times he promised they'd look out for me on the course and make sure I finished. The important thing, he advised, was to just go out there and have fun.

Then he wrote the number 467 and 1908 (the reserve units on my hero bracelet) on HIS ARM, and intoned that if I started to flag on the course, he'd show this to me to remind me why I was doing this. And on Sunday, while Brenda and I were out on the highway, he was driving one of the trucks. He shut off the engine so I could hear him shout "There's my buddy! Looking good!" as we rode by. Like I said, what a guy.

I didn't get a photo of the volunteer who checked me in, but she remembered me and after I crossed the finish line she made a point to congratulate me and say she had checked me in the day before.  In short the staff and volunteers of this organization are over the top. If you're looking for a race and ready for a "destination" one in a resort area... I can recommend this series. Very supportive!

I could not resist the temptation to mention as I accepted my award goodies for first (and only) in my age/gender group, that I had been wearing one of those yellow volunteer shirts last year. The announcer picked up on that and challenged the volunteers that I was talking smack.

Now let's talk about the Ace, my kid sis and on this trip, "Sherpa". I picked up that term from a fellow triathlete on the FB group I joined who was seeking someone to companion her to Nationals this year in August. But it makes sense. The Sherpa carries gear, gives advice, etc. for mountain climbers. That's a lot of what she did for me this trip.

Here is part of what she did:

As the mom of a daughter who used to love the temporary tattoos when she was younger, Ace has the skill set down. Those temp tats are holding up really well. In fact, I went for a recovery swim yesterday and felt slightly self-conscious as I'm still very well marked! Yes, they gave us suggestions for how to take them off, but I'm willing to let them gradually go away over multiple showers, instead of using packing tape (ouch).

Ace also made sure I got some movement in on Friday (the jockey and the racehorse blog talks about that). She shouted from outside transition to remind me that I hadn't put my glasses on in transition from swim to bike (since I swim blind, this is a common error at the gym... find out I forgot the glasses only when I get to the lobby and things look blurry). She made sure I was eating enough, pre- and post-race.

In short, I could not have done this without her. They don't let anybody into the transition area except the wrist-band labeled athletes, so she posed as Kilroy to make me laugh:

And that was the whole point of THIS blog. Nobody can be an athlete and participate in this kind of thing without a support team. As Diana Nyad said coming out of the water last year: it may look like an individual sport, but it takes a team. 

So if you ARE out there training for something like this, remember to thank your friends, family, boss, whoever is supporting your efforts.  For my team, which by the way, includes my Spark friends: THANK YOU! I'm living my dreams, with help from my friends!

LIFE if good. It's better when I'm fit. It is at its best with kindred spirits along the same or parallel paths.  Consistently, consciously, creatively making choices that support long-term health, I remain GRATEFUL, for each... and every day!