Want to hear a funny story about my last tri as an amateur? It's kind of exclusive...I've only told one or two people...
It was race day morning at the South Beach Triathlon. I just finished setting up in transition and was about to walk the long walk out of the transition area, then jog the .9 miles up the beach to the swim start. The thing about this particular transition area was that it was long, quite narrow, and, as always, crowded with thousands of frantic triathletes trying to get their gear in order. The pro's and elites were at the north end of the transition area and had to walk through the crowds to the the south end, then, finally, backtrack north towards the beach start once we exited transition.
As I start making my way through the crowds, I see Leanda Cave. For those who don't know, Leanda Cave is an accomplished triathlete with an Ironman World Title to her name. In other words, I trust that she knows what she's doing. Cave tells another female pro that it's ridiculous to walk all the way out of transition and then backtrack towards the swim start. Transition is surrounded by one of those plasticy weaved fences that isn't great at keeping people from going under it. Cave pulls up the fence, slips under, and holds it up for the other pro.
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| Now you know why I'm wearing tri shorts over my Trisuit. |
The other pro looks at me and says 'if it's good enough for Leanda, it's good enough for me.' She slips under and holds up the fence for me. I think to myself, 'if it's good enough for these two, then it's definitively good enough for me.' So, I crouch down and start to go under the fence. It was at that moment that I heard something rip. It was my trisuit. I look down to see everything just hanging out--yes, everything was just hanging there.... The pro holding the fence was oblivious to what just went down; so, I thanked her and told her I forgot something in transition.
Luckily, my parents were on the other side of transition. I walked gingerly, but not without celerity, over to them and told them I needed the extra pair of tri bottoms in my tri bag--Thank God I packed an extra pair! When they asked why, I told them the story. As I told them, there was a lady standing next to them, listening in. Her eyes bulged wider and wider as she realized that I was barely covered.
I was reminded of two things from this experience...
1.) Things don't always go as planned and I always need to have an extra pair of tri-shorts on hand.
2.) Don't always do what Leanda Cave does (even though she's a World Champion).