Saturday, August 14, 2010

The day before the Danskin

The actual swimming, biking and running (walking) of the Danskin Triathlon will take a few hours, but the complete event actually takes a full weekend.

IMG_6384

For the past six months or so I’ve been training in isolation or, when I do train with someone, it’s been ONE other someone -- like Elisabeth, when we did a complete (all-three-sports, all-three- distances) dry run last week. image IMG_6358 IMG_6362

So imagine my surprise when we parked at Seattle Center today to pick up race materials and we were greeted by this!

IMG_6363

It turns out that the portion of the line that you can see here was maybe one-tenth of the actual length of the line. It went on…

IMG_6364

…and on…

IMG_6365

…and on…

 IMG_6373

…and on! 

It wound down the street and around blocks for maybe a third of a mile.  “Insanity!” Elisabeth kept saying, comparing this to the Rock and Roll Marathon that she just ran, which apparently had three time the participants and no lines.  But hey, it is what it is.  We found ways to pass the time in line…

IMG_6369

IMG_6372 IMG_6374  This is no time to get impatient because I had a feeling the line was just the beginning of a day of crowds.

I was, um… RIGHT!

Once we entered the Exposition Hall where we were to pick up our race materials, we were greeted by more crowds.

IMG_6379

 IMG_6380

And I just kept thinking, ‘They’re all gonna be kicking me in the face in Lake Washington!’ 

I really liked this woman’s shirt, because it’s exactly how I feel:

IMG_6382

(It says, “The miracle is not that I finished.  The miracle is that I began.”  Amen, sista!)

After we had out numbers permanently emblazoned on pour skin…

IMG_6378

OK, that’s number 4-7-3-0, and…

IMG_6377 My number is 3742, but you’ll probably more easily recognize me by my shirt:

IMG_6359 

(You will say HI if you see me, riiiiight?!  Please DO!)

After we picked up all our materials, Tom and I went to REI to kill some time so we wouldn’t run into such big crowds when it was time to rack our bikes. We bought a bike rack for the car and then I remembered that Feierabend, a German restaurant that we’ve wanted to try for months now, is just two blocks from the downtown REI store, so you better believe that we made a bee-line for a beer the restaurant!

IMG_6385 IMG_6386

The beer was fabulous!

IMG_6389

The “Vorespeise” were good (and tasted like my childhood!)…

IMG_6387 IMG_6388

But honestly, the käsespätzle, “pretty” as it was, was nowhere as good as our own!

IMG_6392

All carb-loaded up, we headed to Genesse Park to rack our bikes.  Of course, we were greeted by a sea of bikes – about, oh… 5000 of them!

IMG_6395

IMG_6412

Then we walked to the water for a preview of the swim course…

IMG_6401

…and I had a teensey-winsey freak out…

IMG_6407

And then I took a video to show the lay of the – er, water and the general triathlon course.

By this time, the 97-degree was getting the best of us and it was time to head home over the same bridge we’ll be riding on tomorrow…

IMG_6404 IMG_6421

We might even be treated to the same view tomorrow that we were treated to today…

IMG_6424

So now it’s time for a nap, some more carbs (I’m in a one-day pasta heaven!), and ice and heat on my poor ankle that is whining and fussing and insisting that this is really a very bad idea.

Shut up, ankle!

Stumble Upon Toolbar

4 comments:

Kathrin said...

Carol, BEST OF LUCK!! Hats up to you for entering this event. I will keep my fingers crossed, or "Daumendrücken", that your ankle will be not giving you to much trouble.

GO 3742 GO!!!!!!! :))

Lorrene said...

I've never seen a jillion bicycles in one place before.
Good Luck !!!!

Scott said...

Have lots of fun Carol. What a gutsy thing to take on.

Goofball said...

when I see such a crowd my mind immediately goes "ooh gosh, what if I need to go to the bathroom now?" :p

Related Posts with Thumbnails