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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Wetsuit Strippers and Lemon Tarts

This past weekend was FIRMMAN, the half Ironman that I relayed. Perhaps I should say the weekend I had my near death experience. I'm kidding. Well sort of anyway.

I arrived in Narragansett, RI late on Saturday night. Right away hotel patrons starting talking about how the waves were 12 feet high. What?! Tell me again why I was doing this?

The next morning my relay team and I arrived promptly at 5 AM when the transition area opened. I was amazed with how crowded it already was. Good thing we got there early because the swimming start was 3/4 of a mile away from the transition area. We had a "J" course as they call it. It didn't look exactly like a J to me, but I got why they call it that. Basically you swim from shore out to the first buoy, turn right, swim the majority of the course parallel to show, turn right around another buoy and swim into shore on a diagonal. When you finish you're right by the transition area.

I went walked down to the start with a bunch of athletes. I was already nervous about the waves. People were saying they were five footers. One woman told me to be careful when choosing which wave to dive under because if I misjudged another larger wave would hit me in the face when I surfaced.

I was the fourth heat: men 29+ and relays. The horn blew and off we went. I angled to the left of the buoy because of the current. I saw what I thought was the first big wave and dove under it only to be hit in the face with another much larger wave and dragged under it. Then it happened immediately again. By this point I had been dragged half way out between the shore and the first buoy. I seriously contemplated turning around and going back to shore. I felt like I couldn't get my breath and the waves just kept coming. I decided to just stop and try to get a grip. After calming down I decided that I would go out to the first buoy. There was a lifeguard on a kayak right there. If I made it to the first buoy and still felt like I couldn't make the swim, I would ask that person to take me into shore. If not, then I should be okay for the rest of the swim.

Swimming breaststroke I made it to the first buoy. My angling did work out perfectly and I arrived right next to the buoy. By then I was fine because the water was deep enough that the waves weren't breaking anymore. I was also swimming parallel to shore instead of into the waves. I couldn't breathe to my left because of the waves, but that was alright. The rest of the swim was great. Coming in was a little scary again because the waves were going right over me as soon as I hit shallower water. However, I took the advice of that woman and body surfed in. I finished with a group of swimmers two heats in front of me. I was really pleased with my race. I know I lost a lot of time in the beginning, but next year I'll know what to expect. Yes, my relay and I already decided to do it again next year. We're registering next month when registration opens.

I haven't gotten to the best part though. Because this was such a big race, they had all sorts of fun stuff for the athletes like massages and wetsuit strippers! I was very intrigued by the idea of the wetsuit strippers. Hey, you're talking to the person who accidentally had the half nude massage a few months ago. Of course I just had to take advantage of this free service that day I had never heard of.

After the swimmers ran over the timing mat with their wetsuits half down, they could lay down on a square of carpet and two guys would grab the top of your wetsuit and pull the whole thing right off of you. I love my new wetsuit, but I have a hard time getting it off my ankles. It all bunches up like a bad pair of rubber pantyhose. I too lay down on the carpet with my wetsuit half off and they yanked it right off of me. Now if only I could take these two guys two all my races....

I had a great time at the race. My teammates were amazing. They are such nice people too. I'm really looking forward to next year and also to Timberman because we're relaying that as well.

So what does a wetsuit have to do with a lemon tart? Oh yeah! Yesterday was my younger son"s (YS)first day of preschool. He was really excited about it until the moment the teacher came to the car. Then there was a lot scowling and some tears. Off he went. I got together with two of my friends who are always inviting me to lunch and I can never make it. We went out to a nice lunch. I had such a good time and enjoyed my lemon tart so much that I almost forgot to pick YS up from preschool! Yes, I am mother of the year. Thank you thank you. My son's first day and instead of anxiously checking the clock in anticipation of pickup, I'm gossiping and sharing desserts. He may have been the second to last kid to be picked up, but I did make it on time! He had a great time and can't wait to go back tomorrow. Good thing I didn't waste energy anxiously worrying about what he was doing, right? At least that's what I've been trying to tell myself!

Lest you think I'm living the life of leisure now that YS is in preschool for a grand total of five hours a week, the next few weeks are filled with various committee meetings and school commitment. Somehow I got sucked into a library expansion committee today as well.

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Wetsuit strippers and lemon tarts are two of the finer things in life!

Labels: , ,

posted by Alex Elliot @ 10:58 AM   3 comments
3 Comments:

  • At 9/18/2009 9:28 AM, Blogger Goofball said…

    I want wetsuit strippers tooooooooo



    oh the joy of swimming under water: no waves! no choppy water! Steady breathing. Very joyful to be a scuba diver ;)

     

  • At 9/20/2009 5:49 PM, Blogger Sally HP said…

    I'm so excited for you! When I first started reading, I thought you meant you had to run 3/4 mile to the transition area after the swim, and I was wondering HOW you could have left that out! I'm looking forward to getting your expertise on swim training...maybe I'll stick to learning about long-distance swim :)

     

  • At 9/22/2009 5:41 PM, Blogger Suzanne said…

    Sounds like an awesome race. Congrats!

    And I new that YS would love pre-school once he started. It's right up his alley.

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 5 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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