Sunday, July 5, 2009

Catching up...

A few minutes to catch up on "stuff":

Rochester Tri, June 28th: Second time participating in the Olympic distance event for me and my friend Nat. The day was hot and very, very windy.

The swim was good, but when I got out of the water, a course marshall asked me if I had rounded all the buoys.

"Huh?"

Then she pointed to one I may have missed. (I am unclear, as my head was under the water for about half the swim).

I told her I thought I had hit all the buoys, but if I hadn't, why didn't one of the happy kayakers come over to me. (I DID see a kayaker -- actually several of them -- as I was swimming along. Not one of them paddled over to me to tell me I had missed a buoy).

The "I think you missed a buoy" news threw me off my game a bit. And I got a little pissy about it.

Then I got on the bike. Did I mention it was windy? So windy in fact, I almost pulled off the bike course... About eight times.

I had problems with my chain falling off, HUGE winds (20+ mph plus gusts), gears grinding and just not feeling "safe" on the bike.

I spent a lot of time using very bad language while trying to not tip over going up hills or blow over going down hills.

I struggled through the bike and then went out on the run. I really was not having any of it that day. I just did the best I could, which was not very good.

Ended up posting my slowest tri time ever.

Nat kicked some butt out there, fighting the wind BUT I think we were both glad it was over when it was over. She finished third in our division, but the race director screwed up and gave her award to someone else..... grrrr.

Then I had another really rotten thing happen. I either lost (dropped some where in transition) or WORSE someone stole my digital camera.

Okay, I'll admit: I was an idiot for carrying it with me in the first place. (I usually have Hubby take photos and hold on to the camera, but he wasn't with us). The camera isn't a great camera but the memory card had hundreds and hundreds of photos on it.

Irreplacable photos. Europe; my birthday; Hubby's birthday; the holidays; friends; events.

And NO, I did not download all of the photos prior to the event. (So I'm an idiot again).

I want to believe that I dropped the camera, but: I placed a Lost and Found ad in the Rochester paper. No call. I emailed the race director. No response. I called the park where the tri was held, no camera. Hubby and I even drove back to Rochester to scour the transition area, the parking lot and the roadside going from transition to parking. Nothing...

I also think if someone found the camera, they could have looked at the very last picture, which was of me and Nat showing off our body-marked arms. The could have IDed me (by looking at other photos), then looked at the race results to find my name and then did a google search.

Seems like a lot of work you say? HA! I would have done it if I had found the camera. It's the right thing to do.

Again, the camera is one thing. Keep it, I say. Return the memory card. It is useless to any one but the memory holder....

I don't want to believe that a fellow triathlete would steal the camera...that is just lower than low, in my opinion.

But...lessons learned. 1) don't bring a camera in to transition. 2) download all your photos as soon as you can, not "tomorrow".

---

Last item on catching up. After my poor performance on the bike, I finally broke down and bought a road bike. I got a Jamis.

I'm hoping it will help me "catch up" on my bike times. I'll find out this Saturday, when I participate in Lifetime Fitness triathlon.

4 comments:

Marcia L. said...

New bike?!? Awesome! I'm sorry for all your troubles. What can I say other than life just sucks some times!

I predict that this week will be better for you, Amy! Hang in there!

Sunshine said...

Oh... so sorry about all the lost pictures. Oh my!

Congratulations on your spirit that dreamed a new bike. Wishing you better biking.

Best wishes for the weekend. It must be better than the last one.

Beth said...

I'm feeling your pain with the Rochester triathlon. I was very frustrated on the bike,too and was so glad when the whole thing was over. It's made you stronger for the next one. Try to enjoy the new bike. Is it pretty?

IronWaddler said...

How frustrating. I hate to hear about the lost photos.

Good luck with your new bike and the Tri. You will rock this one.