Best laid plans and all....
Woke up last Saturday morning at 4:00 am to rain. Not drizzle. Rain. And thunder.
Nothing like a thunderstorm on race day. The only thing better is a cold, windy rainstorm, which we had. Trifecta!
The ever hopeful optimistic I am, I still packed up and headed out to Lake Rebecca. Storm had to blow over sometime, right?
It did!
As I got to the venue, the rain stopped. It was still cold and windy, but at least the rain had stopped. But what a difference a couple weeks of rain makes.
My friend, Teresa, and I had done a preview ride on the course a couple weeks prior to race day. The river that runs parallel of part of the bike course had been high, but not THIS high. Two weeks prior, the transition area was grassy and dry. Race day, huge, two-inch deep water-filled puddles dotted the transition area.
Still, I got body marked, set up transition and went down to the lake for a look. I bumped in t my friend, Shaun, who was also racing the Oly. He came with me to inspect the lake..... Despite the lousy weather, the lake was calm and warm. It's the small victories....
We wandered back to transition when BOOM. Thunder. FLASH. Lightening. Pitter, patter. Rain.
I grabbed my wetsuit and went back towards the lake to wait out the rain in the bathroom (also has the private stall where I can get in to my wetsuit. No one really needs to watch that.)
While I was suiting up, another woman came in to the bathroom. She told me they had just announced a 30 minute rain delay.
"Perfect", I thought.
Once in the suit, I went back up to transition. It was raining harder now. I sat with other racers and volunteers under protection of the pavilion and just watched it rain. And rain. And rain.
The more it rained, the less I wanted to do the race. Wet roads are slippery roads. The last thing I needed/wanted was to crash. The wind and cold temps were not getting any better. It was in the mid 50's. I don't mind the rain if it is warm. But I really hate being cold and wet. I also have Raynaud's syndrome, which means if my hands get too cold, I lose circulation in some of my finger tips. This typically is only a problem in the winter. This kind of cold, wet weather would have been an issue last Saturday for sure.
Thirty minutes went by and no announcement to start the race. Just more rain.
I pulled the plug at that point and turned in my chip. I got my things out of transition and made the long, humiliating walk back to my car. Walked by another friend, Julia, who was sitting in her car. She rolled down her window and we chatted for a minute. She wasn't sure what she was going to do.... said that radar was looking ugly. (She decided to stick it out and raced. Had a great day out on the course. Go Julia!)
It wasn't a total loss, however. I drove from the race venue to my health club and did an indoor version of the triathlon, swimming in the pool, riding a stationary bike and running the track.
No medal, but no road rash, no frozen hands, no season opener. But, did the distance and stayed safe.
The race finally did happen. Numbers were way down. Lots of folks didn't show up; about 70 of us pulled out once we were there....
Next up, the ITU Oly in Chicago. Let's hope for better weather.
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