Kerry Lenny – Columbia Triathlon – Sunday, May 15, 2016

2016 is a big year for me as I move up to my first Oly and HIM. And in true Tri form I signed up for the HIM (AC) before the Oly. Go big or go home right? When it came time to choose the Oly I realized that Rock Hall would be a better course for many reasons, but I knew that I would always regret not doing Columbia. It’s iconic, especially when you live around the corner from the venue.

I was surprised just prior to race start with “my people” showing up to support me! Dan, Tim & our friend Andi showed up with warm hugs, a sign, and lots of encouragement. Major props to Dan who was sick and still traveled back from Kinetic in VA the night before so he could be there for me (I got good people).

I was grateful that Mother Nature didn’t cause the swim to get cancelled – until I got in the lake. I chose to go sleeveless since I had limited experience with sleeves and didn’t want to panic in the water. Thankfully a friend had given me a tip the day before which helped my body acclimate to the cold temperature. I took a few moments to fully submerge myself while breathing out and that helped me avoid a racing heart rate for the start. But at no point did I NOT feel the cold.

A little bit of jostling and bumping at the start as people worked to find their path but nothing too drastic. While my sighting form is spot on, I struggle to actually SEE anything so I will sometimes switch to breaststroke while getting my bearings. I laughed when I realized Prince was playing on the sound system and laughed even more when Dan shared the video of me swimming and he caught me at that exact moment.

I’ve been steadily increasing my distance in the pool, easily getting up to 2800 yards but this still felt like it took forever! While I wasn’t exhausted when I reached Swim Out I was definitely ready to be done and moving on to the bike. My people were there at Swim Out and I ran right over to Tim, letting everyone there know that water was SO COLD as I turned to run to transition I promptly fell to my knees in the sand. They call me Grace.

T1 was long and the sand now on me didn’t help but I was so happy to be out of that water I didn’t care. I enjoy doing this sport so much that my giddiness always bubbles up in transition and I tend to laugh and chat. Yay me for enjoying it but it sure does annoy my coach! Dan helped me settle down and focus and I got to the business of the bike.

Always my favorite part! I know this route like the back of my hand. I know every rut in the road, every hill and every descent so I was extremely confident going in. I’m not super fast but with new aero bars and recent hill training I knew the only concern for me would be a mechanical issue, which I thankfully avoided. I really could have used the bathroom that I was told by UCF would be at the aid station, but Mr. Satola has already heard from me that LOL Loved the volunteer at T2 who when I asked where the nearest bathroom was, told me to just pee on myself – um, no thanks.
T2 was a bit quicker as I pulled off the warm clothes and threw on my MMTC shirt because I knew I was going to need to feel the love up Gatorade Hill. I got started on the run but I realized right away that I stink at map reading. I’ve run the Park dozens of times and thought I knew the right way but suddenly I’m going UP the first hill the way I usually come DOWN and I panicked a bit. As soon as I established that I was running with people who just started the route and not people who were coming in for the finish, I settled down and tried to get into my intervals. I managed to avoid stepping on the dead mouse but somewhere around the half-mile mark I realized I had something in my shoe. I ran for a bit before getting to the bench by the bridge and asked the 3 people sitting there to scoot over! I’m not sure they knew what to think but there was no way I was running 5 miles with a stone in my shoe. And before I knew it, I was tackling Gatorade Hill.

God bless Ayumi!!! That little Japanese firecracker saw me and gave me some serious words of encouragement. She, along with Suzy, Bryan and the rest of the volunteers cheered me on and put a smile on my face as I got to work facing Carillon. Let’s just say that neighborhood took me to task! I chose not to struggle up the hills and walked most of them but did a continuous run whenever I could. The strategy worked overall as I had the best time on the course compared to my training runs. Motivation surrounded me in the neighborhood: from ASA competitors to a guy who wore a before & after shirt showing he had lost over 200lbs so far! Lots of “great job” from fellow MMTC’ers kept my spirits up and the negative talk out of my head.

Coming back over Gatorade Hill I slowed to a walk. What can I say? Sometimes my walk is just more efficient than my run. “Boot Camp” Bryan, however, wasn’t having any of it LOL!! He did his absolute best to get me running but I’m Irish and can be very stubborn when I want to be. More cheers from Ayumi and the rest of the volunteers got me moving and I ran down the hill toward the last mile. Coming over the dam was a chore as I held on to my hat and tried not to get blown sideways. At that point I was doing shorter intervals just trying to get to the end. Coming down off the dam I slowed to a walk only to discover the race photographer. I started running, smiled, and then promptly walked as soon as I passed him! There was a gentleman near the middle of the last little hill offering lots of encouragement to run up it but I was done digging deep. He seemed pacified with my power walk and once over the hill I stumbled my way into the finish line.

Erika (Race Director for UCF) was there at the finish and gave me a big hug along with my medal. Officially my goal for this race was to “just finish”. Unofficially I was hoping for 4 hours. I clocked in at 3:41. I’m thrilled with that and the race went a long way to boosting my confidence for a finish at Atlantic City in September. I can’t say for sure if I will do this one again next year but at least now I can always say that I finished.