I did the Leaning Tower Triathlon in Niles, IL to start off my racing season. It was a pool swim 400m, 18k bike (11.2 miles in 5 6-corner laps, I would have happily done a crit on the course), 5k run.

I was seeded in the first wave of swimmers that was scheduled to start at 7am. I meant to leave home at 4:30. However, I majorly overslept and woke up at 5:50. I panicked for a few minutes and then decided to drive anyways because it was a wave start and they could put me in a later wave. I started driving at 6:05 sans food. I arrived at the race at about 7:45, signed in, some awesome volunteers got an ok from the rd for me and I was put in wave 8 that left at 9:30. I was just so happy to be able to race.

Swimming in the later wave was interesting. I lapped everybody in the wave twice in 400m. I just got out of the pool and ran out the door as fast as I could. I actually ran in the wrong direction for about 5 sec costing me a little time. I got to my bike, put on my helmet, and ran and mounted my bike. I had a little problem getting my shoes on, because when I was setting up my transition, I did not notice that one of the straps on my shoes was pulled all the way out. Ooops. So it took me a little longer to get my shoes on than normal.

I just biked as hard as I could. Having corners every 400m threw me off a bit because that's unusual in a tri. I was also dodging other bikers in the corners. After about a half lap, I noticed that everybody else was wearing long pants, jackets, even gloves, and I was just wearing my swim suit. I just biked harder and passed and lapped lots of people. After 5 laps, I turned back on the road towards the YMCA. I realized how cold I was when I could hardly get my shoes unvelcroed. I sprinted to the t2 area and racked my bike. I am so glad that I had yankz in my trainers. If I had had to tie my shoes, I would not have been able to do it because my fingers were so numb.

I was surprised when my feet actually hurt everytime they hit the ground for a bit because of the cold. I just put my head down and ran pathetically little steps with a high cadence. I have not done a single brick workout yet so I just did my best. Nobody passed my on the run either.

When I finished, I put my bike in the car and stood under the shower for about a half hour to warm up. It turns out, that it was 43 degrees with 20 mph wind. I know I put a lot of time into just about everybody in the transitions because they decided to be warm. (Actually, I did not notice how cold it was until I tried to get my bike shoes off and my fingers wouldn't work)

I waited around for results and awards because I was the 2nd overall women out of ~125 and 17th overall out of ~300 with a time of 1:03:31. It turns out that the women who won with a 1:01:55 was in the first wave. I wonder how much faster I could have gone if I had any direct competition (nobody passed me the whole time I was out there which threw me off a little because its unusual). I googled her and it turns out that she's been to kona a couple of times. I'm still waiting for splits and complete results to be posted online, but I'll update when I get them.

I do not usually place quite this high in my races and I'll put that down to that most of the fast Chicago area triathletes did the race in Galena, IL on Saturday -- which is where I would have been if it had not been already full 6 weeks ago. I tend not to register for my C races until a few days beforehand. I was very happy with my race and I consider myself lucky that I even got to race considering I arrived 45 min after my scheduled start time.

It was a well run race and the volunteers were awesome standing out in the cold for hours and hours. I had fun and I am very very happy with that early season result and I can't wait for splits.