South America and South Africa

What to say – it was wet. When “carbo loading” was redefined with three pints beer together with my friend Yaryna the evening before. When getting up at 3:00 in the morning having a cab ride through the rain to the Upper West Side. When swimming 1.5 km in the swells of the Hudson having some good gulps of the river water. (Salty for those who are interested. BTW, a sewage facility five miles upriver burned down two weeks ago. Did I mention that perfect information is not always crucial?) When having the bike ride on the West Side Highway into the Bronx and back alternating heavy rain showers and steady rain. When running 10 km through Central Park sweat, sweat, sweat as the sun eventually came out. When celebrating crossing the finish line drinking even more water (an early sympton of overhydration is brain malfunction, many thanks for asking).

What shall I say – it was fun. With this minimum of training I invested I didn’t lose my dignity when finishing. (I actually expected the contrary and deferring this year’s start was a thought I moved around in my head more than once.) Katrina, another friend of mine, lent me her bicycle – many thanks, Katrina, awesome bike! The time is 17 minutes slower than last year, the preliminary ranking is five ranks better (86 vs. 91 in my age group in 2010 but with less competitors) and the overall result (e.g. total participants, total women) is in the 2010 range.

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What more to say – it was dramatic. My friend Amy swam into a floating body not moving at all with its green face under the water (triathlon wetsuits provide plenty of buoyancy). She pushed the body to one of the kayaks close by supposed to protect the swimmers in case of an emergency. As we learned later this man and another woman died because of heart attacks. After the finish at the family reunion a mother almost went nuts when she ran up and down shouting for her three year old toddler and couldn’t find him. At least this story had a happy ending as also this family was reunited.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/sports/man-dies-during-new-york-city-triathlon.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_HP_LI_LST_FB