Shoes in the bin and lights on the road, it was a good Saturday

Two amazing things happened on the same day.

Saturday morning, I was driving to the race rather early and noticed a large utility truck was swerving. Not just a simple, checked my phone a few too many times and had to correct. This guy was swerving. I passed him, he sped up, I accelerated to get away. It was not good. I knew I should call 911 and report it. It was clear something was going on with him. I didn’t want to get close enough to figure out his license plate, and I was nervous to call 911, what if they asked exactly where I was, I’m bad at directions…

For about 12 miles I watched him swerve. I finally grabbed my phone, gathered my courage and behold! Red and blue lights flashed directly behind him, a cop had been following him for a bit and I couldn’t see because the truck was so big. You know when someone speeds past you going 20mph over the limit and you grit your teeth and think, “man I wish there was a cop here to pull him over.” But there never is?

This made up for EVERY SINGLE ONE of those instances. The world is a safer place, thank you police, and I didn’t have to screw up my courage to call 911.

The second amazing thing that happened: I swam so well at the race! Hooray for swim clinics. I glanced at my watch as I ran to transition and when I saw my swim pace I could have stopped my race right there and been completely happy.

I didn’t though, because I’m not a crazy person. I placed 2nd overall and felt really great the entire race. There’s such a difference coming out of the water with the main pack instead of being several minutes down and having to work so hard on the bike. Normally I’m playing catch up and that forces me to burn all my biscuits early on. By the time I get to the run I’m pretty cooked and it’s a mental battle.

There’s a woman who beat me for 1st place in the Kinetic Cup last year, and she was at most of the races I did but I never saw her afterwards. I went up to this race’s first overall woman and asked if she was the elusive M.C.

Me: You aren’t by chance M.C. are you? Because if so, you beat me every time and you’re my nemesis but I also really admire you.
Her: No! But I know who you’re talking about and she always beats me too! She lives in my town, imagine having her at all your local races and Nationals!
Me: Well I’m glad we’re united in this.

It was a great race, such a great group of athletes, and I was reminded how much I love the triathlon vibes and community. I helped break down afterwards and chatted with the race director for a while. I wanted to know if he would consider putting on a professional race. There’s a few off brand (as in non-ironman) pro races that happen, like the Edisto Island one I did last year. There will be a pro field that goes off first and then the amateurs follow shortly after.

His primary goal is to bring the sport of triathlon to more people, not necessarily narrow the focus onto pros. He agreed it would be cool, but said pros are too high maintenance. Even at a lower competition level they start asking for benefits. Suddenly the race becomes all about meeting their demands and not about the amateurs who are doing it. Kinetic has at least 100+ new triathletes at every race. From a business perspective that’s a better source of revenue. Most people do one race, realize it’s something they can achieve, and want to go after more. From a personal perspective that’s his goal, to make triathlon available to the masses and spark that interest in first timers.

I get it. I think he does a great job of that while still creating a competitive atmosphere for those of us who are harboring some healthy rivalries…M.C…..

After the race I was de-trashing my car and saw this:

I’ve had some bad races but never so bad that I just chucked my shoes in the bin.