TRIATHLON

I received a phone message early Friday morning: "J, can you come out across the desert and swim the first leg of a team triathlon relay, 7am? We need someone to come off the bench. Then we can go to Rehab later."

Of course, I made it out there, stretched on the Quintana Roo HydroFull (an absolutely perfect product, if you are in the market for a new wetsuit) and stood on the lake shore while several hundred other swimmers swam around the Lake, warming up. I don't do warm-up swims for open water events. It's not in my routine. I'll tell you what is in my routine, though: a Venti drip, double cup, from Starbucks, 50 ounces of water and a PowerBar one-hour prior to race-start.

Intead of warm-up, I just stood there on the beach watching, trying to determine which group of swimmers I would need to beat. That's what I do. I observe. I evaluate. I position myself near the elite group. I make comments to them like, "Wow, I sure am nervous -- this is my first time swimming outside of a pool. Is it difficult to navigate?"

Then I go about beating them in the first 200 yards.

First out of the water on the 1st leg (2nd leg: bike, 3rd leg: run), our relay team took first place overall. Probably one of the funnest moments in all of athletic competition is reaching shore first and running the 50 or so yards to the transition station, the entire route lined on on both sides with cheering, congratulatory spectators.

Sweet victory in the desert hell.
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