The first tri - Scary Swim...... - Part 1

And finally the race day arrived for which i was waiting for a long time. My first triathlon race The Music City Triathlon. Got up early at around 4:15 am and was ready. Maria came to pick me and Csaba along with our bikes. By 6:00 we were are the race place.

Then went through the basic checking of the stuff and got my bike and rest of the stuff in the transition area. A few familiar faces were around me from the University and also some from last nights dinner get together. Warmed up with a some stretching exercises. The weather predictions were not very good and since morning there were gusty winds blowing. We were praying to get the waters calm so that we could start properly and go along. By 7 i was ready with all the stuff laid out and ready to go.

Since entering the collegiate category i was in the first wave of the swimmers. So made a point to hit the shores a bit early to get the fee of the water. The signs were not good since there were high waves all over with gusty winds around and that was tough. Before the start an announcement was made that those who want to back due to the weather conditions can back out :) hmmmmmmm that's quite interesting for a first timer.

So as per the directions the WAVE 1 participants entered the water till a marker from where the start was given. And so finally started my maiden triathlon. The waves were quite high and initially i was not sure if i could even make it to the finish line because mid was the winds got too rough. But made a point to stay close to the other swimmers. I was hardly able to see the marker since every time i had my head up there was a big wave in front of me . At time i felt i was along .... freakkkkked out .... but all were around me :).

Mid way into the race even the race boats were not see as due to the bad weather they were not able to make it. And on the way back from the first marker i could see swimmers scattered all over and that was mostly because the waves were just throwing us around like anything. At the second marker for the turn towards the shores i was able to see the lighthouse and the pack of swimmers.

But the cross winds were drifting all of us away from the shore. That was the last part but completely against the wind.... i could see most of the swimmers going to the other side they just could make it against the winds. But all of them were trying their best. Finally made it to the shores and that too in a comparatively higher end of the pack. The best part was that made it to the shores. Half way towards the shores we were told that the swim part of the race was canceled due to the rough weather conditions. So of the total of 14 WAVES only fist three WAVES made it to the water.

The race was stopped for some 45 mins just to make sure that everyone was out of the water and no one was left in there. Later swimmers were helped by the boats and some who had drifted to the other end to come to the race point.

In all the first tri swim was really really scary. But was very happy that i made it and that gives me a good confidence for the later races to come.