Triathletes are Awesome

Today I got up before the sun to volunteer at a local triathlon. I'm so glad I did.

Triathletes are amazing. They are strong, they are focused and they are really very polite.  All important things, really.

Beautiful Lake Wylie!

Let's back up a bit.  After the Heels N Wheels Duathlon in August, I was pumped up on racing. I came home desperate to find my next race.  After scouring the interwebs, I found that Rock Hill was hosting its very own Tri with an open water swim, the Tri for Abbey sprint triathlon at Ebenezer Park on Lake Wylie.

This is exciting news. It's the only tri I've seen in Rock Hill that takes advantage of the lake.  (There's one or two others that have their swim portion in the Y pool.).  However, I kind of gave up on running after the high of winning that medal wore off, so I was in no shape to compete.  Then it hit me.  I should volunteer at the race.

My body marking at the
Turtle Crawl in May

I emailed the race directors who wrote back immediately and told me to come at 6 a.m.!  When I got there, they handed me some markers and put me in charge of body marking.  If you remember from my previous races, triathletes get their bib number written on each limb.  So for almost two hours I stood there and marked every limb that stood still long enough.  It was great.  I got to talk to so many athletes and wished a lot of them good luck.

Let me tell you, 95 percent of triathletes do not look like me.  They are lean, hard-bodied and muscular.  There were a few people who were a little more squishy around the edges like myself, but not a lot.

Me at my body marking station

Just as the race was about to start, one of the organizers came over and loaded a bunch of us volunteers up in the back of a pickup.  He dropped us out on the bike course -  which was 14 miles - one by one.  We wore orange vests and had orange flags. Our job was to wave the flags at the bikers so they would know they were supposed to turn.  I was the last volunteer to be dropped off, which meant I was last turn before they made it back to the park and the bike finish.  It AMAZED me how far 14 miles seems. I can't believe I bike that far!

This was my turn. It was a left so it
was important they didn't miss it.

He dropped me off at 8 a.m., which was just as the race was getting started. I had a long time to wait before the triathletes finished the swim and made it through 13.5 miles of biking.  After I'd been there about 20 minutes it started thundering. Then it started POURING.  Buckets and buckets and buckets of rain were dumped on me, standing there all alone at my intersection with my little orange vest. I bet all of the cars that drove past thought I was crazy. (BTW if you were on Mt. Gallant near Ebenezer Park between 8-10 a.m., you might've seen me!)


Anyway, eventually the first biker came tearing up the course in the pouring rain. I was wearing my glasses and it was almost impossible to see, but I got him to turn like he was supposed to do.  Then it was maybe 10 minutes before the next biker came. That first guy had a mega lead!  After that it was pretty fast and furious.  I would wave my flag and shout encouragement like, "Keep it up!" or "Looking good!" or a combination: "Keep up the good work!" as they whizzed by me.  Many of them thanked me for volunteering and/or cheering! (So polite)

Me in my vest with my flag.
Before the rain.

It eventually stopped raining and then I was just soaked. I couldn't even wipe of my glasses because every piece of me was wet. (which makes the second time in two days that has been the case.) Eventually, I heard on the walkie that we were just waiting on biker 37.  They would name each intersection he cleared and I could follow his path in my mind and cheer silently for him.  He was extremely far behind all of the other bikers, like maybe 30 minutes behind anyone else.  I started to worry about him. I wondered if he was extremely old.  Eventually, I saw him coming up the road and realized he was a 12-year-old kid! I was so impressed and started cheering wildly for him.

Anyway, I apologize for the length of this blog about a race that I wasn't even in, but I am so glad I got the chance to work it. Volunteers have meant a lot to me at the races I have done, and I wanted a chance to help other athletes. It's actually a pretty sweet gig. I got a free race t-shirt, got to enjoy the race day atmosphere and the inspiration of triathletes and didn't have to worry about all of the stress of racing.  Though nothing quite beats the satisfaction of crossing that finish line. Guess I've got to get back to running again, huh?