Teresa Moffatt's Black Diamond Triathlon

“I’m not competitive or anything…”

…but I beat 11 people in the sprint tri at Black Diamond this weekend! I am rather used to last place and was very pleasantly surprised to see that I beat 10 women and 1 guy who were all in my 40 yr old age category or in their 30’s, none of them were 12 or under J

I set out to have fun and enjoy my last triathlon of my first season in the sport and I am so happy to say “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”! This was my first ½ mile swim during a race and although my time was a bit longer than I expected, I am not surprised because it is such a different dynamic than my ¼ swims. This was also my biggest start and I will never underestimate that again! No matter how ready I thought I was for the pounding and pushing and kicking, it still surprised me! These people are relentless! Patty S, did you go in my wave at 9:03? If so, you are welcome for my providing you such a soft landing as you jumped on me and into the water. I broke the cardinal rule and positioned myself right in front of the first buoy in the very first row and boy I won’t be doing that again J

I really felt for Ang and her extra swimming because I almost did the same thing. I rounded the second buoy and saw the swim exit right in front of me and started swimming for it and was so happy that it was a straight away. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw another buoy on my left side; “crap” I need to be on the other side of that buoy, so I started swimming sideways until I reached it, luckily I hadn’t passed it so I didn’t double back but definitely wasted time going sideways. There is a lot to be said about how the course looks from shore as opposed to in the water! From shore it was so obvious, but in the water I was pretty disoriented during this swim.

I came out of the water pretty close to mid-pack though and headed for my transition zone. I was able to have my best time during T1 and jumped on my bike feeling good but really tired. Luckily I had been practicing this bike ride for a few weeks so I knew it well and knew where to prepare and where to go fast. The bike was pretty uneventful until the end where I caught up with two boys (around 16 years old) and I was trying to keep up with them and got going faster than I ever have there. That is where I saw Tina and started yelling to her “Don’t let me catch you T”; I am not sure but I think I saw her hunker down and start pedaling a little faster!

My husband and family were waiting right before the park turn in and yelling for me which is ALWAYS awesome! I took that opportunity for a quick break at the porta potty (yes I know another no-no) but I didn’t care – I wanted to enjoy my run!

Another transition and Tina was just heading out at the same time, so we got to run together…”yea” another reason for it to be fun! We sang Madonna songs to stay motivated and just had one close call when she came down on a rock and rolled her ankle…luckily she could keep going we just slowed it down a little and tried to get an unknown onlooker to carry her piggy-back – but he wasn’t going for it.

After our finish and lot’s of kudos from our family, we changed into some dry clothes and cheered on the Olympic distance athletes who were so inspiring! But you have heard most of their great stories already!

What a fabulous day to spend with the best triathlon team on the planet! Not only did RTB cheer on their own, but I am proud to say they were the very loud cheering section for the last people coming across the finish line. Even while the event was being broken down around them, RTB was there to cheer across several people we did not know – who otherwise would have had a very quiet finish. How is that for TEAM SPIRIT!