Congratulations Meg on Your First Sprint Triathlon!

Well, she did it! Meg completed her first sprint triathlon - and with no training. My girl rocks. She sailed through the 1/4-mile swim with a time of 10:26, darn good for someone who was attempting her first open water swim. Good thing she's a high school swimmer in her "other job". I had given her some tips for transition knowing that she would finish significantly faster than me, but I couldn't believe how much of a run you had (with bare feet) between the swim exit and transition entrance. The bike portion was funny. Meg's bike is a Huffy from Target with 7-gears. Now, in spite of this cycling handicap (or as she put it: no carbon fiber!), she still managed to finish the 12.2 miles in less than an hour in 58:26. Her only cycling training was a couple rides with me through the Metroparks after getting a hot dog and ice cream at Sweetwater Landing. Way to go, Pumpkin! The second transition time was much better, although she and I both made the same mistake: knocking over the bike racks! Her run portion was her major weakness because she hates running. How is that possible with me as a mother? Oh, it is. But she never gave up and finished in 42:55. Meg completed her first sprint triathlon in under 2 hours with a time of 1:58:42. Congratulations, Megan! Best of all, she wants to do this again. Now that's my girl :)

This race for me was not meant as a "race", but to do with my daughter. But because I was in a different wave and knew she was a much faster swimmer than me, I ended up improving my bike time. My bike portion was at 15.5mph. Not bad considering I don't have clipless pedals. However, I did tell Greg that it's time for a trip to Century Cycles to get the pedals. They really do make the difference - and I want to upgrade to the Olympic distance. Hmmm...maybe even this summer.

My biggest complaint about this sprint triathlon was their management of the transition area. It was not well protected and visitors were allowed to roam and socialize. When I came back from the swim, a crowd had already gathered at the transition entrance making it tough to get through and find my rack. When I was exiting to tackle the bike portion, I had to yell "coming through." That's not cool. When I came back from the bike, a large group had my rack row blocked and I kept having to say, "Excuse Me" quite loudly to get people to move. My final gripe was part my fault. I listened to a guy in the transition area who pointed me toward the run (he was wrong-my fault for listening) and I ended up by the bathrooms with no signage and had to fight my way through the crowds.

NCN could take a cue from the Mossman Triathlon. The Connecticut race had great security for the transition area. All course markings were spot on. The volunteers kept racers and others away from the entrance/exit points and volunteers were constantly yelling to get you in the right direction. Kudos to Connecticut. Thumbs down to NCN on the transition.

Congratulations, Meg! Now it's time to find a bike with more than 7-speeds!