"Race" Recap: Sweetheart Aquatic Triathlon

 As I mentioned Monday, I had RACE last Saturday. Not anything normal – not, say, a 400 meter free at a swim meet or 10k road race. Not even a normal triathlon. No, no, instead, I teamed up with Sharada, who coaches synchronized swimming with me, for some swim-kayak-pool running action.

And we saw Beth there! 

She was teaming up with Jon for this race. Oh, the battle was on. We were ready to deliver a butt-kicking. Unfortunately, we were in different heats, so direct competition was tough. But fortunately, Arlington –the organizing jurisdiction – was showcasing their signature level of (dis)organization and there was plenty of time for trash-talking on deck.

Since trusty Coach T was in the area for a run anyway, she dropped by to watch…and cheer! And let me tell you, if you’ve never had a 5’2”(?) ball of energy on deck screaming for you to move faster while you are pool running, you just haven’t lived. As much fun as that was, she was actually there to check out my swimming, and that’s what we started with.

I’ve been frustrated by my (lack of) swim speed recently, and was positive that I’d barely break 7 minutes for the 500 yard swim, but wound up going 6:36. Even more exciting is the fact that Sharada and I basically swam the exact same pace the whole time.

I mean, after all, we ARE synchronized swimming coaches.

Then it was time to kayak, or, practice kayak turning, which is what took up about 90% of our time in the kayak.

Once that was over, it was pool running time – alternatively, time for half the teams to cheat and basically do breaststroke with a float belt on.

Jerks. We didn’t cheat, that’s for sure.

As you can see above, Sharada was a much faster pool runner than me.

But at the end of it all we got third place! The prize was a gift certificate to a local florist.

FYI, I don’t like flowers, but Sharada does, so she got this nice bouquet on her way home.

I got a picture of it. Score.

Overall outcome: fun, a picture of flowers, and a not too terrible 500 yard free time.