I
have had a DNF (did not finish), a DNS (did not start), but I have yet to be
DQ'ed from a race. I have made so many race mistakes, I sometimes feel like a
rookie. I have raced close to 100 times. 99 so my race book tells me. Last
weekend I turned a tri into a race of a different sorts; a swim, bike, run,
bike, run. A quintathlon if you will.
I've
raced with my Garmin (my race watch) in "multisport mode" 2 times in
three races, once during Ironman France, last race - when I flatted twice and
messed up the multisport function so I didn't have stats to back up my mouth
when I stated to all (and still do) that I would have come in 3rd if I hadn't
flatted – twice (holy run on sentence Batman). And this time. I was intent on
having hard data. And using it if I needed to.
Here
we are. Not the race recap I had in mind. None the less …
We
swam 750m in a pool (in a lane with 5 gals) and climbed out. Getting on my bike
I was intent on catching a girl I heard would be a good competition ... so I
saddled up and off I went. Five laps into the seven lap bike, I had closed the
gap to one minute. She had righteously kicked my ass in the swim.
I was honing
in when caught sight of transition, jumped off my bike and into ditch my bike
and grb my shoes. My watch read 19.6km of the 20km bike. But as I set out on
the run course, I started getting passed by girls in my age group ... they were
still on their bikes.
Shit.
It
hit me. I was so caught up in the hunt, that I failed to consider my watch was
measuring a cumulative distance of swim and bike ... I had missed a lap and now
everyone was going to think I was a cheater. Worse, I would probably be
disqualified.
I
spent the better part of the run coming up with my plan. Instead of
finishing the run, I would trek back, get my bike, ride
Closing
in on the finish line, people cheered. I by-passed the timing mat, asked
told the judge my plan and grabbed my bike and set out for the missing loop. I
ground down and made my way back to the missing run segment, ditched my bike
(on the street corner) and set out on foot. I crossed the finish line and got
my little medal.
Leave
it to me to turn a tri into a quintathlon ... all because my head was in the
hunt.
The
moral of the story: if you are going to pay big bucks for technology, learn how
to use it.
Peace.
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