Through The Lens:

Well when I was considering doing the T-Town tri race I was a little worried about the open water swim- so I managed to con some friends into doing the race as a relay with me. Paige and Susan, each agreed to do a leg of the tri-Susan swam and Paige ran. that way all I had to worry about was the bike-a veritable walk in the park.
I originally heard that the swim was not going to be wetsuit legal- but I think a chilly spring kept the water temps down so I needed to find a wetsuit- I borrowed Athena’s (Thanks Athena!) but the wetsuit was an extra-small and Susan was just too tall. Luckily the girls managed to track down a wetsuit at the last minute.
So we met over at the race start early Sunday morning and I heard them calling our race number, 401, and our names over the PA-just what I need something to exacerbate my usual pre-race butterflies. Well they decided to change the swim course and use only two waves to start so no biggie. It turns out our relay entry was extra super duper complicated because the twins were in the collegiate/female category and I was in the men’s 20-24 age group category-but we were all in a relay-and I think the only co-ed relay.
Anyways- we got started and Susan fought through the giant mass start in the chilly water. Her big goal she said was not to drown, but she did much better than that-she opened up the throttle after getting past the first buoy, and summarily was the first relay swimmer done with the 750 yards.
Our transition was a little clumsy having to take off and switch the timing chip but I managed to get on the bike and pull my weight.
I was expecting a hilly bike course-but they kept us off the big hills the Olympic trials got to use. I put in a 21.5 over the course of 12 miles. I was expecting a longer course-so I wasn’t able to empty the tank. I sprinted in to the end- and had trouble getting off my bike. This is a frustrating thing because after passing tons of people and never getting passed-sprinting towards the end at 30mph I stumbled in transition and get passed. My legs just locked up shaking and trembling. I made the hand off to Paige who I could hardly find in my oxygen deprived state.

She took off like a woman possessed and ran with the other fast relay team runner for quite a while-but he managed to open up a little gap. Paige had a great pace at 7:30 and ran her own race. (the guy later on said he had to dig deep and sprint to get away and had to slow down towards the end to keep from blowing up) It was a cool running course as we got cheer on our runner twice as she came round the circuit.

We finished second-which I was rather pleased with- and it was a pretty low key way to open up the season.
Whitt, Wright, Whitt :401 1 14:56 1:16 2 34:37 21.5 0:46 3 24:18 7:50 1:15:51
Then we ate enough Chinese food to last a whole week- I’d say I had earned it after a grueling 35 minutes on the bike

( Thanks Bonnie for coming to cheer us on and to shoot the photos)