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Almost triathlon time!

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It’s going to be a cold morning on Saturday when we come out of the Madison Community Center pool and run to the bike racks for our first transition. ElizaBeth and Dacey will be joining in the fun. ElizaBeth has been training with a vengance. Dacey is a little anxious about doing well. He wants to beat me and I want to crush him. The old man isn’t dead yet. I figure I’ve got a couple of years left before the magic of youth buries me. I’m going to take every last victory I can still get.

The race starts at 9 am in the pool. The fastest people go first. It’s a snake swim – you move from lane to lane as you complete a lap. What if you are slower than the person behind you? To pass someone in front of you, you just tap their foot. The fun comes at the end of the swim when you go from the nice heated pool to temps of 30 some degrees while only wearing a still wet swimsuit.

In the first transition, you have to put on whatever clothes you need along with socks and shoes. The bike portion of the race goes west on 9th street and then north on highway 81. Last year, we were blessed with strong north winds that made that first hill unfun. The crew at the Community Center have volunteers manning different parts of the course making it easier for the first time triathletes to find their way. Four miles from Pizza Ranch, the bikes turn around and head back to the parking lot and T2.

Running feels funny after 9 miles on the bike. This triathlon is one of the shorter ones around. The run is only two and a quarter miles. If you burned your legs up on the bike, you can still walk if you have to.

Who is going to win? Not any of us. Jason Crisp has made this his race. Jason has done Kona in Hawaii. Just to qualify for Kona means that you aren’t a normal human being. You have to be gifted physically, train hard and be mentally tough.