Nissan/BRW, 2011
Writing by Sheridan on Thursday, 7 of April , 2011 at 10:00 am
What a good idea it is to come in here and tune up my writing skills prior to university returning! I’m sure there is no better preparation for academic writing than up-dating my blog. And a tricky thing it is, too, since I pretty much train, work, eat and sleep. Fairly hard to make a story out of it…..
A few months back someone asked me if I’d be keen to partake in a corporate-style triathlon. I responded in the negative and went on about my business.
A few weeks back, someone else asked me if I’d be keen to partake in a little corporate-style triathlon action. She caught me unawares and for some reason I said ‘yes’ when I actually meant to say ‘no’. This seems to happen a bit. In fact, sometimes I hear myself saying ‘Sure, Commercial Rd is the next tram stop, sir’, when I actually mean to say ‘Get away from me you smelly old alcoholic man’. Just the way it is, I guess. So I made a commitment to do this triathlon, racing under the corporate guise of Kraft Foods. My own place of employ would have a hard time scraping up one employee who could manage even one leg of the 400m swim, 10km cycle and 4km run, lest all combined. My corporate team comprised 2 others (also non-Kraft employees), and we were to each complete the entire triathlon. The original team members pulling out of the event not only afforded me the opportunity to compete, but also provided me with the team uniform. In their sizes. Which are 2-3 sizes too big for me. Nonetheless, after trying some strategic knots in the shirt, it covered most of the appropriate parts. And the pants, well who really cares what goes on down there? I swear, I just love putting lycra against my skin so I’ll wear nearly anything. Even if it happens to be Kermit-green and advertise cream cheese (which I hate, by the way).
Anyhow, we turn up at said venue (home ground advantage!) at the allotted hour and ‘warm up’ (sit in bean bag and eat banana whilst taking pictures with iPhone of others on exercise bike). There’s a lot of body-prep involved with triathlon, and I, along with may others, took great joy in defacing other people’s limbs under the pretence of writing on their race number.
Due to Melbourne-style weather the swim part of the triathlon was cancelled in favour of a beach run. Has anyone run on the beach before? I may have seen this in Baywatch and various movies, but I don’t recollect actually doing it myself. And good reason for that, too. It’s a shit idea. Especially early in the morning, but probably any time of day is poor. I was secretly pleased when I heard this as I am a nonsense swimmer and an ok runner. This pleasure evaporated shortly after starting. I had to wait for my teammate to come into the team transition area, which was a cattle-storage-like arrangement pen, take off the timing band and pass it through the fence to me. Has anyone ever tried to take one of these things off after racing? I think not. That’s why they always have those people there to do it for you at the end since you’re completely unable to bend over, let alone have the motor skills required to undo velcro. Anyway, I put the timing chip on and off I go amidst thunderous applause towards the beach, where I am to learn that running in sand makes you wish you were still in bed.
After being overtaken by people who looked as if they were walking, I stumbled into transition and got my bike. The rest of the race was like clockwork. The element of the BRW which most appeals to me is the performance aspect. This is one of the largest triathlons in the Southern hemisphere, evidenced by the difficulty I had in finding a car park. The team transition area is the place to be. Quite literally for many, who weren’t there at the appropriate time. I can count on several hands the number of people who finished their race and took off their timing band only to stand there holding it as their teammate was nowhere to be seen. They were probably off in the coffee line or something, completely unaware that they were contributing to the longest transition time in history.
Overall, it was a great day and good preparation for Elwood in a few weeks.
Comments Off
Category: Uncategorized
No comments yet.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
