Yesterday, Nellie, Emilie, my niece Annie and I all participated in the Door County Triathlon and yes, I finished!  We left the house a bit late (6:30 or so) and by the time we got down to Horseshoe Bay, we waited in line to park for 15 minutes.  So, it felt like we were late when usually we get there with plenty of time to spare.  So, I take my bike off the back of the truck and it starts making this loud squealing noise,  I look and my front brake is completely tight.  My bike is new so I have no idea how to fix it.  So I start pushing it tire squealing and Nellie looks and tells me  no way am I pushing a squealing  bike the whole way in.  So Em and I took turns pushing the bike with the front tire off the ground.  Inside the park I look for Nor-Door Sport and Cyclery and they aren’t where they were the day before.  So I see Don and Polly Helm and they say they saw “Stretch” (Brian Merkel from Nor-Door) is over in the transition area.  So I wheel the crippled bike over there and still don’t see anyone.  Now, I am in panic mode but Jim Sarkis points me in the right direction.  Stretch takes a look at my bike and says it isn’t good, some brake tube thing is broken and he doesn’t have another, but he yells over to another guy I am assuming from a different bike shop and that guy has the part.  Within five minutes, he has my bike finished and running so my new BFF this week is Stretch Merkel.  Thank you, thank you Nor-Door Sport and Cyclery.

So, with plenty of time to spare, I get my bike put away and my stuff laid out and the girls and I head over to listen to the Star Spangled Banner before the race begins.  This year, after the men and women’s elite waves, all the guys waves went first followed by the women.  I for one was glad to have the guys go first so they won’t swim over my back since I am not the fastest swimmer.  Other women talked about this before so that was a nice change… at least for me.

The water was choppy and I got a few mouthfuls of water but once I turned the corner the waves weren’t an issue anymore.  I hate the swim but it is the shortest part of the race.

The best part of the day came when they announced that my niece Annie Bley was the first place winner in her age group (women 20-24).  We all woohooed, but unfortunately, Annie wasn’t there to accept it, she had to leave, but we picked it up for her.  So we called her and she came back and we had our own celebration when she returned. Congratulations Annie!

A ton of Door County people do the race… The Jarosh boys, Jon and JR were there as was Megan Sarkis and Polly Helm.   I saw  Rachel Manek from Fox 11 and Cami Rapson from WBAY-TV both participating in the race.

The race is run extremely well and is well staffed with hundreds of volunteers. Thank you to all the volunteers… the race couldn’t be done without you.  Speaking of volunteers, Bob Dixon from the Shallows Resort was volunteering at the last water station on the run.  He and his wife Liz talked me into it after I started to chicken out last week. “Just Do It!” is what they said.  During the race I was cursing them but now that I finished… I think I owe them a beer!

This is Emilie, Nellie and I after the race…

Door County Triathlon 2010

Annie with her first place medal

Emilie’s friend Jeremiah, made this traveling trophy for us.  It is called the Sawyer Cup.  Nellie keeps it this year because she beat Em and me…  Here we are celebrating at Fred and Fuzzy’s after the race…

Annie, Nellie, Emilie, Sarah and Jer with the "Sawyer Cup"

We wore our new yellow Door County Triathlon shirts and medals and went out for lunch… it was a great day. I was far from placing but I finished and that makes me a winner… right?