When it came time to start planning our summer trip to the US I knew I wanted to get a race in; I was missing several good races in Korea while we were traveling. So I began the search. I looked in several places that were within a day’s drive of “home” (we stay in Memphis over the summers). I also knew we were traveling for my brother’s wedding, so I looked all along the route on the dates we would be traveling, just on the off chance we could make something work. Well it turns out, the O N L Y race that would fit our schedule and location was the Annie Oakley Buffalo Bill Sprint Triathlon; which I had participated in way-back-when. So my mind was made up for me. I was excited to get something in while traveling and interested to see how much the race had changed. Now, just to find a bike...
Both of my bikes are in Korea and I did not want to pay the $100+ to get one back to the US. So began my next search. I put out to a few contacts my situation. About a week before the race someone finally reached out and said I could borrow his. I had just enough time to make some adjustments and go for one trial run before the race. The bike was slightly too small; I raised the seat as high as I could, but still had too acute of a knee angle than I would have desired, but for one sprint race, I could deal with it.
I decided to view the race as a good workout, especially seeing I was still jet-lagged and still recovering from bonking just a week before at the double olympic distance race.
The day of the race was around 100F with an extremely high humidity. It was probably the hottest weather I had ever raced in. It gets hot in Korea, but the humidity levels are completely different. Anyways, The race started off well, the 800 meter swim was held in a small lake in Shelby Farms. It was nice to not have to wear a wetsuit, it was like being back in the good-ole-days. (You are required to wear a wetsuit on the swim, and a shirt throughout the bike and run in triathlons in Korea). The bike was a 2 lap course 25.7 kilometers. It was fun to have a flat course where I could just buckle down and go; I averaged 42 km/hr. The run, oh, the run! I felt I was in great shape for the 4 miles. The heat, however, decided to kick up a notch as the sun was rising higher in the sky. The air felt heavy as I ran, but as I said, it was my workout for the day and I was not going to let the sweat stop me. I ran about a 6:49/mile, which is the first time I have averaged under 7 min/mile since high school cross country.
I ended up going 1:18:05 and got 1st overall. Although it was a smaller field of competitors, the caliber of racers was impressive (one guy got 2nd at Worlds, age 40-45, just two months after this race).
What really made this race unique was that my co-worker, her husband & her sister, along with my brother-in-law all did the race as well. It was my brother-in-law’s first tri. I know he was anxious, but he did better than he expected. His family, along with mine, were there every step of the way cheering us on. It was a good experience for us all! If time allows, I may just do this race again next year. After all, I have to defend my title!
