Things Move Quickly

With my first triathlon only 10 days away, I've been working through my checklist of things to do/buy before the event.  A couple items on the list for this week:

• Bike Tune Up - Completed Monday
• Read USA Triathlon Rules - Still to do
• Tri Shorts/Tri Jersey/Tri Suit Purchase - Purchased Tri Shorts and Jersey on Wednesday
• Wetsuit Tryout - To Do

Since I purchased my wetsuit, I have tried it on once.  It was very tight!  According to my online research, it is suppose to be tight and it is likely the tightest it will ever be before it gets in the water the first time.  Since I feel like I'm close to getting that vein popping out of my neck, I was looking forward to getting it soaked; however, when?   Yes, I could throw it in the tub but I wanted something a little more real.  I was resolved to making sure I had plenty of time ahead of the start of the KC Tri to go for my first swim during my warm-up.

After some discussions with TKB earlier this week, we decided to beg my dad to get the boat ready for the summer (a full month earlier than normal) and go for a swim at Smithville Lake.  In preparation for him saying "no", I started doing some research and talking with people at work.  I finally noticed that the beaches at Smithville Lake are open this early in the year (not the case for Shawnee Mission Park -- the host of the Corporate Challenge Triathlon).  After mentioning this to the person in charge of organizing my company's triathletes, she quickly put me in touch with another gentleman (his name being Scott as well) wanting to do an open water swim this weekend.  So Scott and I connected on the phone and planned our swim.  6am Saturday morning!! I informed Scott this was going to be my first time out in open water with the wetsuit.  I'm hoping he translated this into "I hope you know CPR".

All of this occurred within 30 minutes.  The coordinator then e-mail blasted out to the rest of the company's corporate challenge participants to see if anyone wanted to join us.  No takers so far. 

Now this is working out perfectly!  Not only am I getting that Open Water Swim (OWS) in but the beach is roughly 26 miles to my house; therefore, I've decided to practice Transition 1 and ride my bike home (TKB is awesome enough to get up WAY early and go with me so she'll drive the truck back home).  At home, I will have setup Transition 2 and plan to go for a 10K run.   Even better, Joe VI will be meeting me at home to run with me.  Now if I can only get Aaron convinced to meet me at Smithville for the bike ride.

If you are in the KC area and would like to participate, please let me know.  The more the merrier.  If you want to participate in the Bike/Run, we can work something out where we carpool up to the lake from my house.  (FYI -- Murders need not apply).