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I first became interested in doing a triathlon when my husband John Pettit, qualified as a pro triathlete in 1991 and 1992. But it was only after carrying and nursing our three children, living several years in triathlon-less India and Nepal , and moving 10,000 miles around the world to Thailand that I finally earned the name triathlete at the age of 35. We are American expats who were delighted to find that Thailand has a thriving sports and fitness sub-culture including 10K road races, marathons, and even a fledgling triathlon circuit. I ran my first 10K last October and began to train for a triathlon in the spring which was cancelled. I found out about the Chiang Mai Triathlon 2004 only four weeks before the race, one week after getting over an infection of the intestine caused by an amoeba called Entamoeba histolytica , but I was determined to finally enter and complete a triathlon. Race day arrived September 26, 2004 . Finally I was initiated by the rite of body marking! I was #03 out of only six women in the women's open, a small but stiffly competitive age group. After setting up T2, we rode to T1 with Blakely Harris, another American racing in the women's 16 and under age group but with whom I hoped I could contend. The swim was in a reservoir nestled at the foot of Suthep Mountain . The sky was crystal blue, and the tropical scenery was brilliant green. As Blakely and I joined the crowd of about a hundred, butterflies made my stomach buzz with a healthy level of nervous energy. But in spite of a huge gong being beat rhythmically for fifteen minutes before the start, surprisingly it didn't feel surreal. We jumped off a pavilion into the shallow water, and the start was announced almost immediately. I swallowed some water as I adjusted to the contact sport of triathlon swimming. A European guy I came up on too quick kicked off my goggles, but he politely turned around and apologized so it put me at ease. Right then I lost my worst fear of triathlon swimming, being kicked. I swam some extra meters because of zigzagging due to poor sighting, but by the turnaround at 600 meters, I swam more confidently and passed several people. At the 1350 meter mark, which was a final turn, I was disappointed to see that the swim was almost over and swam my absolute best. I came out of the water totally pumped that I had done it but believing it had been a slow swim. Then I saw that my time was four minutes faster than my best estimate had been, 36 minutes for 1500 meters. My eight year old son, John, who wants to do the Hawaii Ironman one day, ran beside me through the transition, and my ten-year-old daughter, Simone , our photographer, cheered and took pictures. I left the transition area a little ahead of Blakely attacking the hills much more aggressively than I'd been able to do in training. My newfound speed was partly fueled by an unexpectedly deep, overwhelming desire to put as much time as I could on the competition, or more to the point, to thrash them. I also must admit it was fueled by high levels of muscle glycogen, a credit to my coach, John, who insisted on the importance of carbo-loading while I whined that I felt uncomfortably stuffed. The whole bike leg I kept passing people but staying under anaerobic threshold. A couple times I wondered if I'd hold out in the run but told myself not to worry, those are different muscles. My average bike speed for the 34 kilometers was 19.1 miles per hour, a mile per hour faster than my goal. By the time I started the nearly 7 mile run, it was mid morning and around one hundred degrees with high humidity. No one passed me on the run but I passed several people. About three kilometers from the finish line I started to push harder, a pace I couldn't maintain for long. Finally, I reached the point where I had exited the transition area for the run and where I thought the finish line would be. As I started to turn in the official waved me around the other way, which was several hundred meters longer. At that point I irrationally thought, I might as well just sit down, because I can't make it. But I had decided before the race to keep running no matter what. So I kept running. Simone, my daughter, met me and ran with me the last three hundred meters to the finish line. Simone , John, and Blakely's family were terrific ”they came to the race to cheer us on, even though they had to stand in the heat for over four hours. The race, like everything I've experienced in Thailand , was pulled off with efficiency, sanuk (Thai ideal of fun), and grace. I was fourth in my age group, and my finish time of 3:07:22 was 20 minutes faster than I had dared to hope. The whole experience was unexpectantly exhilarating. All those years I had no idea how much I would love racing. I'm looking forward to Laguna Phuket this November! |
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