Marshallton Tri Race Report-The Race Where Heidi Wins

Kristen

 When the topic of this race came up I was in Disney and frankly I would agree to anything.  I was partnered with Jackie, who I was told was excellent in a canoe.  Anyway, school started and I forgot about this "easy" race at the beginning of October.  Well, all good things must come to an end and October 5 was here before I knew it.  Since this was an "easy" race, I woke up and ran a speed workout, since I still needed to finish up my running for the week.  I did cut out 2 miles of that workout thankfully.

We arrived at Heidi's aunt's house a little after 8:00 with time to unload bikes and chit chat for awhile.  I was not feeling nervous at all-how hard could this race really be?  We eventually made our way to the start line and kids were all around us, so clearly this race would not be a problem.  Our heat was set for 9:06.  We wanted to be in the front, but a few people beat us to the start line.  As soon as the horn sounded, I was off down the 2.5 mile hill.  I was cruising too-Jackie beat my by seconds which was fine because she was my canoe partner and she had to change shoes.  I was feeling slightly thirsty and I noticed a random table with water, but I passed it in favor of getting down to the canoes.  We were the second in line for our heat, so we loaded in and were off.

 

my awesome canoe partner

 

I could tell from the moment we started paddling that this may not be as easy as I was told.  I took a picture of Jackie and I to commemorate the moment.  No sooner did I put my phone back in the plastic bag, did the trouble start.  We had paddled over and gotten sort of stuck along the bank.  Jackie said she would jump out and fix us.  As I was saying no, bad things happened as if in slow motion.  She jumped out into what she thought was shallow water.  I was saying no as the canoe capsized and I went in.  The water was not only not shallow-it was deep enough for my to completely go under.  As soon as I came up, I knew we were probably in trouble and my initial thought was to swim back to the start and forget the whole silly thing.  But sadly, I am not a quitter, so we swim to a place that we can stand and our weak bodies try to dump the water out of our boat.

 

Happy times

 

 As this is going on I hear the wicked witch of the west laughing and know I will never live this moment down for the rest of my life.  My ONLY saving grace is that Jackie admits that it was her fault and I really had no part in the any of it.  So now we are soaking wet, dumping water and lost our lead.  Wonderful.

 

 Proof that I will never live this moment down!

We get back in the canoe and I wonder how long we can last because every move we make jostles the water left in the canoe back and forth and I fear we could flip again at any moment.  We continue to paddle and Justin and Haley pass us.  Tyler and Nathan try but at least we hold them off.  We continue with this nonsense for what seems like hours.  Oh look, there's Nicole and Suzanne-we may go from being champions to dead last.  We stop and dump water at least 4 more times.  We come upon a beautiful house where the homeowners have guests, breakfast and a good laugh at our expense.  We happen upon 2 people sitting on the riverbank.  I ask them how much further as if I am a child.  This is after we have been rowing for what seems like hours.  I'm thinking they are going to tell us the end is right around the next bend.  They don't.  They tell me we are only halfway.  I think I've heard them wrong and ask the question again.  Halfway they tell me again.  Tears well up in my eyes.  I think about jumping out and climbing up the embankment.  Anything to get out of this canoe.  But alas, we continue onward.

Finally, we see the men gathering canoes.  I jump out and walk away from the canoe.  The man comes over and wonders why we got out so early.  Frankly, I tell him, I can't get away from this thing soon enough.

We get out and walk up a hill and it's there I see the most wonderful sight-water.  I drink 2 cups and talk with Nicole and Suzanne for a few minutes and then Jackie and I are off.  I do not walk overly fast, because the race is already lost so what's the point.  Too bad-never quit people.

 

As we are approaching the bike area, who is it I see?  None other than Heidi riding towards us.  I still have a chance at this.  I walk faster, flip my bike, hope I have all my things, bid Jackie a fond farewell and pedal that bike like I have never pedaled before.  I am passing people the whole way up the hill, because I now know that as slow and painful as that canoe was, I am still in this race.  I hear the cheers of the crowd as I keep climbing-can I do this?  Sadly, today is not my day.  Heidi crossed the finish line almost 2 minutes in front of me. It was a great win for her and I am proud of her.  Overall, it was a fun race and I would definitely race it again now that I know what to expect-maybe I would look for a new canoe partner-one who stays inside the canoe.  But as I always say-it was memory making at its finest-a truly fun day with everyone involved especially the new racers!  Thank you Heidi for organizing this crazy day!

Race Standings

Elapsed-Heidi

           01:54:33.833                                                   

Elapsed-Kristen

01:56:07.782