I was persuaded race week to enter the BigFoot Triathlon in Lake Geneva, WI on June 26^th. This is a smaller race which I’ve never competed in but a group of us from Chicago decided to make the trip up to participate as a “party race”. It just so happens that Jimmy Buffet was playing in Lake Geneva Saturday night. So Marc Robertson and I prepared Jimmy Buffet themed outfits to race in including leis and grass skirts.

We drove from Chicago Saturday morning in an attempt to get in 100 miles on the bike Saturday afternoon. Temperatures were rising between 90 and 100 degrees, it was beautiful and sunny. Our first 25 mile loop flew by. Next we were off to hit a 50 mile loop although Russ’s course route took us on a 4 lane highway, as Mandy literally got driven off the road by a truck we decided to stick with a 2^nd loop of which we had just completed.  Between our group of 9, we varied in distances ridden from 30 to 80 miles. I fell somewhere in between clocking in 56 miles followed by a short but refreshing open water swim.

Due to the festivities surround the Buffet concert and triathlon hotel reservations were limited. We ended up sleeping 6 to one room, including our bikes. It was cozy, luckily 4 of the 6 were girls, therefore the boys enjoyed floral scented shower gel and body lotion rather than BO and farts as was the previous weekend camping (see previous blog; Camping with the Boys).

We enjoyed a summer dinner outside where numerous beers and glasses of wine were consumed, carbo-loading. Then retired back to our room to get some rest before the big race.

Race morning arrived and as we hopped on our bikes towards transition it was raining. I recall exclaiming how hard core I felt riding by all the cars lined up entering transition.  Being a small race, transition was a free for all. Therefore our group racked all our bikes side by side. As I began taking off my warm up clothes I realized that nobody would know I was dressing in a costume until the run, until then I would just look like a freak. Wearing nothing but an orange sports bra and yellow polka dot brazilian cut bikini bottom. Oh well, I swallowed my pride and walked towards the swim start, feeling much more like a beach volley ball player than a triathlete.

I started in the 3rd wave just behind the 30-34 year old men. When our gun went off, I sprinted a few strokes to find myself fairly ahead of the pack. I caught many of the men from the previous wave and exited the water surprisingly fast. I remember reaching the turn around buoy, stopping, looking out farther thinking there must be one more. Nope, the swim course was just cut a bit short.

Swim : 17:10

The sprint triathletes were still all lined up waiting for their start as I rode by in my itsy-bitsy bikini heading out on the bike course. I heard a few comments as I rode by which I’ll keep to myself. I didn’t see too many riders out on the course, those that I did see were all men and to my surprise not one mentioned my outfit. Just thought I was a little crazy I suspect. The 25 mile bike ride burned a little due to my high volume training week leading up to the race, but I eventually got in a groove and managed to have a decent split.

Bike: 1:02.5

T2 took a little longer than usual due to my costume which I had to dress in. I struggled with my race belt which had a grass skirt sewn to it, decided to double by leis around my neck rather than let it flap in the wind behind me. Many fans cheered for me as I exited T2. I heard a woman say I was the best accessorized triathlete on the course. (they hadn’t seen Marc yet). I was now known on the course as Hawaiian girl, not what I was going for, but I’ll take it.

The run segment was a 6.4 mile trail run (my first ever) which consisted of 2 loops. During the first loop the trail was clear, although it started raining and thundering as I was running. The trail was covered by a canopy of trees which squirreled around BigFoot State Park. It was most relaxing hearing the thunder overhead and feeling slight rain on my face as I made it through the course. On the 2^nd loop with all the foot traffic, sections which weren’t covered by wood chips turned into huge mud pits. People were slipping and sliding all over the place. Luckily I managed to stay upright and complete the run winning overall amateur female.

Run: 44:16

Total Time: 2:07.13

Afterwards the weather cleared up, a few of us stuck around for lunch followed by ice cream in the sun before the long drive home in Chicago traffic.