Not what I planned.

After a night fighting nerves, I woke up ready to tackle the swim in today's tri. My stomach, it seems, held onto those nerves and wasn't 100%, but I felt good about getting to the race early, getting a practice swim done, and covering the distance.

But when I got there, they were announcing that the swim portion was cancelled. Apparently, the heavy rains and thunderstorms that blew through last night brought high bacteria levels into the water or something. The water was tested and deemed unsafe for swimming. So we were doing a du.

Cripes. I have been swimming a lot more, feeling better about it, and now I won't get a chance to swim in the tri I've been training for.

As I sat in my transition spot, hearing that announcement over and over again, I wasn't angry -- if the water's not safe, it's not safe -- but I was disappointed. And maybe a little pissed. Can you tell? This is me, putting my running shoes on instead of my swim cap and goggles.

Ok, maybe I was feeling a lot pissed and disappointed. I felt bad for the girl two bikes down, and many others around me, who were there to do their first triathlon. At least I've done them before.

I've never done a du, however, and I really wasn't thrilled about doing one today. I haven't rested at all going into today, and I knew my legs were going to feel it by the second run. We were told the race would start, in our assigned swim waves, with a 1.9 mile run, followed by the planned 17 mile (two loops) bike, and then the 5k run. I put on my shoes, and walked over to find my friend Jen at her spot, and comiserate with her. She'd rather swim two legs than run at all, so I knew she wasn't thrilled with the switch, either.

We made our way over to the start, waited for all the waves ahead of us, and commented on how hot it was getting already. Soon my wave was called, and we wished each other luck as I headed to the start.

I lined up right up in the front, mainly because it was a big line and lots of us fit there, and no one really seemed to be caring where they started. Maybe because there was an elite wave earlier... Anyway, I set my watch, joked with the ladies around me, and then off we went. I started with a pretty good pace, but without my Garmin or a sense of where the mile marker was, I didn't know how fast. We ran a straight shot along the river to a turn-around, and back. By the time I hit mile one, at just over 7 mins, I knew I needed to slow down a bit or I'd be toast on the bike. Apparently, I slowed down more than I thought, though, and ended the run with a time of 15:02. The last .15 of the run was on a grassy, hole-y, puddly stretch leading into transition, and that slowed me a bit, too. Oh well.

As I made my way into transition (thank you, ladies on my rack who thought to put a flag balloon on the end!), my less-than-perfect tummy issues started to scare me a little, but I downed some water and gatorade, grabbed half a cliff bar, put on my helmet and pulled my bike off the rack. I was jogging/running my bike out of transition and had to make my way around all these women who were walking. Huh. It's a race, no? Some guy yelled, "Hey, are you guys racing or what?!" And that made me giggle as I ran by him.

I got on my bike, cliff bar hanging out of my mouth, and got a pretty good rhythm going fairly quickly. The bike course was a two-looper, and it was pretty flat. Some rolling stuff, and we did go up and over Falls Bridge, but there wasn't any major hill or incline to speak of. I ate my bar, I drank some water along the way, and felt energized as I made my way through the start/finish area on my way to loop 2. Same ride here as loop 1 -- got passed by some people, passed a bunch myself. I remembered reading something about standing up a little and lowering your gear as you come into the finish to stretch your legs and get ready for the run, so I did that. I also ate a gu in that last mile on the bike because I felt like I needed some fuel for the run. I dismounted just fine and made my way into T2. Bike time for the 17 miles was 57:03 -- just under 18mph, which was pretty good for me.

In T2, I realized that my legs were feeling pretty done by now. I racked my bike, swigged some water, grabbed my visor and made my way out. Again, the first .15-.2 mile were on that bumpy, puddly grassy area and as much as I wanted to get my legs moving, they just weren't. I hopped down the curb and onto the pavement, and nope, things didn't feel any better. This was going to be a long 3 miles. But it's only 3 miles! I kept telling myself. Um, yeah, another out-and-back along the river, and this one wasn't going to be easy.

Just before the turn-around (and, obviously again right after), there was a water stop, and they were handing out ice-cold rags to cool yourself off. Ahh! Icy coldness! So refreshing on my head, neck and chest! I wanted to sit right down and ice-rag my legs. Who would say anything? Seriously, my legs were toast -- the idea of stopping and just standing in their ice buckets crossed my mind, too.

But I didn't stop. I kept going. I was facing the finish line, now! I knew I was slow, but I didn't really look at my watch to know just how slow. I knew my friend Lori was up there at the finish waiting for me, and the draw of the finish was strong. I felt ok, really, except for the lack of speed in my legs. Too bad that's the part I really needed at that time. I high-fived Jen as she made her way out to the turn-around, and I knew I was close to the finish line.

Sure enough, there was Lori with her baby son, A, cheering for me just before the finish chute. I gave them a wave and surged into the chute. I was almost done! I could stop soon! WooHoo!

As I sprinted down to the finish, the cheers and cow bells and encouragement from the guy on the microphone and the crowd were amazing. This really is a cool event. I heard my name announced (a neat thing they do for as many of the women as they can) and crossed the finish with a smile on my face. A gentleman put a medal around my neck and took off my chip and I was done. 5k run, done in a terribly slow 26:40. It wasn't the tri I had planned on doing today, and I can honestly say I don't like the du, but I had fun anyway.

I found Lori, waited and cheered for the other finishers and our friend Jen, and then made my way to pack up my transition gear and get my bike. As we walked to our cars, we talked about other races we'll do, and how this one went, and I couldn't help thinking, this is a great community of people. I'm so glad I do this stuff.

So while I'm frustrated that I didn't get to do my swim today, I feel good about my first run and my bike. I enjoyed being a part of this event, and I know I'll do other tri's. I like the challenge.

Sitting in my car, I realized my shiny (and pink!) medal says Philadelphia Women's Triathlon.

So I guess, technically, that's the race I did today, but it definitely feels like I missed out. After going out for lunch with Lori, I got home and looked up the official results.

1:42:08 total time. 214 OA out of 988 finishers. 35/179 in my AG. Not great, but not terrible. And certainly not what I had planned on doing today.