13 September, 2015                   Everybody was so NICE!!

If you want to be really happy, spend a weekend at a triathlon. Every single person you meet is nice. I did a triathlon this morning and another one yesterday at the Outer Banks Triathlon in Manteo, NC. I rode down there with my friends Andrew and Travis on Friday all of us did both races. Our friend Larry was there too; he rode with his family. He also did a much longer race than we did on Saturday. This is the four of us together Friday evening before the races:

Travis, Larry, Andrew, me, Friday evening, Manteo, NC

Larry’s triathlon on Saturday was 70.3 miles long (swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles, run 13.1 miles). The one Travis and Andrew and I did was only 31.7 miles long (swim 1 mile, bike 24.5 miles, run 6.2 miles). Andrew and Travis and I did another one this morning that was 17.1 miles long (swim ½ mile, bike 13.5 miles, run 3.1 miles).

Here’s one of Andrew, Travis and me at the house:

Andrew, Travis, me, Friday evening

I am notoriously not-fast, but even for people who participate at my level this race awarded three medals for doing two races! This was the announcement on the triathlon web site:

“The SAGA SERIES participants will earn 3 Medals!

The SAGA Series: Individuals who Finish the Sprint on SUNDAY AND Finish the Olympic or Half on SATURDAY, GET THE BLING!” 

It was totally worth it; check out the fantastic medals we got:

Left is Olympic medal, right is Sprint medal, center is medal for completing two in two days

Andrew and Travis were superb traveling companions but I didn’t have any dogs with me and I was missing canine companionship. People were so nice at the race they let me spend some time with their dog! Complete strangers! Even with a nice dog! This gorgeous girl’s name was Zoey:

A complete stranger even loaned me their dog for some moral support and valuable encouragement!

Andrew and Travis picked me up Friday afternoon and we headed for the Outer Banks. We left here and spent the whole weekend at the race – there were 642 total  finishers in all of the races. If you add in family members and support staff and local residents and volunteers I know there were 1,500 people around there this weekend. I was on the course for four hours Saturday and for two hours today. I greeted or was greeted by five hundred people – minimum. And every single one was nice! I saw a handful of friends from Richmond, but five hundred complete strangers who were kind! And cheerful! And thoughtful! And considerate! They didn’t know me from Adam! You totally need to try this out. You don’t have to race – just volunteer. Or even spectate – just take it in. I promise you will be happy.

I have a very, very little bit left in my personal tank and I’d better wrap this up before I collapse on this keyboard and my face presses all the buttons at once. I’ll add a few more pictures and then go to bed. And hopefully (there are never any guarantees) put up another post tomorrow when my energy has returned to more normal levels.

Andrew, Travis and me post race Saturday:

Andrew, Travis and me after finishing our race Saturday

Travis, me and Andrew post race this morning:

Travis, me and Andrew after finishing the race this morning

Andrew was so fast he won a prize! I’m not even kidding. He won second place in his age group, a very competitive bunch of athletes. Here he is on the podium:

Andrew with the podium finish! I still can hardly even believe it!

And this is his award; check out the cool shark shape:

This race has fantastic prizes. Mine was just for showing up. Andrew had to WORK to get this beauty!

I think I’ll put up another post tomorrow – but no guarantees. After nearly three decades of triathlons and almost two hundred finishes, this is the first time I’ve ever done two in two days. I am entering unknown territory about how my body and mind will be functioning tomorrow. So we’ll see. In any event, I hope you come back and visit my blog soon. And have a great week!

And thank you so much to Andy and Travis for being such superb companions and making an already great weekend even greater.

All best,

Jay