IMAZ - "Pee1"...err T1

As I write everything down from my race I am realizing that I have a lot to say, so I am going to be braking this down in to much easier to digest segments.  Unfortunately my time in T1 is next and it deserves a post of its own, after all I was there for over 13 minutes.  

First thoughts about T1, I have thought about and rethought about what the heck I was doing during T1 but it doesn’t add up. My time would lead one to believe that I took a nap or maybe had a food massage prior to the run. Hopefully by writing everything down I will be able to figure where the time went.

Finally I am on solid ground and I step on the timing mat, thus starting my T1 experience. The first thing I do is unzip my wetsuit down to my waist and then I seek out a wetsuit stripper. I find one, next thing I know I am on my back and whoosh! my wetsuit is off, then I am standing with wetsuit in my arms and I am running/shuffling to get my T1 bag.

I followed the masses, around the change tent to the piles of white bags. A volunteer yells out my number and there, almost magically in my hand is my T1 bag (amazing how efficient the process is).  I continue toward the change tent and am then my bladder reminds of how badly I have to pee.  I see a port-a-pottie and I head directly for it, despite the moderate line, which I assume I have to wait in. I stood there for about two minutes before I realized directly to my right was a urinal tent for men. SO STUPID!!!  I head in there and proceed to pee for the next two to three minutes, frankly I am still amazed at how long I was standing there going. I think that I wasted a minimum of six minutes either waiting to pee or actually peeing.  On a positive note, I did have a nice brief conversation with a fellow athlete as we both raced to empty our extremely full bladders.

Finally done with "my business", I headed into the change tent and tried to focus on getting my cycling gear on, but it was slow going, I just couldn’t concentrate. I wasn’t able to find an open chair so I was just stood there trying to get my socks and shoes on, sunglasses and helmet, arm warmers, etc.  Also, I had to jam all of my Clif Shot Bloks into my jersey, along with my inhaler (should I need it). I should mention also that I was still freezing from the swim and the temperature in the tent was helping to warm me up, so subconsciously I guess I was in no hurry to exit.  Finally I was geared up and made my way out of the tent…where I was immediately asked if I wanted sun block by some nice young girls. I said yes and was told, with a few giggles, “We’ll put sun block where ever you want it.”  A 39 year old man, husband and father of two interprets this as flirting.  In reality, the 18 year old girls are most likely trying to make the best out of a pretty disgusting job.

I run the bike rack maze to find my bike in row “16”, which I had wrote on my forearm.  Of course a volunteer tells me “this row, row 18”, where I had to correct him and say, “No, I’m in Row 16!”. Ugh, my bike was all the way at the end of the row which added to my time. Finally I grabbed my ride, ran her out of the bike pen, and found the mount line.  The ride was about to begin and my coffee break like transition was finally over.  T1 Time: 13:06