2007 CapTexTri non-race report
We started our morning at 4 AM. I ate my usual breakfast and we got on the road around 5 AM in the rain. It wasn't pouring rain, just steady so we headed to the race in the hopes that it would subside. Heading out of the parking lot, one of my Texas Iron friends, Emily, caught up to us and we spent the rest of the morning with her. Emily and I swim at about the same pace so we share a lane sometimes at swim. (She's slightly faster on the bike and run, however.)
We arrived at the site and got body marked at around 5:30 (when transition was supposed to open). At that point we were told that the race was delayed 30 minutes (and thus transition was going to open late at 6 AM) so we slogged through the rain to find a dry place under the 1st Street bridge. We hung out under the bridge and 6 AM came and went and the rain got worse. It was literally pouring rain and water was collecting everywhere.
Some people had signed up for text alerts on their cell phones and so we were waiting for status from people around us with phones (including one of the members of Roger's relay team). Finally a guy came around with a bull horn telling people that the swim was cancelled and they were turning it into run at the beginning instead. I was pretty bummed it would be a duathlon, but the weather was really getting bad. Emily and I both lamented that they were canceling our best sport and we thought about Coach Fish. Swimming is her best sport too and we figured she likely couldn't win against Desiree Ficker in a run-bike-run event. That bummed us out because as nice and sweet and talented as Desiree is, we really wanted Andrea to win the women's event.
We were getting cold and even the formerly dry pavement under the bridge was growing increasingly wet. I wrapped myself up in my transition towel in order to keep warm. Then around 6:45, the girl running for Roger's relay team got a text message - the race was completely cancelled. I hollered out to the (growing number of) other triathletes trying to keep dry under the bridge that the race was completely cancelled. Nobody seemed to believe me and they stood there stunned. Eventually other people started getting the text messages too.
We slogged back over to transition and picked up our bikes (which we had left there the day before and were now soaking wet). The water was ankle deep and rushing on many parts of the roads. Transition was a huge mud pit. I was wearing sandals which kept getting sucked off my feet into the mud. I finally took them off and struggled through ankle-deep mud barefooted. We passed by Coach Fish's pink LeMond, but didn't see her and I thought of how frustrated she must be feeling at that moment.
It took us awhile to get out of transition because they were comparing everyone's number to the number on their bike (to make sure nobody made off with a bike that wasn't there's). I can't imagine that in the pouring rain, stealing a bike would be foremost in most of these frustrated athlete's minds, but I guess you never know and I'm glad they checked, but we were verified by about 10 different people before finally being checked single file at the transition exit (so basically, the first 9 were really unnecessary).
We finally made it back to the car. It was still pouring. We loaded our stuff back in and drove home, wet and silent. We arrived home, stripped out of our wet tri gear and crawled back into bed. (The rain stopped somewhere on the way home, but started up again.) We woke up a few hours later feeling depressed and frustrated. To add insult to injury, the sun came out around 11.
Today I've been feeling pretty unhappy. It was really the best decision, the conditions were really pretty unsafe for swimming and biking (and miserable for running). It's just really hard to go through all the training and then a week of taper (which is decidedly not fun) for nothing. I feel a build-up of emotions and anxiety before a race and today, to go home without getting all that extra energy and adrenaline in a race feels really anticlimactic. So I feel drained and depressed and likely most people are feeling the same way.
There is now a message on the web site that says, " statement from the race management team will be posted on this website in the next 5 days regarding the 2007 Capital of Texas Triathlon Event. Please be patient while we work through the different scenarios." I guess we'll see what happens next.
EDIT: The race organizers gave us a discount on registration into the 2008 event. Unfortunately, I was pregnant and was unable to participate. This race is apparently doomed and some portion of it was rained out for many years to come.
We arrived at the site and got body marked at around 5:30 (when transition was supposed to open). At that point we were told that the race was delayed 30 minutes (and thus transition was going to open late at 6 AM) so we slogged through the rain to find a dry place under the 1st Street bridge. We hung out under the bridge and 6 AM came and went and the rain got worse. It was literally pouring rain and water was collecting everywhere.
Some people had signed up for text alerts on their cell phones and so we were waiting for status from people around us with phones (including one of the members of Roger's relay team). Finally a guy came around with a bull horn telling people that the swim was cancelled and they were turning it into run at the beginning instead. I was pretty bummed it would be a duathlon, but the weather was really getting bad. Emily and I both lamented that they were canceling our best sport and we thought about Coach Fish. Swimming is her best sport too and we figured she likely couldn't win against Desiree Ficker in a run-bike-run event. That bummed us out because as nice and sweet and talented as Desiree is, we really wanted Andrea to win the women's event.
We were getting cold and even the formerly dry pavement under the bridge was growing increasingly wet. I wrapped myself up in my transition towel in order to keep warm. Then around 6:45, the girl running for Roger's relay team got a text message - the race was completely cancelled. I hollered out to the (growing number of) other triathletes trying to keep dry under the bridge that the race was completely cancelled. Nobody seemed to believe me and they stood there stunned. Eventually other people started getting the text messages too.
We slogged back over to transition and picked up our bikes (which we had left there the day before and were now soaking wet). The water was ankle deep and rushing on many parts of the roads. Transition was a huge mud pit. I was wearing sandals which kept getting sucked off my feet into the mud. I finally took them off and struggled through ankle-deep mud barefooted. We passed by Coach Fish's pink LeMond, but didn't see her and I thought of how frustrated she must be feeling at that moment.
It took us awhile to get out of transition because they were comparing everyone's number to the number on their bike (to make sure nobody made off with a bike that wasn't there's). I can't imagine that in the pouring rain, stealing a bike would be foremost in most of these frustrated athlete's minds, but I guess you never know and I'm glad they checked, but we were verified by about 10 different people before finally being checked single file at the transition exit (so basically, the first 9 were really unnecessary).
We finally made it back to the car. It was still pouring. We loaded our stuff back in and drove home, wet and silent. We arrived home, stripped out of our wet tri gear and crawled back into bed. (The rain stopped somewhere on the way home, but started up again.) We woke up a few hours later feeling depressed and frustrated. To add insult to injury, the sun came out around 11.
Today I've been feeling pretty unhappy. It was really the best decision, the conditions were really pretty unsafe for swimming and biking (and miserable for running). It's just really hard to go through all the training and then a week of taper (which is decidedly not fun) for nothing. I feel a build-up of emotions and anxiety before a race and today, to go home without getting all that extra energy and adrenaline in a race feels really anticlimactic. So I feel drained and depressed and likely most people are feeling the same way.
There is now a message on the web site that says, " statement from the race management team will be posted on this website in the next 5 days regarding the 2007 Capital of Texas Triathlon Event. Please be patient while we work through the different scenarios." I guess we'll see what happens next.
EDIT: The race organizers gave us a discount on registration into the 2008 event. Unfortunately, I was pregnant and was unable to participate. This race is apparently doomed and some portion of it was rained out for many years to come.
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