HRTC Splash & Dash

A spectacular event happens once a month inside Houston.   Friend, fellow athlete and treasurer of Houston Racing Triathlon Club, Michael Barney, spends his otherwise wearingly dull Friday evening hosting the Splash and Dash events!   This event is composed of a 400 meter open water swim and a 1 mile cross country run!   To the uncontrived eye it may appear mere child's play, no thanks to the finish line's slip and slide! However, to a competitor it is (hopefully) a sub-13 minute race to regurgitation.   It was my first time competing in a splash and dash and boy was I surprised. 

The great thing about triathlon is you have at least half an hour to catch your breath and get through all of your excuses:  WHY you do the sport and how you're going to pull off your goal run and perhaps even what the meaning of life is.   By the end of your ride you are certainly tired but have probably "manned-up" and talked yourself into the run portion.   Not so much the case in a water-run course.   You're expected to  give all out effort and zero gravity, to all out effort and 3x your body weight gravity!   Sheesh.

We Left for the mini race a little after 5p.m. and got to Lake 288 about a quarter 'til 6.   Of course my canine sidekick came along and we awaited the arrival of my best gal pals, Carrie and Gretchen, and the rest of the athletes.  Since the race didn't start until 6:30, I took Bella down to the shore and we hopped in and did some doggie paddling.  For whatever reason, my little Dane loves the water!

Doggie paddling

Finally, everyone arrives and Michael Barney hosts his traditional pre- race "meeting".   For anyone that does not KNOW Barney, he tends to push the limits of almost any conversation.   Part of his pre race speech is "No one has ever died..."  Nice Barney!  As we are listening to the rules of the race, I am scoping out my competition! Hey, we all do it!   I was also doing some mental open water exercises on how NOT to freak out if I get hit or kicked or see glowing eyes or claws.   I thought about what it feels like to push hard in a swim and my plan to transition as fast as possible without losing my cookies.   I did some serious visualization on how I wanted this to play out.  

Race Ready!



"Barney"

We were started off on a "Happy Birthday Devon",and the heat was on!  I stayed with the front pack as long as I could but they split off pretty quickly so I kept my elbows high and turnover higher just to keep my pace.   I knew Sabrina Haun, fellow triathlete and former bad-a** swimmer would smoke me, but I was determined to not be far from her out of the water.  I believe I was second female out, but can't be too sure!   The greatest accomplishment was I completed the swim 16 seconds faster than my last 400m time trial.


Go go gadget LEGS!


As I ran through the sand and grabbed my shoes, I lost some serious time struggling with wet feet and already secured laces.   I honestly have no clue if it would have taken me longer to sit down and tie my shoes than to deal with that contraption "Yanks" came out with.   In any case, my second place position was now a 3rd place struggle as my competitor was accustomed to the "Yanks".     I took off hard and fast and again was surprised to endure the pain coming over my body.   I slowed a bit to catch my breath then returned to my steady pace.   I was relieved to see David Lynch and Stephen Milford on their way back, meaning I wasn't too far from the turn around!   Sabrina came trudging by at a 7:19 pace and  my 2nd place rival was just ahead.   At the turn around, I gave myself a pep talk consisting of "don't worry about it, you got this, take it home, where are your legs... and... no one has ever died"!  I kicked my pace up and passed a few people however couldn't quite catch the second place win.   I did however make an epic fling onto the slip and slide for a 3rd place finish!   Although, thinking back now, I believe people were looking at me like I had just raced a marathon, and may have been worried that I collapsed rather than actually slid across the finish.   Total time was just under 15 minutes.   My goal was to hit 14 minutes flat, but I do believe my lack luster transition and naive understanding of the difficulty of a splash and dash cost me my time.   Many props to all the competitors that showed up and  to Gretchen for shooting footage!   Big congrats to Carrie for taking the time to not only compete but also for boycotting the slip and slide! :)  NOT!

Grand Finale!

Carrie does it her own way!

Bella waiting for me at the finish!

After the race we mingled in social custom, as per, complete with Alida's turkey burgers and my favorite, guacamole!   Next event is in October when I plan to do some more work and see if I can match ol' Sabrina "Phelps" and give her a competitor!   Thank you for reading, I hope you are thoroughly entertained with my tales of triathlon and related races!

All I do is Win Win Win! (Not pictured- charlie sheen)

Always remember to have FUN!