Beijing International Triathlon October 19, 2019

October 20, 2019

When I interviewed for my current teaching job in China, the principal did my interview over Skype. We immediately had a lot in common because he is a big triathlete. I sometimes joke that he hired me because he wanted a friend to race with.

So naturally, one night he came and talked with me about Beijing International Triathlon. He told me to hurry and sign up because it was nearly sold out. I was injured at the time and wasn't sure if I would be able to race, but I figured that the cross training would be good for my foot injury. I was also concerned about getting my road bike to Beijing. The principal assured me that it was very easy. I mentioned it to Lloyd and he said he would be happy to help me get my bike ready. He got my bike all ready for me to train in the summer. He also surprised me with a little personal touch to my bike:

I spent a significant amount of time training for the triathlon in the US, while I was on summer vacation. Lloyd and I did some long bike rides together and I really started to enjoy road cycling. Shipping my bike wasn't that easy. It was very awkward to carry and I had to reassemble the bike when I got it to Beijing. Some things were also knocked around during the flight and I needed to fix some things.

Riding on the streets of Beijing was also not so easy. There is so much traffic and I hated weaving in and out of cars, so I would wake up at 4am to do my riding before there was much traffic. My running friend, Lauren invited me to a cycling group and we did some riding together.

Then I had another challenge. 2 weeks before the race, I got an email that the triathlon was going to be moved from September to October because of the celebration of, "The People's Republic of China". Connor and Camilla already had a soccer tournament that day and it also meant the weather was going to be cold. I hadn't brought my wetsuit so the principal let me borrow his. I really wanted to back out of the race, but I knew I would never have this opportunity again.

I had nightmares about the race for weeks and some people were saying that the temperature was unsafe for a triathlon. My friend, Lauren was also messaging me and freaking out. The night before the race, I not only had to get myself ready but also get the kids ready for their tournament. I arranged for a city shuttle to pick me up at a venue about 4 miles from my apartment. I got up early and rode 4 miles to the pickup location.

I got to the race venue at 6am and it was so cold. Thankfully, Lauren was also there and we freaked out together. The air temp was 48 degrees and the water was 59 degrees. But, we were able to drink hot tea until the race start.

When the start gun went off, it was scary. I panicked in the water again and I also had multiple people kicking me while I tried to swim. The bike was very fun. I rode about 17 MPH and had so much fun riding fast on open road. There were quite a few U turns, which were a bit tricky.

After the bike, I got back to the transition area and couldn't find my stuff. That costed me some time. I then started running and passed quite a few people, which put my in 2nd place age group.

This ranks as a top accomplishment in my book, probably up there with qualifying for the Boston Marathon or medaling in the Pikes Peak marathon. So many things could have caused me to back out of this race. But, I chose to persevere. I wasn't even sure I would be able to properly train for this race when I am raising 3 children in China by myself. I will be smiling about this for a long time. I am also glad I was smart to have warm clothes waiting at the finish line so I wouldn't freeze my butt off!