2022 Toyota Age Group National Championships, August 4-7, 2022
This is the end of a pretty crappy summer and this triathlon fit right along with the crap. I really didn’t want to go on this trip. It had been a summer of non-stop stress and little sleep. I had been dealing with Bobby’s death and was getting home late every night while having to wake early for kids activities. I think of Bobby when I do open water swimming because I was on my way to an open water swim when I got the call that he was drinking bad in 2019.
We had many guests in our home and had to pack things into storage and turn around and take everything out. Lloyd couldn’t get my bike ready before the race because he was too busy. I was very tired and after a long night of mountain bike racing and we had a flight that we had to leave for at 3am. That meant about 3 hours of sleep. We got to our hotel at 10am and our room wasn’t ready so we just walked and walked.
Our hotel was very nice and a great location. We walked to Veterans Memorial, the art museum, and the Love sculpture. Robert Indiana was a famous pop artist, the creator of the iconic LOVE sculpture, one of the best known pieces of public art in the world. There are 50 of these worldwide. I saw the one in New York City too.
We ate at the historic third ward on the riverfront. The Historic Third Ward is known as Milwaukee’s Arts and Fashion District. Trendy shops and award-winning dining options abound in this revitalized warehouse district. 20,000 people live in this district.
There was a lady walking around downtown eating her shirt.
The next morning was my 750 meter open water swim and it was COLD. I am glad I got that over with. My shoulder has been popping out a lot and it popped out a lot in this race too. We then walked the river walk and had Korean food.
The river walk extends 3.1 miles along both sides of the Milwaukee River, from the site of the former North Avenue Dam, through Downtown and the Historic Third Ward to Lake Michigan.
Water Street is one of Milwaukee’s most popular areas for nightlife.
I needed to go for a bike ride and didn’t want to leave Lloyd alone so we rented him a bike. He was riding behind me and I heard a big, “Clunk!” I looked back and his seat had fallen right off. He ran back to get it and said, “I think I am too big for this bike!” I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time!
Saturday was a pretty crappy day because Lloyd and I couldn’t get along. We took a 90 minute boat cruise without speaking to each other.
The City of Milwaukee owns and maintains 188 bridges, 21 of which are vertical lift or bascule type bridges to allow marine traffic additional clearance for safe passage.
I got a message on Saturday saying the triathlon was probably going to be canceled due to thunderstorms on Sunday, so I didn’t sleep that night.
When I woke, I saw that they were holding the triathlon but it was going to be half the distance. They didn’t say what time I was supposed to start, so I just guessed. I got there just on time. I finished middle of the pack which makes me happy since I am competing against the best of the best. Overall=54th/99 Swim=60th/99 Bike=68th/99 Run=28th/99. This will be my last triathlon.
Then Lloyd and I tried biking again with different bikes and visited Lakeshore state park, Bradford beach, and Atwater beach.
When we got to the airport, our flight had been canceled and moved to Wednesday. So we got a flight for $1500 to take us to Vegas with a 6 hour layover and then to Denver by Monday at 9am. My first and last national triathlon is over! Thank god!
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