Last week I was hanging out, relaxing, and minding my own business, when Marta's cousin gave me the news. Seems that Myjava has their own triathlon. It comes in the flavor of off-road, Xterra type fun, fun, fun. I hadn't been on a bike for two months, but I figured that I might survive a good ol' European ass-kicking. Before I could decide if I would race, Ondrej came with the news that I was already registered. There were two race distances, so I chose the longer one given that it was the closest to what I had done in the past... big mistake.
Well...I survived. I finished 15 out of 20 (5 people didn't finish). Five minutes into the run it became horrifyingly clear that I was in last place, and I hadn't seen anyone in 15 minutes. I am nothing special, but I could not believe how bad I was being beaten! The main thing going through my mind at this point was: "Man these Slovak athletes are super-freaking-human!!!"
Marta, Juro, and her dad were waiting for me at the finish. I couldn't help but notice the expression on their faces. They seemed to have some pride in my finish. I didn't quite get this reaction, my ego had just been destroyed in my last place finish. This is about the time I was informed that we had made a mistake in registering. Seems that the short course is your regular every-day Joe's category, and the long course was part of some national point series reserved for professionals. I didn't finish with a new PR, but at least some of my pride was saved. Ha! I must have looked like such a moron trying to play in such a race... I couldn't help but feel the sympathy clap towards the end of this race.
A very important lesson was learned here. I'm not sure what it was, because I ended up doing another triathlon this last weekend. Maybe it had something to do with training or something? The best part was that I had a lot of fun in these two races. Fun + a little pain = Good times. :)
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