As a spectator

Yesterday was the first time in about 5 years that I was out at a race as strictly a spectator. Typically I am in the race or I am not there. Amy raced yesterday at one to the Tri-America series races in Clermont, FL. She did the long course which is a new distance that falls between Internation and Half Iron. It was a 1.2 mile swim, 60k bike, and 15k run. Anyway the weather was not in the racers favor yesterday. There was literally a squall line of weather that came through bringing lightning and heavy downpours for about 45 minutes and this was the time they were on the bike.

But what left an impression on me were the folks that quit or couldn't finish. Particularly the ones that didnt make it out of the swim. Since I am usually in the race I dont see who gets pulled out of the water, I just hear about it later. I really felt for those that had to come out of the water. You could see the disappointment on their faces. Assuming they thought they prepared well enough it was a crushing blow to be pulled out. One man especially left an impression as I watched him walk up to his wife and kids who where waiting for him to come out of the swim finish. His wife's eyes said it all as she looked at him feeling so bad for him as he explained to his young son and daughter why he couldnt finish the race. I watched his wife put her hand on his arm and just to give a little reassurance. His kids looked really let down. I wanted to walk up to him and shake his hand and tell him that most people never would have even started the race and that I was sure he would be back another day to complete what he had begun. It was really pretty heart wrenching to watch.

The good part of the day was that Amy finished the race after enduring alot of adversity. The winds were really bad, the rain and some lightning (that actually forced some to stop), and to top it off she had 2 flat tire with only 2 miles to go on the bike. She only had one spare tube so ended up riding the last mile or so on a flat. That part is hard for her because she was having a great race up to that point. She still ended up catching and passing a couple of her teammates on the run that passed her while she changed her flat. So although she was disappointed with some bad luck, I was proud of her for enduring.

I am usually not one to endorse quitting but if you had seen how bad the weather was you would have agreed, no shame yesterday for those that quit during the bike.