IRONMAN PRINCETON 70.3

Before you get all excited, no I did not race at Ironman Princeton.  But I did have the opportunity to volunteer and spectate the race, so I'm coming at it from a different angle this time.
 
It was my first time being a mere spectator at a triathlon as opposed to a competitor.  As I reflect back on it now, I am SO grateful that I had a few triathlons under my belt BEFORE witnessing one...especially one of this distance and size!
 
My morning began when I got up at 2:30 am and escorted a praying mantis out of my house (yes, you read correctly).   After said praying mantis was removed, I hopped in my car and arrived at Mercer County park.  There was a large group of us who had volunteered to body mark the athletes.


Body Marking an Athlete at IM Princeton

Competitors began arriving a little after 4:00 am and continued streaming in until 6:50 am.  It made me crazy that a handful of them arrived so late, considering that the first swim heat (professional men) was schedule to go off at 7:00 am.  A NJ.com reporter took this photo of me and volunteer Tom body marking an athlete. Call me crazy but I thought it captured the moment perfectly!
 
After completing our shifts, we headed down to the lake to watch the swim heats go off.  The heats were divided into various age groups and went off every 3 minutes.  It was supposed to be a beautiful sunny day, but the morning started out damp, dreary, foggy, yucky.
 
There was a designated area in the lake where competitors were allowed to do a pre-race warm-up swim.  The start line was on the other side of the lake, so the competitors had to swim across the lake (not too far) then tread water until the gun went off.
 
As my eyes scanned the lake and took in the 1.2 mile swim distance, I realized how fortunate I was that I had never been a spectator to a triathlon of this size before.  Had I seen that swim course prior to learning to swim, I guarantee you that I would have NEVER taken an adult swim course...ever.  A year ago I would have looked at that course and thought "Nope, there is no way in heaven or hell that I can ever do that".
 
Remember, last year I was the girl who was afraid of putting her face in the water.
 
But what a difference a year makes.  Instead, I looked at the swim course and thought "I hope Ironman comes back to Princeton next year because I am so doing this race".
 


Ironman Princeton Swim Start

BTW, Ironman announced that they are coming back to Princeton next September and registration opens in December.  Woot, woot! An early Christmas present for me.
 
Anyway, back to the race...I noticed fast swimmers and anxious swimmers.  The anxious swimmers stayed towards the back and alternated between breaststroke and freestyle.  Once they calmed down they seemed to be able to swim freestyle continuously.  After watching several heats take off, I walked over to the swim exit to watch some of the athletes as they exited the lake. Most of them looked relieved to have the swim over with.
 
I feel your pain brother!
 
Next, I walked on over to the bike mount area where mayhem ensued!  I saw everything from an athlete noshing on a tuna sandwich (I could smell the tuna) to an athlete with an expensive tri-bike who forgot to inflate her tires. REALLY???  A handful of athletes came out of transition riding their bicycles (a HUGE no, no) and were screamed at by race officials. Quite frankly, they should have gotten a penalty.  One competitor threw her helmet on and completely forgot to snap the buckle under her chin.  A group of us yelled at her to snap her helmet on but she seemed to be in some sort of la la land.  Finally a race official ran over to her and snapped her helmet buckle.
 
But the worst was this; at least half of the athletes (and I am not exaggerating) mounted their bicycles BEFORE the mounting line.  Race officials yelled at them to get off their bicycles so that they could walk their bike OVER the mounting line before they were allowed to take off on the bike course.
 
I was standing next to another triathlete who was also spectating the craziness. Both of us were in shock at what was taking place at the bike mounting area.  You would have thought that a race of this size and scale would have brought out more experienced triathletes, but that didn't seem to be the case. Several of them looked like first timers out there.
 
After every cyclist had finally taken off, the professional men were already making their way back to transition from the bike. It was really neat to see the lead cyclist with the timing car in front of him.
 
The run course had a weird second loop area in it and several people missed the second loop.  They said it wasn't clearly marked so they had to go back and run the second loop to complete the circuit.  I have to get a bit more detail on that, but it's something that will be on my mind next year, unless they change the run course.
 
All in all I was thrilled to be a volunteer and spectator at IM Princeton.  I'm also excited at the prospect of doing the race myself next year. But the most important lesson that I walked away with was this:
 
If your new to swimming and want to get into triathlons, DO NOT (and I mean this) be a spectator until AFTER you complete a few triathlons of your own.  Trust me. All it will do is scare the pants off of you (especially when you see the swim).  And you don't need that kind of negativity before you get started on your own journey. And I'm going to leave it at that!