The Kiawah Island Golf Resort Triathlon took place Sunday, September 18. It is the largest single triathlon in the Charleston area with 500 participants. Participants must be turning 17 the year they are competing and come from as far away as Canada to take part in this Olympic distance triathlon. The Olympic distance triathlon consists of .7 mile swim (1.5K), 25.1 mile bike (45K) , and a 6.1 mile run (10K). The transition area is located at Night Heron Park in the center of Kiawah. The swim takes place in the ocean in front of The Sanctuary Hotel. The swimmers swim with the current. The bike course covers the entire island, traveling through maritime forest and salt marsh habitats. The run goes through the well shaded neighborhoods of Kiawah with less than an 18 foot change in elevation. Each participant receives a t-shirt, a swim cap, a medal and food. On average it takes a person between 2 and 3.5 hours to complete an entire Olympic distance triathlon. The fastest time from this year comes from Jose Fuentes with a time of 1:59.24. The top female time comes from his wife, Savannah Fuentes with a time of 2:14.57. The cap time for the Kiawah Triathlon is 4 hours. Only four people were outside the 4 hour limit.

I did the Kiawah Triathlon. I am happy to have survived. These are my thoughts throughout the entire race.

I woke up Sunday morning at 5am. My dad wanted to leave at 5:05am. He is all about being on time. We rolled up at Night Heron Park at 6 or something. It was all a blur. I got my chip, cap, numbers and body markings from a cute guy, but I couldn’t even really appreciate him drawing on me because I was still half asleep. We walked back to the car and got our bikes and buckets and walked all the way back to the transition area. I knocked some nice guy’s bike over trying to but mine in the rack. I’m glad he just laughed. We walked down to the beach to check out the swim, see how big the waves were, and test the water temp. The sun was just rising, the waves were nonexistent, and the water seemed a little chilly. I was no longer half asleep; I was just mad about nothing in particular. We walked back to the transition area and got ready to swim.

We walked to the start and put our caps on. I got in to test the water. It wasn’t as chilly anymore. They called my wave up and I got near the front so I didn’t have to run all the old ladies over during the swim. Nothing ruins swimming like a kick to the face. I knew the swim was going to be my only chance to beat some of these crazy triathlon women, so I went out as hard as I could. I knew there were seven buoys between me and the end of the swim.  I kept thinking I was going to see a shark or something, but I saw exactly zero animals. I started thinking about the finish of the swim and decided I was going to body surf in. It didn’t work out. I forgot there were no waves. I had to get up and run (see picture). I ran all the way to the Transition area. I put on my bike shorts, tank top, helmet and shoes. No socks. I hate socks.

I ran my bike out of the transition area to the mounting area. I got up and started pedaling. I pedaled for what seemed like 20 miles when I saw the 5 mile marker. I shook it off and kept pedaling. I successfully grabbed my water bottle, drank some, and put it back in the holder. I kept pedaling and my butt was really starting to hurt. I passed one really chubby guy in a bright green shirt and 5 people sped past me with those helmets that are super streamline. I reached mile 10 and tried to drink my water again. I drank some, and tried to put it back in the holder. I thought I put the bottle in all the way. I didn’t. It fell out and I ran it over and almost crashed into another person, who was passing me. After 25 miles, I finally made it to the dismount area and tried to get off my bike but just fell into the guy telling everyone to dismount. He sort of laughed, but I think it was more of a grunt of pain. I racked my bike and started to “run”.

I was really just waddling. I could feel the bike seat imprinted into my butt. I “ran” for probably less than 20 steps and stopped and walked like a mile. I came up with a plan. I was going to run 200 steps and walk 100. That fell apart after like mile 4. I started running 100 steps and walking like 500. Honestly, I didn’t count the walking steps I just walked until I someone passed me who I had to beat, like that chubby guy in the bright green shirt, the only person I passed on the bike. The people standing on the side of the rode started saying I had less than a mile. That did not make me feel better. I still couldn’t see the finish line. You always have to sprint the finish. I finally saw the giant arc and started to “sprint”. Ugh, I made it over the finish line. Some random lady gave me a medal and took off my chip.

I walked over to the water table, got some water that was so cold it gave me a brain freeze and sat down on the ground. All I could think about was not puking in front of all of these people. My dad ran across the finish line right behind me. Ha, I beat him! I went to check out the food table, but it was only healthy food, like yogurt and salad, who wants yogurt and salads after that. Not me! We talked to some guy my dad knew for like an entire hour. Then we went to the the Transition area and got all of our stuff. I fell asleep on the way home and dreamed about Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets. When we got home I took a hot shower, ate a huge plate of nachos (pictured right), and took a 4 hour nap, if you can call 4 hours of sleeping still a nap.

Overall, the triathlon was horrible, it was not fun, and the food afterwards was very disappointing but I did win my age group and got a pretty dope medal.