Shawnee Mission Park Triathlon

I was really looking forward to the Shawnee Mission Park Triathlon this weekend. It was the only race that I had actually done before, so I was excited to compare my times from 2000 to now over the same course and distance and not just distance, like I've been doing.

Things didn't start out well though. I went on a long ride Friday and somehow I punctured a tire in the last 20 minutes or so of the ride. I didn't notice though until I went out Saturday night to check the air pressure. I only have two spare inner tubes, one new and one that's been patched before. I put the patched tire on, so I could have a good spare, and promptly discovered that it had another hole near the valve stem. Dang it. I tried to patch the new hole and had no luck. Finally giving up I tried to run to the bike store, thinking it closed at 8pm only to find out that's only Mon-Fri, Saturday they close at 6pm........ahhhh!! I ended up putting my good tube on and planning on doing the race without a spare, crossing my fingers that I'd not get a flat during the race.

Sunday morning started out beautiful and the fact that we only live about 30 minutes from the race site let us sleep in a little bit. We arrived at the site and I started setting up my transition area while Shantel and Mariah watched Macen run around like a maniac pointing out all the letters he could find and staring at all the cool bikes.

About ten minutes before the start of the first swim wave word came that there would be 30 minute delay because of a storm front that was moving in. That turned into an hour delay. The storm finally hit with about 10 minutes left in the hour delay prompting another delay. Macen was through though. With it pouring down, straight line winds approaching 60 mph and lots of thunder and lighting, I got on my bike and heading for the truck. By the time I got back to the park shelter where Shantel, Mariah and Macen were sheltering from the storm, the race officials had called the race and everyone was making a mad dash out of the park.

Overall a disappointment but I guess my inner tube issues were a fore shadowing of what was to come.