Sarcasm with a side of optimism.

Suck it in. Suck it up.

I've got my sister and cousin visiting this week. They hitched a ride back with us Sunday night and have been enjoying themselves at the luxury poolside resort. (Read: my condo.) I've been a little out of it this week for many reasons, but I assure you, I am still on track to do this triathlon. During a 2 hour lunch break, I picked up the girls and we went to a not-so-local multisport store inside the beltway. It was tiny, and very easy to miss.

We strike up a conversation with the sales lady and she eyeballs us for fit. "You both have no hips, so a men's suit should fit nicely." She hands me a men's small and Melissa gets a women's large. "You girls are tall, so pull the suit up such that the leg comes down to maybe 2"-3" above your ankle. Also, be careful with the material. Put the suit on like a pair of pantyhose, or else you might tear it."

Pantyhose? Um, like a pair of 1/2" thick pantyhose??

We go into the dressing room to deal with the suits, and immediately, I get my foot stuck. This is going to be a challenge. About 10 minutes later, we're finally fully suited. Legs were the hardest part. Once you get your crotch in place, the rest of the suit rolls on easily. The sales woman unzips my suit, grabs the open flaps and lifts me 3" off the ground such that I can sink into the suit. Believe it or not, it helped a LOT since it was pulling around my neck before. We are definitely going to need to help each other out at the transition areas to negotiate with these suits.

We also got some pointers. We're supposed to wear what we're racing in the whole time. There are triathlon shorts, which look like bike shorts with a 3" inseam, but they do not have rubber gripping around the legs, nor do they have such a large chamois lining. Instead, there's a fleece lining so it doesn't get soggy. We will be soaked after the swim even with the wetsuit. She recommended arm warmers and one of those sleeveless cycling vests, a skin tight top and sports bra as long as they were entirely synthetic. We will get sand between our toes as we're running from the ocean to the first transition area. We're supposed to unzip as we're running and wiggle out of the top half of the wetsuit (yeah right). She warned us in advance of the people who will go ballistic if we get in their way.

It should be interesting. A character building experience if nothing else!

posted by v @ 2:51 PM