St. Anthony's Triathlon 2010 Recap: part 1

Hello! It's been a few days. I've been working, yawn.

I specifically made sure I was not scheduled for yesterday though because of St. Anthony's Triathlon. It seems like every year it comes and goes and then I hear about it and kick myself for not remembering to go watch. This year, however, I wrote it on my calendar!

But first, here is a ridiculous story: my alarm went off early since I wanted to see the triathlon from beginning to end, at least with the pro athletes.  When I walked out to my car it was still dark, and I thought I saw something two cars down from mine, so I stopped, and then realized it was a person crouching down, hiding behind a car. My heart started immediately racing and I imagined all of these terrible scenarios of someone hiding and ready to pounce on me. I hauled ass up the stairs and fiddled with my keys, thinking someone might be after me! I was freakin' scared!!!! I slammed the door locked behind me and went into my room to look out the window.
Stupid me, turns out it was just one of the neighbors getting ready to go fishing. It looked like he was hiding because he was picking supplies off the ground to place in his truck. hahah! Well, I followed by instincts anyway. -->paranoid freak!

Besides that fiasco, I was super excited to go to the triathlon. I couldn't get Mirza to  wake up that early, but that's okay because I had fun by myself.

Watching all of the marked tri-athletes walk to the water was exhilarating. I started questioning whether I could do something like that, and imagining what it must feel like to walk to the starting point.

(That's the pier--downtown St. Petersburg, Fl)

Finally, the guns went off and the pro male athletes started. I honestly could not see them in the water.
I walked out far, too; close to the end of the wall until it ended, but I could not see anyone swimming!?
I know they were out there!

I decided to walk over to the bikes, hoping to catch the first person, but he was too fast for me!! I got close to the Vinoy and then I heard the sirens and saw a white SUV leading a definitely serious pro-triathlete through the streets of downtown St. Petersburg! It was inspiring because there were hundred of people cheering and screaming.

After that, I spent a long time over by the bikes watching them head out, until I had to walk back to my car to put change in the meter.

Snapped these on my way to the car

I love downtown St. Pete. We used to spend so much time there when Mirza and I first started dating, but then it just got kind of old. Even over the past 7 years, it has changed tremendously. There are a lot more shops and restaurants. I lived downtown about 2 years ago while finishing up nursing school. I would definitely love to live there again, but it is far from my job.

It was also a perfect day. Not too hot, with a breeze. But I'm sure the wind kind of sucked for the participants.

I made my way back to the race site. As I was walking back, I heard the sirens again around the same spot and sure enough, it was the male pro athlete in the lead coming back from his 40k bike ride!! grrrr, he was too fast for me again.
I did manage to film a quick video, but it is bad quality.
Other random photos:

This post is beginning to get long and photo-heavy. Look for part 2 later this afternoon with the results of the race and pictures of the top athletes running towards the finish line! totally epic.