Rekindling A Forgotten Love

A Callaway Gardens Sprint Triathlon Race Report

My first out of town race trip began bright and early on Saturday. I was actually feeling pretty good. Taper had caught up with me, and I had actually slept fairly well Thursday and Friday night. Dee Dee wanted to get to Callaway Gardens before 5 PM on Saturday. That was the cut off time for race packet pick up. I realized late that night that we did not have any dog food for my pack of hounds, and I would have to go out in the morning and get some. As some of you may or may not know, I love to cook breakfast for my family. All this having to run around was cramping my style! I made a quick version of the family breakfast and quickly got myself dressed and ready to go.

My oldest son comes downstairs and tells me he wants his summer reading books to take on the trip. Great! Dee Dee wanted a race belt. Double Great!! I wanted to get Dee Dee a Woman's Timex for race day. You see where this is going? Jimmy and I piled into the car and headed out. First stop, Walmart. Dee Dee got a nice new Woman's Timex to wear to the race. Second stop, bookstore. Jimmy quickly found his books, and I didn't have any time to browse. Bummer!! Luckily, the pet store was right next door. Three down, one to go. We made a quick detour over to the bike store, but alas, they had no race belts for Dee Dee. Just damn! I'm sure she would understand.

Arriving home around 12:30 PM, I hurriedly packed the car and loaded the bikes. Once everyone was packed and loaded, we headed out for Pine Mountain, Georgia. The good news is that we got off early. The bad news was that we decided to stop for lunch at a place three miles off the interstate with a line through the drive through a mile long. Good thing we managed to leave a bit early. We arrived at Callaway Gardens around 3:30 PM. Pine Mountain is a lovely little town. It has all the amenities you would expect around a tourist attraction in the heart of Georgia. There was a Busch Gardens type of animal park. There was a place called "Butts Farm" where they had horse rides, go carts, and other "fun stuff". There was a trailer park, cabins, and country stores.

When we arrived at the hotel for packet pickup, the parking lot was full of cars with bikes on the back. It was AMAZING! About 700 triathletes were here for the race. I was stoked! We found the packet pickup table by the ball rooms. Dee Dee and I received the usual goodie bag of endurance foods and a t-shirt. We scored a race belt for Dee Dee at the "expo"! I didn't think they would have anything at a race that small, but they did, and it was good :-) On the way out, we stopped and listened to the triathlon clinic for a few minutes. The newbies were asking all the usual questions. I smiled a lot. I remember when I was the new guy ;-) Truth is, I've learned so much from following all of you guys race reports, I kind a knew what was going down. We left the clinic and drove to the hotel. All of the sports packages in Callaway were booked for the race. We had to stay in a hotel in La Grange, Georgia, about 13 miles from Callaway Gardens. The hotel we stayed in had all the doors to the hotel room on the inside. This made Dee Dee and the boyz much more comfortable.

After checking and getting settled into our room, the boys got their bathing suits on and headed down to the pool. Dee Dee and I relaxed for a minute, got changed then followed them down to the pool. When we arrived, it seemed that Matthew and Jimmy were having a great time.


We stayed at the pool for about an hour. Not enough to wear me out, but enough to cool down, relax, and further restore my muscles during taper week. Once the boys had had enough of the pool, their thoughts turned to food. What a suprise, eh? The boys will eat me out of house and home! Promise!!

Dee Dee mentioned wanting to eat at one of the little restaurants in Pine Mountain. Sweet! Off we went back into town. We made one pass through town and decided to try the local Italian restaurant. Funny thing. The main dining room had been reserved for a party of thirty two. That left six tables open in the adjoining "dining" room. Lucky for us, we only had to wait twenty minutes before our table was ready. We found some interesting things to keep us busy.



Finally, our table was ready and sat down to eat. For a little restaurant, in a little town, the food was fabulous! I had Veal Parmesan with a side of pasta. Dee Dee had Lasagna. Jimmy had his usual Chicken Alfredo, and poor Matthew refused to eat. He wasn't feeling good. Poor guy. Luckily, by the end of dinner, he was feeling better and ended up eating half of Dee Dee's dinner.

The best thing about dinner was the beer I had! Yes!!! The beer! They had a dark Italian beer called La Rossa. It was the absolute best beer I have had since I was in Germany!!

Dear, sweet, dark beer! How much do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

After our fabulous dinner, we headed back to the hotel room to rent a movie. Matthew and I battled for our choice and ended up watching The 300. That was one gory movie. I was fully aware that there was questionable content in the movie. I had Jimmy and Matthew hide under the covers during the worse parts and put the sound on mute. I do have SOME standards :-)

I believe we finally go the lights out around 10:30 PM. One of the things the lady at the tri clinic told everyone was not to expect more than three hours sleep the night before the triathlon. I was fine, sleepy even, but poor Dee Dee was tossing and turning. When Dee Dee doesn't sleep, Wes doesn't sleep. Between midnight and 1 AM, she finally settled down and I was able to fall asleep. The alarm and wake up call was set for 5:30 AM. Dee Dee was in the shower by 5, and I got up around 5:20. So much for a wake up call. We dragged the sleep boys out of bed, headed downstairs for breakfast, then it was time to head off for the race.

We arrived at Callaway Gardens around 6 AM. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought for sure there would be a line trying to get into the park. I guess with so many people staying close by, there just wasn't a rush to get in and get setup. We parked the car, got marked, then headed to transition to get our bikes setup. We scored a spot close to the bike exit, but at the far end of the swim entrance/run exit. After getting all setup, we headed down to the beach to warm up for the swim.

The water was pleasantly warm! Not bath water warm, but it was reassuring knowing that I would not be suffering from shock as I started the swim. Since it was still twenty minutes before the race, I spent a little bit of time enjoying the waters of the lake.

I had decided the night before the race, that as a warm up, I would swim the 400 meters from the end of the swim to the start of the race, and that is just what I did. Fifteen minutes before the pre-race meeting, I took off along the course and swam the whole thing. It was delightful. It built my confidence. I was ready for the swim.

Slowly but surely, the 600+ triathletes gathered at the race start. The race director delivered his final instructions and assembled the first wave. There would be five waves for this race. The first wave was 15-39 year old men. The second wave was 15-39 year old women. The third wave was 40 and over men, and the fourth wave was 40 and over woman. The final wave was children, their escorts, and clydesdales.

The race director sounded the starting horn at exactly 8 AM, to resounding cheers from the other triathletes, supporting their own. Four minutes later, the second wave went off, and it was time for me to get in water. I headed to the front of the line and got as deep as I could stand. It was a good decision. I had plenty of room for myself. I joked with a guy next to me about finding some clear space, not knowing that this 51 year old gentleman would ultimately win the entire race. With a count down, the RD sounded the horn for my wave, and we were off.

The first thing I noticed was the bubbles from the guy's feet in front of me. I'm not "used to" getting blown away at the swim, but this guy was fast. Rather than try to keep up, I put my head in the water and concentrated on getting off to a smooth start. About half way to the first bouy, my spirit was soaring. SOARING!!! I was doing it! I was comfortable! I was making it happen. The first time I poked my head above water, I realized that I was heading out into deep water, rather than heading for the bouy. I made a quick adjustment and rounded the first bouy within a few feet. As I made a right turn for the swim exit, I arced left into shallower water. It ended up being a very wise decision, as I avoided a lot of swimmers from the second wave that were standing and walking along the bottom.


That's me in the light blue cap closest to the bottom. My son took some awesome pictures. I have no idea how he managed to pick me out of that crowd of people. Within about twenty yards of the shore, I stood up and proceeded to run to the shore. As I crossed the red bouy, I was so excited to hit my watch and see a time of 6:57. That was beyond my wildest dreams.

I ran up the short beach, past the bath house and into the parking lot. I just didn't have the strength to run all the way to my bike. I was breathing very heavy and making humming noises as I breathed deeply in and out. I realized some of the other triathletes were looking at me in concern, but I didn't care. I felt fine. I just needed to bring my heart rate down and catch my breath. I walked to my bike and proceeded to change. I slipped my bike shorts over my jammers. I put on my shirt and helmet. I reached in my bag, found my sun glasses and put those on. I took my Road ID off of my bike and slipped that on my ankle, and followed that with my race belt. I was excited that about my transition. While I didn't do it really fast, I did not forget a thing. I slipped on my bike shoes and made the slow walk to the exit, where I hit the lap button on my watch and mounted my bike. I got a little frustrated when my shoes failed to clip in, but in retrospect, the few seconds it took me to get it "right" just didn't matter. My shoes were seated. I was ready to go. Game on...


The bike ride was one big blur of speed. I remember getting behind another male cyclist in yellow and a dude on a tri bike during the first couple of miles. After deciding that they were going to slow, I accelerated and took off around them. There was no looking back at this point. I hammered and hammered and hammered. I passed too many people to count. Not a boast, but a fact. The entire bike leg consisted of my reeling in pack after pack of cyclists. I was in a rhythm. Target identified! Accelerate! Pass!! Next target!!! and so on. I didn't get passed by a single person until within a mile or two of the finish. The bike route was all in the shade. It had plenty of downhill (obviously), plenty of flats, and a few steep sharp up hills. As we came to the end of the bike, I passed the two guys that had passed me, thus ending my bike ride without being passed and some extra umph in the engine. I was especially pleased to see my boys waiting for me at the end of the bike. They didn't get to take any pictures, but just seeing them there was so special. I just couldn't believe my eyes when I hit the lap on my watch and saw my time: 23 minutes and some change. I had no idea what that meant, but I would sure enjoy it later!

T2 went very smooth as well. It was a lot easier anyways. I changed my bike shorts for running shorts, put on my running shoes, and took off my helmet, and I was off. The run out was the swim in. Down past the bath house and onto the trail around the lake. As I made the first turn to go around the lake, the boys were there waiting for me again.

The back side of the lake was all in the sun, and it was hot!! I had no idea what my pace was, but I was trying to do run 4 minutes walk 1 minute. I got passed by a few people on the run, guys and gals, but that was OK with me. Once I reached the far side of the lake, I stopped getting passed and started passing. There was a short stint through the cool woods. This was the only place where there was anything resembling a hill. As I rounded the final turn to head towards the finish, other triathletes were along the course, encouraging those to come. I put my head down and sprinted to the finish, beating out a 19 year old that started the race eight minutes before I did. That was sweet :-)

I forgot to hit my watch until I arrived at the timer's table. 53:17. That was good enough for me. I had done the run in sub-18, and no, I couldn't believe it. I'm not sure why, but I run faster without my Garmin, almost like its holding me back. Maybe I run faster when I don't know any better. Who knows? I went to the pavilion and got something to eat and drink, then I walked back along the run route for about a quarter of a mile to wait for Dee Dee. I encouraged all the triathletes coming through. It was awesome.

Sooner than I expected, along came Dee Dee. I ran with her for a short ways, then I veered off so she could run through the finish chute in triumph. That was a special moment for me. I hope it was a special moment for her too. From the way she's been floating around the house today, I believe it was :-)

We spent another couple of hours at the park, watching Matthew enjoy the water park and listening to the awards ceremony. The long drive home was uneventful and somewhat tiring. I only got sleepy one time. The adrenaline carried me through the day. After unpacking the car at home, settled down for a much needed two hour nap before enjoying the rest of my day.

Thanks for hanging around and reading this long winded story. I'll be revising it a bit in the future as I include more details. For now, I've decided not to do another triathlon before the Olympic in August. A wise man said once, "I'm tired now. I'm going home." If you can name that movie, I have an all expenses paid free dinner at my restaurant. That's how I feel. I'm tired now. I'm going home to rest. The Oly is my A race for this triathlon season, and that's enough for me. I'm going to bask in the glory of this personal triumph. No one and no thing will ever be able to take this away from me.

Wes