Lake Arrowhead Triathlon Parking Report

This weekend was the Lake Arrowhead Sprint Triathlon. The transition area is set up in a parking lot next to a parking garage. Just outside of the garage, there were 4 random parking spaces. Robert and I got to the race a little area and we got the last of the 4 spaces. We parked 82 STEPS FROM THE TRANSITION AREA! (Yes, I counted.) Unbelievable. Greatest parking spot EVAR.

The swim is 600 yards in a lake. Annie was debating whether or not she should wear her wetsuit for such a short distance. (At this point we didn't know how cold the water would be.) Mac told her "Well I'm not wearing mine." Annie replied, "Yeah, but you're a big tough guy. Wedgie, are you wearing your wetsuit?"

Gee thanks.

Turns out the water was perfect in the mid-70s and we didn't need our wetsuits. I screwed up the swim but it wasn't really my fault. Well, I guess it was.

As with any race, we were supposed to swim around each buoy. But before the final buoy, kind of closer to the docks, was a woman wearing all white in a white kayak. She was kind of far away from the main race lane and the group of swimmers I was with started heading towards her. She was in an odd location, so it kind of looked like she was acting as a buoy. She was yelling stuff out to us, and as I got closer I heard it was "go around the buoy." I could tell that she had already given up. I asked, just to confirm "we're supposed to go around the buoy?" "Well, you're supposed to..." I told her "Well I'll be fair about it" and I went back to the buoy. Since the swim was so short to begin with, it did add a lot of extra time but at least I know I did a fair race.



The odd thing is that no one else remembers seeing the Woman in White. They think I was hallucinating or that she was some Guardian Angel of Triathlon.

Bike was hilly. 10 miles. This was Sara's first time doing the race and she did the bike as part of a relay with Annie & Scott. I forgot just how hilly and winding the course was but she rocked it.
Run was hilly. 3 miles. This was Scott's first time doing the race and she did the run as part of a relay with Annie & Sara. I forgot just how hilly and winding the course was but he rocked it.

I was shooting for a Top 10 finish but that was based upon last year's field of 30 racers in my age group. This year there were 45 people in my age group and I placed 20th. Not bad. Here's the breakdown:

My swim+T1 was about the same as last year, 20 seconds faster. (most of that time was made up in the very long run to the transition area and T1 itself.)
My run was about the same as last year, 30 seconds slower.
My bike+T2 was about 8 minutes faster than last year. This is only a 10-mile bike, so that's a 17% improvement. Yay me.

I wanted to finish in 1:20, I made it in 1:17:58. Yay me again.

http://72.52.225.154/wedgie/arrowhead/arrowhead_snacks.jpg

Of course the main reason for doing Arrowhead is so that we can stay in a cabin for the weekend, drink Margaritas and play Rock Band. Saturday afternoon we went over to the community pool where an outspoken 12-year-old girl came up to us in the pool and asked why 4 grown men had a High School Musical 2 raft. There really is no good answer for that, but when we told her we worked for Disney she said "OK, that makes sense. Otherwise I'd be worried." Dudette, you're 12. Do not judge us.

Many people are very excited to "make it to the blog", but sometimes they make it for dubious reasons. Take "Aaron". Aaron found a watch in one of the bathrooms and asked "does anyone know whose watch this is?" Annie said "I think it's Wedgie's." Aaron, who was not familiar with my blog, said "no, I think it's a woman's watch." Oh no he DIDN'T. (For background, read here. Or here. Or here.)

On Sunday, we went to Lake Gregory. I did not want to go to Lake Gregory. Lake Gregory is where the evil water slides are. But Annie had never been there and she wanted to go. So we went, bought our tickets and headed to the slides. Annie had been warned about the slides but apparently did not remember my review from last year:

"one was a fun wet ride and the other was a demonic nightmare. I could barely stay on my raft and I couldn't see a thing because of all the spray smacking my face. Super scary."

I guess we knew Annie wasn't having a good time when we saw her coming down the slide backwards on her mat. She seemed pretty miserable and I felt terrible because I couldn't stop laughing at her. I just hid my face behind my own mat. Scott on the other hand loved the slides and would have spent all afternoon there if it wasn't for the super slow lines.

So thar ya go. Lake Arrowhead Tri. Small and fun. Do it.