At 6:30am on Wednesday, November 5th, with some nerves in my belly and a little trepidation, my wife and I set off on our journey to the Miami Man Triathlon, which was to take place on Sunday, November 9th.

On that fateful Wednesday, our day began with us getting on a ferry to leave our little Caribbean island home of Culebra and heading to San Juan International Airport where we would board a flight that would have us arriving in Miami at 5:00pm that same afternoon.

I have thought about doing a triathlon for many years now and the Miami Man International Distance Triathlon was going to be my first. The race also held particular significance for me because as co-founder of Train for Humanity this was part of my commitment to the humanitarian organization that Dan, Andrew, Leo, and I have created.

On Saturday, November 8, after visiting some relatives and doing some shopping during the previous days, it was now bike check-in and registration time. The race was to be on Sunday and as I stood in line to get my official number, there was NO turning back.

Sunday morning we awoke early at 5:00am as we had to get to the Larry & Penny Thompson Park park by 6:00am or else we could not park the car.

The 1/2 IronMan race was to start at 7:00 and the International Distance, of which I was a participant, would get started promptly at 8:00 (with my age group beginning at 8:10).

Watching the elite athletes and then various factions of groups from the half-ironman I felt somewhat calm, but in the back of my mind I knew that I would soon be at the starting line and swimming the .6miles (geeze those buoys looked far!).

At 7:45, under pleasant sunny skies, I made my way to the swimmer entrance area and surveyed the other athletes and participants. After nervously standing around and waiting for twenty minutes, the announcer finally broadcast that it was time for the men’s age group 40-44 to come to the front and prepare to get started.

The last thing I remember hearing was the announcer saying was that he was going to do a count down from the one-minute mark.

“One minute, forty seconds, twenty seconds….ready…GO!!”

And with that “GO,” we were off like a pack of wild water buffalo.

.6-Mile Swim
Since it was my first event I chose to start in the back so I didn’t get in anybody’s way. The water was a little chilly but I was determined to get into a rhythm and breathe. At about the halfway point we started swimming due east, which was directly into the rising sun. I literally couldn’t see a thing because of the blinding glow….so I just kept going and hoped I was heading in the right direction.

When we hit the final turn we passed the shore area where all of the spectators were waiting and I tried to get a glimpse of Terrie, but all I could see through my foggy goggles was a jumble of bodies shouting and screaming.

The swim actually went surprisingly well and I was in and out of the water in a little over twenty minutes, so it was time to head for the transition area and jump on the bike.

24-Mile Bike
The good…ride was all flat and the bad…I didn’t do enough speed work prep and watched everybody blow passed me :(

When I fist arrived at my bike (thank you Andante Bikes of Miami!) I joked to the guy next to me, “That swim wasn’t that bad, huh?” To which he replied, “Speak for yourself!” And thus ended my attempts at making small talk in the transition area…

The bike race was kind of funny and I must say that early on, even when checking in, I was a little intimidated by all of the expensive, triathlon specific, race bikes that I saw.

Indeed, my initial thoughts proved correct and before I knew it, most of those folks with fancy bikes (all of the people I had passed during the swim) were blazing by me. I kept telling myself that my goal was to finish and since I did not have any idea on the bike course as to how far I had gone, or how much further until the finish, I rode rather conservatively.

The majority of the bike portion went through flat, rural Miami and it was rather windy with hurricane Paloma passing nearby. By the time I made it around the final turn, unclipped my shoes, and coasted into the transition area I was really looking forward to the run and still felt both mentally and physically strong.

6.6-Mile Run
Upon dismounting the bike and slipping into my running sneaks I must say, I felt great! While tying my shoes I even took a moment to think about Train for Humanity and the over 2.5 to 3 million women, children, and men who have been displaced in Darfur due to genocide. Any pain I had been feeling dissipated quickly.

Trotting out of the transition I took one cup of Powerade and one of water, drank them down, and plodded on.

My legs felt a little heavy, but I knew I could do the distance no problem and was mainly concerned with keeping a steady pace and having a strong finish.

Part of the run went through the Miami Zoo, of which I don’t remember much, but I distinctly remember the elephants, gorillas, and lots of families, kids, and tourists enjoying themselves (seemingly oblivious to all of the grunting and groaning runners passing by). The course then went out into a large, non-descript parking area for an out and back loop before returning to the final section that would lead to the finish.

Finish Line
Because I made the rookie mistake of not reading the race literature clearly enough, and thus didn’t notice the mile markers that were laid out on the course, I didn’t really have any idea how much distance I had gone, or needed to go, to reach the finish. As such, I decided that I would not turn it on in the run too much until I could clearly hear the announcer’s voice over the microphone at the finish line.

When I finally reached the road that had all of the cars parked along the side that belonged to participants and spectators I knew it couldn’t be too much further.

All of a sudden, the number of people sitting in lounge chairs and cheering grew steadily larger as I continued to run. Until, at last, I could hear the names of the finishers being announced at what I guess was a around a half-mile from the finish.

It was time to speed up.

By this time in the race I’ll admit, I was not feeling all that great. I had a tiny stitch in my left side and I think the energy that I had put forth during the previous two segments had finally caught up with me. But, I tried to take a couple of deep breaths; I looked ahead, realized I could pass some people, and motored as hard as I possibly could for the finish.

A few minutes later, it was over…I was done. I DID it.

Final Times
Total Time: 2:38:19.000
.6 mile Swim Time: 23:57
T1 Time: 6:19
24 mile Bike Time: 1:9:15
T2 Time: 3:37
6.6 mile Run Time: 55:11
Overall Place: 176
Gender Place: 130
Category Place: 29

The triathlon was tremendous fun. I was a little mad at myself for not being in better shape and pushing myself harder, but the goal was to finish and I did that…rookie mistakes not withstanding!!

(Note: the situation in Darfur continues to get worse. Dan and I are done with our events, but Leo will be participating in the Honolulu Marathon on December 14th. If you believe in what we are trying to do with Train for Humanity, please consider sponsoring him. Or, if you blog, are on FaceBook or Twittter help us to get the word out.

We are still working on details for phase two but we are looking forward to having some new participant athletes and continuing to grow our organization.)

Thank you for reading!!