This is the second year that I have done the Camp Pendleton International Triathlon. I was very impressed with the race last year and I was very much looking forward to doing it again this year. The Marines are very good at logistics and it is one of the best organized races anywhere. It does make things nice. The only downside was that the Strawberry Fields Triathlon was held the following day, so it was a choice. Strawberry Fields is a huge L.A. Tri Club event and so I would have known many folks racing, but there were twenty or so L.A. Tri Clubbers at Camp Pendleton, so I got the occasional "Go L.A Tri!" as I plodded along. Another major factor in choosing this race over Strawberry Fields was that I could stay at my parents house and save on lodging expenses. In addition my sister, Margaret Miller, was visiting from Port Credit, Ontario to go to her thirtieth high school reunion. It is always nice to see her.
The Great Magnetic Wife met me at work at a little after one in the afternoon. We planned on missing most of the Friday rush hour traffic and have a nice driver to La Jolla. Unfortunately, there was a wreck on the south bound 405 that closed all of the lanes except one. We didn't find this out until it was too late to do anything about it. It took two hours to get from my office in Van Nuys to Venice Blvd. in Culver City, about 14 miles. Fortunately, the rest of the trip was pretty good, but our nerves were a little frazzled at that point. Not quite the leisurely, stress-free drive we had hoped.
We managed to get to La Jolla about 6:00 and had a delicious dinner of Mom's King Ranch Casserole. One of my favorites, mmm boy! During dinner, I suddenly had a thought that I did not pack my goggles. I checked my bag and I was right. My mother told me about a Sports Chalet near by and so The Great Magnetic Wife, my sister and I took an after-dinner field trip to get some goggles. That would not have been good.
I did my usual pre-race routine of packing and checking and re-packing and re-checking, or as The Great Magnetic Wife calls, "obsessing." However, this time I got to do it while watching coverage of The Tour De France.
We got to Camp Pendleton early, which I always like. There is about a mile walk from the parking to transition. This is a very well organized triathlon. There was no expo the day before, so I did have to pick up my swim cap and timing chip then. The lines were reasonable and when I got to transition there was plenty of room.
About an hour before the start of my wave, we went down to the swim area to check it out and do a little warm-up swim. I brought my Crocs to wear when I got out of the water because the swim is about a third of a mile from transition and much of that run is on the pavement. The Great Magnetic Wife would hand them to me when I got out of the water.
We saw another L.A. Tri Club member and introduced ourselves. It was Heather Richards, we had a very nice pre-race time, I was very relaxed and ready to go. I finally got into the water, had a nice warm-up and was looking forward to the race.
To be continued...
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