J-Lo SmayLo... I made the Podium!

Yes, this past Sunday was the celebrity infested Malibu Triathlon. You always knew where Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Lopez were based on the flashbulbs of the paparazzi. Yes, there were bets as to whether Matt would bike shirtless or not. He opted for a shirt. The Malibu Triathlon is considered a sprint tri. The distances are: 1/2 mile swim, 18 mile bike on PCH and 4 mile run... in that order.
I decided late in the season to push myself to see what I could accomplish. My goal was to try to podium in at least one of my 3 scheduled Tri's (Hermosa and Pumpkinman Las Vegas Club Nationals are next month). A month and a half ago I hired a coach to help train me. He creates training schedules for me and we phone conference once a week. I knew I was taking on a very lofty goal given the time frame but I figured I could repeat my performance from last years Hermosa and perhaps improve on it.


Last week I noticed that my attitude had gone a little south and I was dreading my workouts, even though my numbers were clearly improving. I realized I had put a wee too much pressure on myself, was pushing harder than my coach had even recommended. I was starting to dislike my workouts because none of them were fun anymore- they all hurt! I don't mean "hurt" as in injuring myself, but as in pushing my physical limits- every time. Time to back off and return the joy!
I decided to let that goal go, do the best I could while enjoying the process. My new goal: beat Jennifer Lopez's time! How lofty is that? I mean come on... ya gotta have some kind of incentive. Who cares that she just gave birth to twins 5 months ago. She has LOTS of leisure time and Gunner Peterson training her (lest you all think that I believe mom's just sit around with nothing to do, let's remember ... it's J-Lo... nannies, cooks, chauffers and personal assistants... she's got time!). Besides, she's about 15 years (give or take a few) younger than me.


I had to get up at 3:15 a.m in order to be in Zuma when the parking opened. It's limited and they advise an early arrival. When I was setting up I saw Liz Kollar who's also from the LA Tri Club. She's a legend in the club. I rode some training rides with her the first of the year with the TriChicks. She's pleasant, helpful and freakishly strong! She rides up montser hills then comes down and rides up with you. She's done 6 Ironmans and was accepted to Kona again for this years Hawaii. Apparently she recently had a birthday which bumped her into my age group... bummer!
We started talking and she told me that just after she received notification of Kona, she tried to grab a bike that was falling after one of the trichicks rides and tore her rotator cuff. She recently had surgery and was swimming with one arm... ONE ARM!!!! Unbelievable! She toasted the entire group swimming with one friggin' arm!!! Swimming is my slowest event and she beat me by 4 minutes... with one (1) arm. One. Impressive.

Even though my swim time was relatively slow, I felt strong and relaxed. I read the currents well except for rounding the last buoy. It carried me a little too north and I had to swim back south. I did have the second fastest bike time in my age group (guess who had fastest? ... Miss One Arm Swimmer! She was probably biking with one leg) and the 5th fastest run time. All which added up to me placing 5th in my age group and the last person to make the podium! Final time: 2 hours and 1 minute AND I beat Ms. Lopez by 22 minutes... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED X2. In defense of J-Lo, she had a respectable time. I admire her for taking it on and she contibuted to raising one million dollars for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles- a very good cause.

So here's the only pictures I have of me. VERY SCARY! They were taken by a LA Tri Club member and posted on the website. Ain't I serious lookin'? Almost as serious (scary?) as GK looks with that beard and dark glasses only I have my Bono Wannabe glasses on. I don't know who is scarier but I'm placing the vote squarely in my corner. GK?