Triathletes in the Hiz-ouse

Matt: The race started on top of Purple Mountain, often referred to as the lungs of Nanjing. It’s a very pretty mountain with a lake near the top. A cold lake on an October morning, I may add. The race started promptly at 7AM, so with transport, and other logistics we were up at 5 that morning. The funniest part of my part of the race was the swimming. As I tried to get out of the water to tag Laura I simply fell backward; I didn’t have my land legs back. On my second attempt I fell to the left still not able to balance. After falling for the third time I half crawled half floated to a very eager Laura so she could run down the mountain and hop on her bicycle.

Laura: Oh, am I sore this morning. I prefer to think it’s due to the race yesterday morning, rather than the celebration afterwards.

From Nanjingman Triathalon

Six of us entered the annual, unofficial Nanjingman Triathalon this year to make two relay teams:

	Team 310	Team 319
Swimmer	Matt	Craig “Lynchie” Lynch
Cyclist	Laura	Jason Crawford
Runner	John Michael	James “Oggie” Ogram

John Michael’s the only legitimate athlete of any of us – his 9.6 kilometer run (that’s about 6 miles for us Americans) clocked in at about 50 minutes, though Oggie wasn’t too far behind, only five minutes longer. Matt swam 800 meters in 24 minutes ten seconds – that’s about a half mile swim!

From Nanjingman Triathalon

From Nanjingman Triathalon

They didn’t even bother to clock my time on the bike – I missed a turn and found myself lost in Purple Mountain. By the time I made my way back to the last place I saw volunteers directing triathalon traffic, they had already packed up and gone home. I cruised in about an hour after everyone else – but I still got a breakfast and T-shirt.

From Nanjingman Triathalon

There’s always next year – Lucy, my friend and coworker, and I are going to start a women’s team for the May triathlon, if we’re still around. With only two other all women’s teams entering this fall, we’re at least guaranteed third place, no matter how lost we get!