Try-athlon

I tried to do my first triathlon (Kokopelli Triathlon) today, but it was cancelled due to weather.



On Thursday the weather forecast was looking grim - heavy rain for St. George, and pretty much all of Utah. But when I got up this morning at 6:00 am the ground was dry. I drove out to Sand Hollow with my wife and headed to the staging/transition area. The water was warm (last report was 75 degrees) and I considered going without the wetsuit, but I put it on and it wasn't too restrictive so I kept it on. The sunrise was nice and I was getting excited to go. They started the first group of intermediate distance swimmers at 7:30 (was supposed to be 7:00) and then they started the first group of short distance swimmers around 8:00. But then the storm front hit bringing strong winds and rain. Evidently the water safety people were concerned about their ability to monitor and help swimmers in the chopy water with the wind blowing the boats around, so the race director made the call to cancel the event. My mind was set on this race and it took a while for it to sink in that it was over before it began. I was disappointed. But slowly packed up my gear and headed back to the car. My wife was suportive and disappointed as well.



I'll probably try to do a Triathlon again, but probably not until next year. I'm still a bit annoyed that they didn't postpone to see if the weather would improve. And I'm not happy about spending $90 for no race. In general this is yet another instance in support of my growing dislike of organized events. When it's just me, and maybe a few buddies, we can usually do a fairly fun plan B even if plan A doesn't work. But with these events it's all or nothing, go or no-go. Sure, I like the comraderie, competition and palpable energy of events with 100s of participants, but I'm leaning more and more to the low-key, small rides for the convenience and purity (i.e. just ride, no other fluff).