“Well I tried to make it Sunday, but I got so damn depressed, that I set my sights on Monday and I got myself undressed…” – America – Sister Golden Hair
I should be typing a glowing race report for the race I had signed up for today, but I’m not. I find myself typing words of regret, because for the first time in my history of doing races, I failed to start a race I had signed up for. A big fat DNS – Did Not Start.
I had every intention of doing the race. I was genuinely looking forward to doing it. ET Batavia is a sprint distance triathlon held in Batavia, IL. It’s an easy swim in a park district swimming hole, a gently rolling ride through town and outlying farms, and a tree lined run on the Fox River Valley Trail. I really enjoy the course and after racing it four or five times now, I was pretty familiar with it.
I set the alarm for 3:50 am and when it went off I got up with the full intention of getting ready and heading to Batavia. I could hear that it was raining outside, so I pulled up my weather app and saw this:
I dressed, ate and asked a now awake Kari if she still wanted to join me for a morning standing in the rain. Surprisingly she said “yes,” and we hopped in the car to head to the race.
I switched on the local AM radio for the weather and they were saying it was bad, and I new it wasn’t an exaggeration because it was raining hard on us. I got about 5 miles from home when I said “What am I doing?” I turned around and told Kari I’m pulling the plug on this one.
All things considered, as a triathlete I shouldn’t really worry about rain. You get wet in the swim for Pete’s sake. And I have raced two times now in heavy rain. I joked at Leon’s Triathlon the year we did it that it was interesting how the swim portion of the race was the driest part. It poured on us. And the 2018 Boston Marathon was not only rainy, but throw in cold and windy as well – the whole 26.2 miles. I wasn’t afraid of pulling out of the race because of the weather really, it just seemed ridiculous that I was about to drive 45-50 minutes to stand in the rain only to be told what my gut instinct was telling me – the race would be cancelled.
I got home and unpacked and checked Facebook for updates and there it was: “Race start at 7:40!!” REALLY?!?! Now I had regret. Knowing that I decided to pull out when others stayed with it just kills me.
Kari went back to bed. I ate another breakfast and read the newspaper until I fell asleep. Then I moped around the house until the skies stopped raining and I went for an 8 mile run. I ran hard, punishing myself for skipping a race I shouldn’t have. Oh well, I will be back next year – weather permitting.
an amazing run 