THE START
"Hey, Pat! You found me!" Among 2270 wetsuit-clad triathletes, what are
the odds I would see my closest friend among them at the water's edge
just five minutes before the gun was due to go off? Probably quite
good, as I'd also seen Richard, another compatriot from the South Sound
Tri Club, coming out of the water just as I went in for my warm-up. An
Ironman is really just a mobile small town, ratcheted into existence
for 3 or 4 days every year.
"I thought I'd find you here," Pat grinned back at me through his
goggles and his greying mustache. He kept smiling. "You wouldn't tell
me where your secret starting spot was, but when I was out in the
water, I looked back and saw this ... gap in the crowd right here."
'Right here' was about 20 yards from the far left edge of the start
line, which extended several hundred meters to the right along the
shoreline of Lake Couer d'Alene. I had brought Pat out here yesterday
morning, for his orientation swim, and explained about the "tri-modal"
appearance of the start: a bunch at the far left, on the direct buoy
line to the first turn, 800 meters away - these would be the ones who
thought they had a chance to go real fast, and wanted the shortest
route to keep their time down; a bunch in the middle, those who wanted
to get a good start, but didn't want to be in the melee along the buoy
line; and a bunch at the far left, those who were simply afraid of
being caught up in the chaos of a mass start in an Ironman Triathlon.
The folks in bunches 2 and 3 hoped they would be free of turmoil as the
gun went off, but their start would be cruel joke on them.
But Pat and I were starting in my secret spot, where few swimmers dared
to go. Given the correct trajectory, our first 2-400 meters would be
relatively calm, as long as we kept up a brisk pace. I'm sorry, but I
won't get any more specific than this about my spot, as it's worked for
me two years in a row, and I don't want it to get too crowded in the
future.
"No helicopter", I shouted at Pat, who looked quizzically in the sky.
"Usually at one of these things, they've got a helicopter overhead at
this point, for pictures and TV shots. Makes me think I'm at a Really
Big Race, when there's a helicopter at the start." What we got was the
national anthem, a few quick breaths, and hand shake, and "Good Luck"
to each other. Then the cannon boomed.