Sunday, February 19, 2006
FA History... My Biathlon History...Crouch made FA history last night by scoring the goal against Man U that won the game for Liverpool - after 85 years. HURRAY!! Was watching the match with M, HY and S. The last time I watched a Man U vs Liverpool match with M and HY, it was a draw cos there were two Man U fans against one Liverpool fan. This time round there's two of us against two of them so we won! Hehe bought them drinks after gloating over their fate.Oops... not supposed to drink cos it's the NUS Biathlon the next day - my first biathlon, even if it is just the sprint event (800m swim, 5km run)!The beach was already crowded with competitors by the time we got there. We proceeded to collect our swimcaps and have our race numbers marked on us. This was the first time I had someone use a permanent marker to draw on me, on both my arms and thighs. We posed for Kelly to take some group photos. Hehe I think I looked quite pro...
We moved on to the transition area, where we carefully laid out our running gear, plus a water bottle and towel to remove the sand after the swim. Quite exciting, everyone has this little rectangle of space... I tried to commit to memory where mine is but it's not easy as every little rectangle looks exactly like the one next to it...Our supporters arrived just after we finished arranging our transition rectangle. There was run3, renoh, tlr and fd, who managed to find a nice little bench for our barang barang. I was in wave 4, whereas the guys were mainly in wave 5 & 6, so went ahead to the starting area to prepare. The various waves were differentiated by alternating swim caps of red (odd) and yellow (even). The gun went off and literally waves of competitors rushed towards the sea, and the air was filled with the sound of thrashing water. I had heard horror stories of getting your googles kicked off your face etc, so waited till everyone went off before plunging into the water. Brrrr... it was cold! Being a breaststroker (and a weak one at that), I was significantly slower than most of the frontcrawlers. It was difficult to concentrate on doing the right strokes in the beginning, as I panicked a little as I swam among the thrashing crowd. I got kicked a couple of times, but luckily never in the face. I felt hands hitting my legs too, and tried to swim away so I don't end up kicking the person in the face.The return lap was more spacious in the beginning, as many of the strong swimmers were now way ahead so I had to worry less about kicking or getting kicked. Soon, the waves got choppy as the next wave of competitors sped by in the opposite direction in the next lane. I accidentally took a few gulps of sea water. Urrgghh!! After a while, the fastest of the red caps thrashed past us. I did not realise the significance of this until I heard the loud thrashings of water behind me as I realized that the guys had caught up with the gals. Started panicking and trying my best to stay out of their way. After a few mins, told myself to calm down, ignore them and just swim straight ahead. Concentrated on my strokes and finally emerged out of water, and actually had the energy to run towards the transition area.Took some time in the transition area (according to Kelly I took so 
long that she was able to take quite a few photos). Tried to get rid of the sand from my feet. Got tangled in my top (not easy with the race tags pinned on) but eventually managed to break free. Finally was done and started the run segment.This was much easier for me. Started running 
at what I felt was a comfortable pace and was surprised to find myself overtaking quite a few fellow competitors. Guess this was because I was one of the last ten competitors to come out of the water so those I overtook also happened to be the weaker competitors. Nevertheless, I felt quite encouraged. The run was also more interesting in that I met lots of sgrunners along the way - flip (she never told us she was taking part!), sotong, gentle, cheow, tiwazz and littlefoot. And Kelly was there again snapping photos of us. Cheesseee!Done! My first biathlon with a time of 1 hr 19 secs. 72th out of 88 finishers in my category (94 signed up).Dream It. Plan It. Do It.
Just The Girl @
2/19/2006 11:46:00 PM
long that she was able to take quite a few photos). Tried to get rid of the sand from my feet. Got tangled in my top (not easy with the race tags pinned on) but eventually managed to break free. Finally was done and started the run segment.
at what I felt was a comfortable pace and was surprised to find myself overtaking quite a few fellow competitors. Guess this was because I was one of the last ten competitors to come out of the water so those I overtook also happened to be the weaker competitors. Nevertheless, I felt quite encouraged. The run was also more interesting in that I met lots of sgrunners along the way - flip (she never told us she was taking part!), sotong, gentle, cheow, tiwazz and littlefoot. And Kelly was there again snapping photos of us. Cheesseee!