SuperSeal sprint was my first tri of the year. This race is put on by the navy seals but organized by Koz events. As a volunteer with Koz I get to do the race for free ( the sprint there is also an Olympic distance option ). I signed up for this pre TNT/Lavaman & figured a sprint 2 weeks out was a good warm up, heck I did a sprint last weekend for practice! Part of our TNT team did train for the super seal long course for their race instead of Hawaii. I was excited to do the sprint knowing my team was going to be out there too.
Everything that was planned slowly changed. The weather forecast called for rain. A friend suggested rain would make the bike dangerous & i should consider dropping out. After talking with coaches, that was suggested & I listened. As the race got closer organizers said rain would cancel the swim because of contamination. Then race morning when the storm was actually here everything changed!
Since I was not racing I committed to being on the cheer squad. I even made signs at work the night before. (I think I've come a long way that I fought being part of a team & now was so willing to be involved). I literally didn't sleep the night before like I was doing the race! It was all very exciting even knowing I was just supporting the team. When I got down to the race around 5:30am when transition was supposed to open...it was empty. I walked up to hear he announcement that the bike was also cancelled. A plan for a run was being made. I found the team & hung out behind the truck they where gathered behind to be out of the storm. This was literally the gnarliest storm I think I have experienced in San Diego! It was so windy! I don't usually stand out on the beach in weather like this so it's hard to say if it was actually the worst in history! The sand from the beach was literally flying in our mouth & eyes if you walked close to the beach. There was little rain for the time we were there. It was COLD! Luckily since I was in race mode night before I even laid out my clothes in anticipation of being out in he weather/cold. I didn't feel cold for a very long time. It was a long long wait for the race director to announce a 5k run would be mapped out. Some of our teammates decided not to do the run but most stayed. All of the cheer squad stayed. Most everyone headed inside their cars or the nearby hotel to wait. Some of us hung around outside.
When the route was ready & the race started there was probably about 60-100 participants in the sprint wave. Most our teammates decided to run with that wave to end the wait! We watched them take off then headed out to the finish line.
Our group WAS the finish line! We lined the finish shoot that was blown over by wind & looked like a war zone. Cheered every runner in! It was a lot of fun. It was windy, rainy, cold & FUN!!! After the sprint wave the olympic wave went off. We had a few teammates that missed the sprint start & were in this wave. Coach was every where checking on everyone's status & lived up to his Mother hen nickname! He called over to he finish line said our last teammate was headed on the last part of the beach. Everyone headed over met up with him & ran him in. It was a great moment. It meant a lot to me to experience how the team shows up & supports each other. Afterwards everyone did breakfast, mimosas etc at the hotel.
4th event was GREAT! Good food, warm & dry, lots of laughs & celebration. Our super seal teammates were the heros!
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