LisaS wrote:
Hey I am so stoked to find this blog. I did a few triathlons back in the '80's. I have been looking for the results of the 1986 USTS in Hilton Head Island. Would you perhaps have these for the women's race? I was 21 years old and as naive as they come.
I came to the race from Nevada, qualifying by placing 2nd in the Bud Light Road Runner Triathlon. I had run cross country in high school and had been rather fast in 9th grade, finishing 2nd in state AA. After high school I bought a Kuwahara road bike and decided to do a few triathlons. I never kept my splits though. To train I ran and road my bike up the long hill from the lake to town. I trained for the swim by swimming out to the buoys that marked the public beach, and then I did laps between the buoys and would rest by hanging on to one.
In my inexperience, I had not planned far enough ahead for buying myself a plane ticket to Hilton Head, and by the time I went to do it the price was exorbitant. So I bought a train ticket and my friend gave me a ride 75 miles over to Kingman, AZ where I caught the train and traveled cross country (and not in a sleeper car) through Chicago to Washington DC. I remember having a 12 hour layover in DC, and walking around until I was exhausted viewing the exhibits in the Smithsonian and monuments along the Mall. The train ride ended in south Georgia. My uncle and aunt met me at the train station. I can still see the porter handing my uncle my bike box out by the tracks. I stayed overnight at my aunt's house and borrowed my grandmother's car who was out of town at the time. I drove out to Hilton Head and spent race day eve in a nice place, I don't recall the name of it. The night before the race I attended the pre-race dinner social and picked up my race pack, it was all quite surreal. I remember that night someone asked me what my qualifying splits were, and I had no idea. He gave me a funny look and walked away. The next morning to psych myself up, I put two lines of blue zinc oxide below my eyes like I'd seen some of the athletes in the magazines do. Who knows what that looked like! As I rode my bike over to the starting race area it was rather an overwhelming experience and I was a quite intimidated by all the hype, cameras and the crowds. I was nervous and nauseous with fear. During the swim I had my ankle grabbed more than once, and was pulled under and swam over top of by those so much faster and stronger! Wow! Welcome to a race with professional fast people! I remember coming out of the water and across the astro turf and as I turned the corner my bike rack section was completely empty except for my bike. As I rode along I remember hearing the hum of the disk wheels and the yells of the cyclists as they passed. I finished the race and walked around for awhile mingling with the other racers. I have no idea what my times were. I have been curious for many years. I am sure there are those who would say 'Wow, what a dumb person!' But I look back on the whole experience and laugh at my youthful naivete, and give myself props for not chickening out!
If perhaps you or someone else has the 1986 USTS Tri Series National Championship results and could tell me my splits, it would be meaningful to me to know. I always wondered where I placed. If you could send me a PM me that would be great.
Well...
You're in luck. I too raced that as my first "big race" having qualified but virtue of decent non-usts finish. In the race, I got my head handed to me. I raced poorly, but, even if I could have raced well, on that day I was out of my league. A guy from our "group" won my AG (20 - 24) Montgomery Mouw. Really nice guy and had an awesome race. He finished 17th place, beating many pro's with a time of 1:56:19.
I think I still have the nice white collar finisher shirt (somewhere). AND, I have the complete results book.
I did look twice through the complete women's results for a Lisa from NV and couldn't find a single one. If you want to PM me I'll be happy to look in more depth and scan the page to a PDF and email it to you. But, I need more info.
cheers,
keith
I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________