Trista Francis Triathlete: St. Anthony’s, Race Directors and Parking Garages…

(note: repost from Timex Blog)

I headed to Florida for my season opener. I was excited to do St. Anthony’s as it is a race I have wanted to do for several years now. I traveled with my Assistant, athlete, and sister, Thia to this race as she has become a great travel partner for such events.

: Thia and Trista

When we arrived, we had just barely enough time to get from Tampa Airport to Vinoy Park for packet pick up before 7pm. After parking and walking around for awhile… we couldn’t find where we needed to go! Pressed for time, we stopped a gentleman who was stacking water cups for the race and he said… “I’ll take ya over on the golf cart!” Well, I couldn’t have been more flattered as time was drawing near that 7pm mark. We hopped on and were escorted to the expo. After I had finished getting my packet and goodies.. I thought, “How are we going to get all the way back to our car?!” Right then, I saw our chauffeur waiting for us. =) I thought, Geez! I should get to know this kind man. We hopped back on the cart and I asked him his name. He answered “Phil”. I said “Philip Lahaye?” and he replied, “yes”. I thought to myself.. OH MY GOSH! The race director of St. Anthony’s Triathlon just took time out of his busy day to drive ME around in his golf cart. I was so impressed with this and decided this is an early season race I will do again, and again.

Race day was fun and eventful as they delayed the swim half way through the waves due to the water conditions. Fortunately it didn’t affect my wave and with some hard work in the water, I made it through the crazy surf. The winds continued to be relentless on the bike tossing many of the athletes off their bikes, but I was very pleased that the Colorado Winds had prepared me well for such a ride. As I hopped off my bike for the run, my hammy was VERY fatigued after my first 40k Bike Race Effort since my injury last July and I just muscled through the run.. Man! That 10k seemed long! I was excited to finish my first race of the season and am looking forward to continued strength and improvement with my run throughout the season.

: Trista and Philip Lahaye

After getting all our gear and bike checked in to TriBike Transport, we began walking back to the parking garage to drive back to the hotel. This sounded like a great plan until the first, second, and third garaged we went to; could not find our car! After walking around for over an hour.. we were gettin desperate! We were so tired and hot and could hardly think straight and honestly… just wanted to CRY! I thought to call up my good friend and Rockstar Kerry Sullivan who had raced to see if he was still in the area. At this point, I would have paid ANYONE to drive me around to find my car so I didn’t have to walk anymore. Kerry answered and once he heard of our situation… he said “Don’t you worry! I’ll come search you out!” and that is exactly what he did. Now if you are wondering if this is THE KERRY SULLIVAN… it is. He is a dear friend of mine who had a great race that day despite having to ditch his wetsuit seconds before the swim due to a broken zipper. He had a fantastic run and ran down most of the field!.. Yes, we located the car and were finally able to get back to a hot shower and some food. That will NEVER happen again…