Friday the 13th - BFAST

By Bruce Lynn
I wanted to do one more BFAST race before this year was over. (BFAST isn't short for breakfast, it's Beaches Fine Arts Triathlon, -clever huh) This was the last race of a three race series which I had done in the past two years, and I really wanted to do one this year. MJ Tappen graciously agreed to preside over the Tri Club meeting so leaving it in very capable hands, Matt and I set out for the trip through hell (well maybe purgatory). I had asked to get off at three and was told 4:30 was the best they could do (so much for beating I-10 traffic.). When I got home from work the car that was supposed to be waiting for me was no where to be found. My daughter had borrowed it and promised to have it back by 3:00. She showed up at 6:00. Serenity Now.

I picked up Matt who is new to triathlon and we headed out feeling that pre race enthusiasm until we got to Madison where the traffic abruptly stopped for some late evening road construction. The traffic merged into one lane and it was tempting to follow some of the bolder drivers and pull a U-turn and head for Highway 90. We could have made better time on our bikes.. We got to Live Oak and traffic picked up and we were back on track or so we thought. The skies opened up and I heard one old timer say "I haven't seen rain like this since Noah was loading his ark". We pulled into Jax at 10:45PM. (we foolishly believed a sign that said Holiday Inn Express turn left .1 miles. We went 12 miles out of our way) Lynn Powell played it smart and got there early enough to beat the rain and scope out the race site.

After a few hours of sleep, we arrived at the race site in plenty of time to register, set up our stuff, and wait for the start. All of a sudden, 15 minutes before the start of the race, the gods of bad tris started dumping gallons of water on us. (I am very familiar with these gods, they don't play around). There was no need to bring a pan of water to clean the sand from your feet before the bike, just stick them in your bike shoes. Each shoe holds about 2 pints of water. After the tri-gods were sure everything was thoroughly saturated we went to the beach to play the waiting game. As we honed our skills in rip tide management, and how to tell which way is up when a wave pummels you, (the trick is, you stick your hand straight up over your head, if you hit sand you are upside down, if you just feel water, you are either right side up, or in water 10 feet or deeper). The race director and his staff discussed their options, swim -run- swim, swim-run, swim only, run only, transition only etc. Finally they came to a conclusion, come back next month.

Quite a few of us decided to swim and run the course, and I noticed the look of intensity on many of the runners as we crossed paths. Either they were first timers or they had come a long way to do the race. We left for bagels at a local joint and as if mock us, the sun came out and dried up all the rain and the three triathletes went back to Tallahassee again. Insanity Later. Yes indeed my friend the seas were angry

Tallahassee Participants -No time given
Matt
Hannah Gerber
Geoff Likens
Bruce Lynn
LynnPowell