Talk About a LAST MINUTE Invitation

It was never in my tentative race schedule…I hadn’t even considered racing…I didn’t even apply for a slot on the start line…
But yesterday I got an invitation to the LIFETIME FITNESS TRIATHLON on July 15th!!
This race has the largest prize money of ANY triathlon in the world, it’s non-drafting on the bike, and it’s invite-only for 22 professional men and 22 professional women…but the best part is that the women RACE the men (and visa-versa)!!!
It’s called the Equalizer…the men start about 9 – 10 minutes after the women start and who ever gets to the finish line first is the winner! This will be the 5th annual race and last year was the first time that a man finished first.
But…more to the point…Am I going to race?!? OF COURSE I AM!!
The race is next Saturday (July 15th) and I bought a plane ticket yesterday…surprisingly, it wasn’t too expensive. The race organizers take care of hotel (hopefully, at least…there might be a problem since I’m such a ‘last-minute’ entry). I’m flying to Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thursday…arriving just in time for the pre-race meeting at 3:30pm. After the meeting there is a fancy dinner (so at least one meal is provided:)
On Friday I’ll get to see the course because they have a bus to drive us to the location. I’ll probably do a little loosen-up swim/bike/run and then spend the rest of the day relaxing.
Saturday morning the women start at 8:00am…they only tell us how much time is between the men and women at the pre-race meeting:).
So, basically, my MAIN goal at this race is…follow along closely here…exit the water more than the ‘equalizer’ time before the first man. Did you understand that? I want to PUT time on the men during the swim leg of the race…a.k.a. “have a faster swim time”!!
Check out the website for tons of information on the race…unfortunately with my last-minute-entry I’m not on the start list. But also note the TV broadcast on NBC on July 29th at 3:30pm (Central Standard Time…which is the zone between Florida time and Colorado time…I guess it’s Minnesota time).