Silver lining to rain delay
Iwas quite pleased to be woken by the sound of heavy rain on the roof at 7am last Saturday. Friday had been a day of decision, with wild wind and heavy rain closing the port and the beach reserve at Rabbit Island.
There was a fair amount of damage on some of the coastal cycle tracks too, as the weather and the high tide conspired to wreck chunks of the surface.
Saturday was to have been the day of the Nelson Mail Team Triathlon, but Friday’s weather had made it compulsory to decide on whether the event would go ahead – and the decision had to be made early, as we had a whole gang going out to the island on Friday afternoon to do some preliminary setting up.
In the end, after looking at the Saturday forecast and with the backing of the team, we called it off about noon, with the event postponed until Saturday, March 21.
In such cases, there’s always the chance that the next day will dawn fine and clear, and disappointed entrants will question the logic of the decision.
The rain that woke me made me smile and I was even happier when it pelted down some more late in the morning. Quite by chance, the decison had been confirmed as the right one.
Of course, there are masochists who would argue that you should compete anyway – that you should take what’s handed out and harden up – it’s character building.
In this case, I don’t agree. The Nelson Mail event is intended to seduce newcomers, to make them think that triathlon is a wonderful sport, where the sun always shines and everyone always has a good time. The weather that day would not have attracted anyone to the sport.
Things will change a little for the new date. The run was to be partly on the beach, but on March 21 a huge tide will obliterate the beach midway through the event, so the run will all be on hard surfaces. The swim will be enhanced because it won’t be so far to run to the water and it won’t take such a long wade to get to swimming depth.
If you can believe long range forecasts, the new race date is going to provide the best weather of any day for the next fortnight – fingers crossed for that one.
All this has caused a slight delay to my personal plans for a comeback.
Eighteen months ago I did a series of triathlons, but I had an injury and the results were disappointing. I decided it was time to retire semi-gracefully.
A lot has happened since then. I haven’t exercised much, so inevitably I’ve got a bit chubby.
Unexpectedly, I’ve found myself single and I’ve moved into a tiny house.
You can dwell all you like on the negative, and of course I’ve done plenty of that. In the end though, every ending is the chance for a new beginning (what a cliche – true though), so I’ve started training again.
After 18 months, my calf injury has gone away. I don’t take anything for granted, so I’m running slowly, but as regularly as I can.
I’ve entered the Christchurch half marathon at Queen’s Birthday weekend, so I have a carrot out there – something to work towards.
I’ve even started to think about retirement. I’m not 67 yet, so this is a bit premature, but work takes up such a lot of time and there’s so much to do every day, without that precious eight hours of life being squandered every day.
In short, life is an exciting place with such a lot of opportunities.
The first task is to make the Nelson Mail Team Triathlon a wonderful experience.
If you didn’t enter because the date didn’t suit, you have another chance.
A couple of teams are seeking replacement members and I have several people now seeking others to join with to form a new team. If you’d like to take part in this most wonderful of events and you don’t have anyone to form a team with, let me know at info@nelsontriclub.co.nz.
If you’d like to look at the course, we’ll have another familiarisation at Rabbit Island on Wednesday next week. Meet behind the main facilities block at 4.30pm. You’ll find any remaining fears are put to rest.