I wrote off this event when I decided to sign up for a half Ironman in September and then doubly wrote off it again when I signed up for a full Ironman 2 months out. This was my biggest regret because this course, the competition, and Cleveland exceeded all my expectations.

This event brings together the best age-groupers in the nation. Top 18 from each category qualify for world champions and get to represent team USA. We are talking the best of best amateur olympic and sprint distance triathletes. Any sport enthusiast ever dreaming of representing Team USA would recognize this as the golden ticket.

Leading up to the race I was pushing my endurance and didn’t taper throughout the week as I usually do. Perhaps I was overconfident in my fitness level, or I already thought I was also taking it easy, fending off some hip, calf, knee, and shoulder tightness. I was naively overconfident that I could place top 18 just because the pool of 20-24 years old is half if not one third the size compared to all other age groups. I reckoned I needed to be in the top 30%. My focus leading up to nationals was ironman training, which proved to be a major miscalculation.

There was also some underlying stress around this trip. I booked accommodations and flights last minute having go jump through hoops to get airbnb’s software to cooperate with me. To save money, I was spending 24 hours in Ohio. My schedule was hour by hour packed: 8am arrive at CLE airport, 9am grab breakfast, 10am registration and expo, 11am swim practice, 1pm pick up rental bike...

A day before leaving, I realized I shot myself in the foot. The Team USA website stated top 18 slots needed to be accepted at awards ceremony, no exceptions. That didn’t even cross my mind when I decided to book a day trip. I guess I could “miss my flight”. You only live once that the motto f**king yolo.

Ready for the big unknown, my trusty companion was an oversized chrome bag and a helmet hanging off the side. I travelled with it on the short flight from New York to Cleveland then to breakfast near 65th st. I then walked across the quaint restaurant strip, past cute houses, then toward the expo area. I waited in the zigzagging line outside of packet pick up, hauling a 30lb pack that basically held my life in it. Everyone else already had their training kit on, finished their bike or run today, and was early in line for the 10am open. Perfect living examples that triathletes are type A personalities. The line weaved back and forth through the lawn before pick up even opened and once inside the tent, the bib number tables were so close you couldn’t move. Age group lines spilled out, blocking anyone from coming in and moving through. I opted to jump the rope and get out of the tent to see the expo, as I wasn’t going to get my timing chip anytime soon.

The expo was filled with quality booths. Roka, USAT, the Escape Series, Gatorade, Normatech all showed up. Nothing crazy in swag, but I soaked in the excited overall atmosphere. What hit me like a wave was the feeling of doing this race completely alone. I didn’t have my tri team to go through expo with me or parents to help with race prep. Confirmed, I was recently single. All byyy myyyseeellfff..

After making a quick round through the booths, I dragged my belongings through the lawn area and trekked across the sand to get a practice swim in. The beach had a pavilion to the side decked out with a beach bar and swings. The swim finish and barriers were already set up. The lake was brown, resembling a sheltered ocean cove with its waves and possibly too high bacteria ppm (concern was not ameliorated from an email sent days before). I stripped down to my suit and left my belongings next to a barrier. The water was littered with bark and dirt and athletes in the water were bobbing up and down in the 2ft swells. I dove in to do a quick dip to get my feet wet and feel out the lake. All aboard the Lake Erie kiddie coaster! First order of business once out the water was google search of “how to combat open water currents”.

Thinking I’ve accumulated enough apprehension for race day swim, I jogged out of the water, grabbed my belongings, and found a shaded picnic spot to dry off and reorganize my bag. A quick bite from the taco trunk provided lunchtime sustenance and I weaved through the packet pickup tent again to retrieve my timing chip and event t-shirt.

Soon enough I was headed off towards Lakewood, a short Lyft away from Edgewater to pick up my rental bike. The ridiculous fees for a bike bag flying to Cleveland deterred me from bringing my own race bike. Luckily, Spin Bike shop had really superb race bikes in their demo fleet. The amazing staff got me situated and even found a way to let me screw on my aero bars to a mint 2019 Specialized Tarmac. Now that’s called service. I took a quick spin, riding through Lakewood to the beginning part of the Rocky River river path. Weather started to turn bad, so I rode back to the bike shop. Back at the shop, the staff was doing their best to help frantic triathletes whose bike had been damaged in shipping. Yikes! But case in point.

I strapped my 30lb chrome bag on my back to ride 20 minutes to my airbnb. A small asian girl in a black tee and Nike Pro Combat shorts, with a bag the size of her on a $5,000 carbon bike. I must have looked crazy riding the streets of Cleveland.

After getting slightly lost en route, I could not for the life of me find the apartment number in the new development area Battery Park. I swear my airbnb house number did not exist. Texting the host, walking up and down the block, then finally figuring out google maps was wrong, I finally found the right door. Only then to realize, I couldn’t get the fancy-smashy smart lock to open.😑 10 tries later- I swear the host must’ve gotten an alert that someone trying to break into her house- I opened the finicky door. The host’s 2 house cat were there at the door to greet me. I tried straddling the entrance step to keep the door open, get the bike through, and drag my bag in. As all my limbs were outstretched, one of the host’s cats found this opportune time to escape. House rule #1 already broken.

Got the cat back don’t worry.

The bedroom I was staying in was up 2 flights of stairs of the townhouse. I dumped all my stuff into relevant piles, took a quick shower, and head back out toward transition. It was already nearing 5pm. Bike and overnight transition stuff in tow, I rode through the Battery Park development through the underpass that popped me right back out to Edgewater Park, where the race was going to take place. I racked my bike and tried to wedge it with my transition bag to stop it from swinging from the wind. More expensive bikes had covers and I noticed that athletes only left their bikes at their spot and that was it. Guess overnight dew and water overnight was a problem.

After a quick picture and taking a moment to marvel at the amazing weather and Cleveland skies, I headed back through the tunnel and decided where I wanted to grab grub. Local West was close to the airbnb and a casual fare. The roast beef sandwich was delicious. I took dinner as the opportunity to sort through my flight options as I felt semi-guilty to "miss my flight". I figured it would be in the best interest to notify the airline that I was racing and might be on a very risky timeline. On the phone with the airline rep, she urged me to keep my right after race flight because of pending inclement weather in NY.

Around 7pm, I started winding down to go to bed early. My host had already left for the weekend, so it was just me in the apartment. I hit the sack. Zzzzzzzzz time.

Halfway through the night, with the fluorescent hue from the street lamp light polluting the room, I heard vacuuming. In my dazed state, I assumed the host had come back? Race nerves brought me out of deep slumber another 2 times, before my alarm actually went off at 4am.

I felt like shit race morning. My back was fatigued and tense and didn’t help I was getting up earlier than what my natural body clock was used to. The cats were already prancing around as I gathered the last of my stuff to head over to transition.

Transition area was quiet and dim. I got the time to myself to set up and say a quick hello to the competitors around me. Slowly, the air starting buzzing with anxiousness and excitement. At one point, I heard a scream. Really sounded like someone died. I glanced over to a whole bike rack collapsed with a handful of carbon TT bikes piled on the ground. Yikes, I felt so bad for the women age groupers in that mess.

Once the announcer confirmed the race was wetsuit legal, I put on my wetsuit then headed towards the beach. Swim start was a water start based on age groups. Athletes would swim up to the start buoys and bob in the water until a horn. Off to the side there was some warm up time, but most age groups were held on the beach until pretty close to their start time. My age group is starting earlier, so all the girls lined up in between buoys and waited for heart beats track then the ultimate horn to start.

I fluttered my kick to propel myself into the 50 meter sprint start and felt waves crashing on me. Freak out ensures! My heart was pumping, mind was racing, and my arms and legs were flailing. Gone was the meditative calmness or swim technique. I was struggling every stroke. Every couple open water sighting, I saw the girls in my age group swarm further off in the distance. The rest of the swim didn’t get any easier and buoys markers didn’t seem to get any closer. My body was dealing with salt, soreness, and shoulder pain.

Finally out of the water and running through the sand, I usually get a breather on the bike, but definitely wasn’t the case. The age-group rack was basically empty by the time I went through T-1. I just wasn’t feeling like myself.

I jump onto the bike and start spinning out. There was a sense of fatigue throughout my body. Legs were just moving. My psyche also went through an emotional rollercoaster the few weeks leading up to the race and mentally I was off. I ultimately needed to respect my physical and emotional state. Of course the self-talk was saying that I was just making up excuses and didn’t have the mental strength to overcome how I was feeling. The demons inside my head went back and forth throughout the race, as what else do you do but sit with your own thoughts for 2 hours.

The perfect weather and phenomenal experience riding through downtown Cleveland forced me to reckon with how blessed I was to be healthy and compete at this stage. Highway into the city was completely closed along with the route weaving between the hospitals and modern edifices. Some doctors came out in their white coat to see what the commotion was about.

Off the bike and onto the run, I felt I was going at a decent pace, but everyone around me was crazy fast. I was on my first loop while athlete were already blazing through their second. The route was beautiful and had some hills I didn’t expect.