My OOW14 - My San Francisco Triathlon

 

Well almost!!


I am not a fit person and actually have been having treatment for a sore hip for a few months, but I do like to have fun and this trip saw me take part in several events:

Traditionally the Saturday before OOW kicks off is the one day I have free! and to year my daughter was with me. She has never cycled the bridge and although I have twice before I was really pleased she wanted to do this with me, but worried that as an athlete she would find me rubbish.

We hired the bikes at fisherman's wharf and cycled off to the Golden Gate Park where we had a little rest to take photographs.

I did struggle with the hills but kept going longer than I probably should have trying to show I wasn't as unfit as I actually am, she was impressed but for the rest of the week my muscles and my hip let me know they were not so.
It was a beautiful day and no a hint of mist and looking down from the bridge we even saw dolphins in the bay, it was wonderful.

The hill down from the bridge is my nemesis, I hate not being in control and speed even more. My daughter free-wheeled to the bottom and then back up to meet me twice!!

 

At Sausalito we had the obligatory lunch (and shopping) before getting the ferry back to the city and returning the bikes.

On the Sunday morning there was the SQL Dev / OTN bridge run organised by (That) Jeff Smith. I can't run, so along with a few others including MOH Tim Hall and MOD Heli from Finland I went out to the bridge early to walk both ways. We timed it wrong (or rather the runners started late) and we finished before them, but it was a great morning and lots of fun. My daughter did the run with Alex Gorbachev who she has known for years. The biggest hurdle of the day was getting transport back to the city and I must thank John King and the Uber App.




photo from facebook page

Monday morning was the 3rd annual OTN / Oraclenerd Swim in the bay again jointly sponsored by Bjoern Rost from Portix. I still insist most people only splash in the bay but I swam and so did my daughter. Tim Hall swam despite being convinced he would die of cold and of course Connor McDonald and his girlfriend Genevieve who in the summer did an English Channel Relay Swim and just 2 days before the Alcatraz swim showed us all up.





photo from facebook

 

The swim is my best of the three disciplines (haha how serious does that sound) - I love it. This year my great friend Alex Nuijten who last year came along to watch also took part, the numbers grow every year. Tradition also says we go back on the cable car but on the day it was out of action, but there was a free shuttle bus back to Union Square, it was fun.

SO I may not be an athlete like Bjoern or Sten Vesterli (who stayed on to do a half marathon) or like my daughter; but I did Cycle, Run (well 10 yards of my epic walk) and swim over a 3 day period and for me that counts as a triathlon. I am proud of myself.

Return to my OOW overview