screw you Ursula

My Eastern Shore Triathlon Training weekend started out on a good foot.

Met up with Wendy, Julie, Katie and Megan at Salisbury University for a long brick. 70 miles on the bike, followed by a 5.5 mile run to packet pick up for the Nanticoke 3 Mile Open Water Swim on Sunday.

We pulled over so that truck with the biggest, deadliest piece of farm equipment could pass. It was so big that it had to drive on the grass to get around us. Highlight of the bike ride? Passing at least 7 grave yards. But the best grave yard had one huge headstone that said DYKES on it. And the one right behind it said...wait for it...PUSEYS. YES!

Then we went out to dinner, where Calorie Deprived Erin reared her ugly head.

75 mile brick + no lunch - 3000 calories burned + extremely stupid waitress = major bitchassness on Erin's part. I'll set the scene.

Waitress takes 15 minutes to bring 4 waters, one iced tea, one Pepsi and 2 beers. This all takes 3 trips, btw with at least 5 minutes between each trip. Comes back and proceeds to drop and smash an entire glass of wine on the table. Wine and glass everywhere. She comes back 5 minutes later and picks up the glass off the floor, leaving the whole table covered in glass and wine and walks away AGAIN. 10 more minutes pass and she comes back.

Waitress: "Can I get you anything?"

Rude/Starving Erin: "Yes, you can get something to clean up all the wine and glass on the table."

Waitress: "Oh! (Shocked as if she didn't spill it 10 minutes ago). Ok."

Comes back 10 minutes later with a linen napkin and proceeds to "mop up" the wine with the non absorbent napkin.

Rude Erin: "Why don't you get a bar towel that will actually absorb some of that wine?"

Waitress: "Oh, I would...but they are only at the bar."

Starving Erin: "Yes, that's what I'm saying. Go over to the bar and get one of those bar towels and wipe it up."

Waitress: "Haha, well I can't because you can only use a bar towel at the bar."

Murderous Erin: "Oh really?! That makes sense." (Sharp kick under the the table from Katie.)

Needless to say, dinner was not so successful and I ended up eating 3 pieces of lettuce, a baked potato, some leftover french fries and ice cream. Not the way to refuel after that brick or as a pre-race meal for the open water swim.

Get up on Sunday morning after some nightmares of crashing waves and drowning but still felt ok for the race.

This is what the water looked like. Please note the white caps and lack of bouys. To someone who is just looking at a picture of water, this looks like nothing. To an open water swimmer, this looks like a potential death march. See the "shoreline" in the very background? Sometimes a kayaker would yell, "sight the shoreline and you'll head towards the next bouy." Thank you so much. The water had a swirling current, white caps and major wind. It did feel like Ursula from the Little Mermaid was just fucking with me.

So...yeah. I got my ass handed to me by the Nanticoke River. Came in dead last. Didn't make the cut off. Not a good showing on my part. On a happier note, Julie came in second woman overall. The woman is a machine!

Megan and Katie came in second and third, respectively. Awesome!

Overall, the weekend was so fun and a good experience. Sometimes you need to get hit hard keep the training in line. Although, if Ursula shows up in the Chesapeake Bay next month and fucks up my Bay Swim, I will kill that fat bitch.