In light of all the funny photos, you may have forgotten about the reader-submitted embarrassing triathlon stories.  Ah-ha!

Here they are!  The Winners for the Most Embarrassing Triathlon Moment Contest are:

First Place:
Jen!   
“The very first triathlon I did was the Danskin in Pleasant Prairie Wisconsin in 2002. I didn’t train all that well and was definitely not prepared, clothing-wise. I wore a regular bathing suit for the swim and decided to “throw on” a sports bra over my suit for the bike and run, not taking into account that I’d be oh, I don’t know, SOAKING WET after the swim! I ran to the transition area, grabbed my sports bra and promptly got my arm stuck up and behind my head with my sports bra rolled up under my armpit. Needless to say it took me a couple of embarrassing minutes to finally get the bra unrolled and set my arm free. Not to mention it killed my shoulder to have my arm stuck up and behind my head like that. I can only imagine what the other athletes and spectators thought when they saw me flailing around, hog-tied by my evil sports bra. Not one of my more dignified moments, to say the least!

– Jen just finished her first tri! Read more from Jen at Big Girls Don’t Tri…Or Do They?

Second Place:
Mickey!
“All of [my embarrassing moments] involve swimming…since I kind of suck at it. I decided to wear surfer booties for my 2nd tri. Nevermind that I never practiced swimming in them to see if they would work. Of course, they both filled up with water within the 1st 25m of the swim. It felt like I had 10 lb. weights tied around both legs. I could not get myself horizontal to swim since my feet were weighed down and pointed straight down in the water. I basically doggy-paddled the whole swim. Then I got to T1 and couldn’t get the stupid things off b/c they had formed a nice, tight seal around my legs from the water. I had to sit on my a** in T1 and pry them off my feet (and dumped about a gallon of water out of each one). Did I mention that T1 took me about 6 1/2 minutes because of those booties? I could have had a cup of coffee and a bagel in that time. Never again.”

– Mickey is an awesome triathlete and superb spinning instructor living in San Diego. Thanks for the laughs!

Third Place
Matthew!
“[In one of my first races,] I was in the middle of an ocean swim. Stupid me didn’t sight often enough, or at all (beginner nerves I guess), and as I got that lonely feeling, I looked up and saw I was heading straight out into the Atlantic Ocean. The kayakers were coming at me to tell me to turn around because I was a good 50 ft off the beaten path. My dreams of a personal best time were dashed 5 minutes into the race.”
– Matthew is a Swim Bike Dad to the cutest boy in the world. 


Honorable Mention:
Cindy!
“My first open water swim–I didn’t wear anything under my wetsuit, but I had a long skirt that I tried to drape over my shoulders and use as a curtain as I tried to struggle into my tri shorts and top in the transition without DQing for “showing nudity!” At the end of the race I found out that I had done the race with my shorts and [the chamois] inside out! Needless to say, I learned to wear a full tri outfit under my wetsuit!”


Honorable Mention:
Michelle!
“… I’m a Mom to [four kids], so triathlon is the only thing that keeps me sane. This is a little gross, but here goes.. when you do a race of 70.3 or longer, you need to either stop, or learn how to pee on the bike. Especially in order to secure a fast T1 after a long swim….. I have actually become quite good at it. This past Sunday, I raced the Providence 70.3. Around 20 miles on the bike, I needed to “go”. The best place to attempt this is on a long downhill where you don’t have to worry about pedaling or navigating turns. Well, knew where this hill was, so I sort of planned it…and I got behind a guy who looked fast and I figured would just hammer down the hill ahead of me leaving me to my quasi-privacy. Halfway down, he’s still right in front of me. I’m like, “dude, it’s a Cat 1 downhill, you can’t move any quicker?” I didn’t say that , but that’s what I was thinking. Then I felt some drops on my leg and I realized they weren’t mine. He was using that hill to do the same thing – and he knew it the second I passed him at the bottom. That’s a fine how-do-you do!”


Congrats to all the winners, and thanks to EVERYONE for your submissions.  We’ll do it again soon.  Top three winners – you have a choice of a SwimBikeMom/Dad t-shirt, gym bag, or water bottle. Honorable mentions – you’ll get the fancy Trek water bottle.  
Details: winners, please email me your:  1) preference of swag (top 3 winners); 2) size if applicable; 3) whether you want “mom” or “dad” gear; and 4) where to send it!  You can email me at:  SwimBikeMom at Gmail.com.


Thanks again for your participation, and for TriCrowd’s help in spreading the word! Looking forward to the next giveaway.  

2 Responses

  1. OMG, that story about the pee is *nasty*. Congrats winners, those are truly terrible moments!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *