Well, I'm back from Williamsburg and I can't wait to share with you what the last two days were like. Since it was a triathlon I was going to participate in, I wasn't able to get any pictures of the event itself, so I guess my sophisticated artwork will have to do insead.
As you can see, I not only wanted to race but to leisurely enjoy the history and architecture of WBurg. I mean, being up close and personal with the Governor's Palace was kinda mind-boggling.
Man, they knew how to build things back in the day. Just check out the architectural precision and craftsmanship.
Today, new houses are faux houses. Take the one I stayed in last night with Airbnb. The doors looked like wood but they weren't. The bath tile looked like ceramic but it wasn't. The towel racks looked like metal but they weren't. I'm not picking on my Airbnb. That's just the way houses are made these days. No likee.
I mentioned this church the other day. It's the Bruton Parish Church. Washington, Jefferson, etc. all attended there.
And guess what? They "just happened" to have an organ concert there last night. Did I attend? Are there cockroaches in Hawaii?
The music was magnificent. I ran into one of their vestrymen and he told me that the following are all paid professionals:
- Music director
- Choir director
- 2 organists
- Each section leader in the choir (soprano, alto, tenor, bass)
Furthermore, every choir member is paid. He told me it was basically Rockefeller money and I believe him. Here, by the way, is Washington's "box."
Now, here is the Custis Tenement.
Obviously, the word "tenement" didn't refer to a block of run-down apartment buildings in the 18th century. It meant "rental property." This one, the Custis Tenement, was managed by none other than George Washington and Martha Custis from 1759-1778. Can you imagine being a tenant of George Washington? I can't. "Excuse me, my lord, but the toilet has backed up."
Okay. Let's check this house out next.
It's the Peyton Randolph House, so named because Peyton Randolph lived there. (I like to explain the obvious.) Who is Peyton? Just the first president of the Continental Congress.
Moving on, here's the George Tucker House.
Tucker was a law professor at the College of William and Mary. I love its architecture, don't you? Simple but breathtaking.
Alright. It's time to talk about the race, don't you think? Here's the only pic I got pre- and during-race. It seems triathletes love their Jeep Rubicons and Subaru Foresters.
The race itself was a lot of fun. The swim leg was 400 yards in the James, which today was a very warm 86 degrees. Racers were seeded by their average swim times.
I'm actually very pleased (and surprised) at my swim time. Remember the tri I did in North Carolina a couple of months ago? It took me 8 minutes and 12 seconds to swim 250 yards in that race. In today's race, it took me 8 minutes and 56 seconds to swim 400 yards. Now that felt pretty good.
The next leg of the event was the bike. It was an easy 13.2 miles. Finally, you had to run a 5K (3.1 miles). Was it hard? Yep. But that's most of the fun.
By the way, I missed winning my age division by a mere minute and a half.
Even though I finished 88th out of 101 athletes, even though I was exhausted by the end of the event, even though the running websites won't mention me, even though no one knew about my demolition of my previous swim time, none of these non-events mean that I lost the race, because I didn't. I won my race, and that was good enough. So purists -- take a hike.
As I staggered back to my car, I managed to get a picture at last.
As they say, "Tired but happy." I, a lazy beach bum from Hawaii, had just completed my 12th triathlon.
Well, that's my post-race report. I hope you enjoyed it. Apologies to every real sketch artist out there.