Adventurous Saturday

Yesterday, I participated in another Splash 'n' Sprint triathlon at the South Davis Recreation Center! I think this is the sixth triathlon I've done there. I haven't done any other triathlons.

I showed up and had my body marked and picked up the free swag. I was disappointed the shirts were cotton this time, meaning they're not good for running in, and I feel guilty I took one anyway, since I have too many shirts already, and excess consumerism is not good. But I feel guilty about everything. And I did decline the free bags. (I did, however, take a free swim cap.)

First was the swim. For this race, the swim is 350 yards, which is seven laps / fourteen lengths of the pool. That's less than half the swim distance of a regular sprint triathlon, so I'm not ready for a different tri. The last time I did this race was two years ago, and at that time, I was not able to swim freestyle that long, and I also psyched myself out during the swim. But this time, I was able to swim freestyle the whole time, and I didn't freak myself out! So this was my best swim during a tri. But I was still slower than a typical swim, since I had to change lanes, and I got stuck behind people. I also had lots of people pass me. 

Next was the bike portion, which is twelve miles. I only have a mountain bike, even though I don't mountain bike, so I'm super slow on this portion, and people pass me frequently. We went on the rail trail from Bountiful to Farmington, and unfortunately, we overlapped with a running race. It was annoying to bike along the trail with people running in both directions, while I also had to be aware of other people passing me on their bikes. After we left the rail trail, there was a portion that was uphill, and I was annoyed that my left shifter didn't work, so I had to go uphill in third gear. (I had a tuneup in February, and the right shifter got better but the left got worse, and when I took it back, they weren't super helpful. I might have to take it back to the shop again to see if a different mechanic is better.)

I don't do this triathlon for the competition, but it is still a bit disappointing to see how comparatively slow I am. But at least I can blame it on my bike. Since I usually go up steep roads when I do bike, this bike portion was relatively easy for me (twelve moderate miles instead of six steep ones)—even though I was slow.

And the last portion was the three-mile run, and this is the portion where I pass lots of people. A lot of people walk this part, which surprises me, but I even pass people who are running. I don't consider myself a fast runner, but I still end up in the top third for the running portion. Three flat miles is easy for me, but it honestly feels harder because I think it should be easy.

I finished! I got some of the free food and chatted with some people, but I didn't stick around for the awards, since I wasn't getting any awards—I was dead last for my age division. Again, I blame the bike. I think I'm more athletic than the average person, but among athletes, I'm not that great.

I didn't realize my tongue was out when I took this selfie.

In the early afternoon, I realized that I had done everything I wanted / felt obligated to do for the day, so it was going to be a long, potentially boring Saturday at home alone. (I took my parents to the airport for a UK trip on Monday.) I decided it would be a good opportunity to hit some more stores for the Independent Bookstore Crawl. Two weeks ago, I visited ten bookstores in one day for a "prize," but you can also visit all twenty-five on the map by the end of the year for another prize.

So I drove out to Tooele to go to First Edition Bookstore, which is located in a random neighborhood. It's part of Tooele Marketplace, which apparently was once an old folks' home that has been converted into a bunch of small stores. I wish I had taken pictures inside, because it was delightfully quirky. Many of the stores were so niche, and it's in such a random location, that I don't know how long they'll stay in business. 

I didn't buy anything at the bookstore; it wasn't very big, and it emphasized fiction books. But the cashier was very friendly.

One of the other stores was a secondhand pop-culture store, and that was fun to look at. I got a new Mario polo shirt for ten dollars, since Mario is the only video game franchise that interests me. And I bought a used Ghostbusters 2 DVD for a dollar, since it's a New Year's movie.

Then I headed south out of Tooele, turning on my cruise control while listening to Mat Kearney. It was fun to drive past all the BLM land, a part of the state I don't recall going through before.

I made it to Eagle Mountain for my next bookstore, Spellbound Books, which is actually a book truck in a random spot with food trucks. I was sorely disappointed that they were closed. Their regular hours for Saturday are until 7 p.m., but apparently they had some event, so they closed at 4. This was very frustrating, especially since I don't really have any other reason to go out to Eagle Mountain. So I couldn't get my map stamped.

Then I headed into Lehi for Lagg Bookstore, which was in a cute old house. 

This bookstore was devoted entirely to romance novels, so definitely not my genre. They had some nonbook items as well, but none that I cared to buy.

While I was there on Lehi Main Street, I went to a weird nacho restaurant. You order from a truck, and the signs were confusing, and the cashier didn't speak any English. I didn't understand what was going on. Eventually I got some nachos and ate them in the adjoining building, which was surprisingly nice. I liked the nachos but not the experience. 

After stopping in the grocery store next door, I drove home. In the mailbox was the latest copy of Utah Historical Quarterly, which I knew was coming any day, but I still didn't expect to find it in the mail. All of this year, our issues are about the Peoples of Utah Revisited. This issue has articles about homeless people, Muslims, lesbians, Latines, a Chinese man, and rural LDS women.

UHQ has been a trusted source since 1928, and I'm really happy and amazed that I get to be part of it.

It wasn't a groundbreaking Saturday, but it was an enjoyable one!