Atlantic Cit-Dee, Dee Two

Before I could get to the fun stuff, I had some morning business to take care of, my Olympic distance Triathlon (1,500 meter swim, 40K bike, 10K run; for us Yanks, .9/24.8/6.2 miles) at the USA Triathlon National Age Group Championships.

FWIW, triathlons aren’t fun. You push yourself for the entire distance, testing your maximum heart rate, and straining to run 6 miles and change after two prior hours of hard work. Definitely not fun, but a lot of satisfaction after completing the race, and lots of health benefits from all the training (my resting heart rate is normally in the 42 to 45 range, excellent for my age).

I was up about 5 AM, at the race starting area before 6 AM, and ready for my wave start just before 8 AM. Then a fog rolled in, and the wave starts were delayed by 24 minutes, but finally our wave was in the water and we were on our way. I’ve been doing a morning (ugh; 5:30 AM) Masters swim class the last couple of months, hoping to improve my swim times (and I did). The bike leg was decent–on the Atlantic City Expressway–and the last five miles of the run was on the Boardwalk. It got a bit warm and I was leaking oil at the end, but I had a decent time for me and placed about 50th of about 60 in my age group, and a couple of minutes faster than my 2023 race. 

After completing the race, I did a bit of hydrating (no, not beer) and replenishing (some junk food, some not) and headed to my hotel room for a shower and some rest. After a couple of hours lounging in my room, it was time to hit the beach again. I donned my red swim top, along with a bikini bottom I found on the street near our Australian apartment earlier this year, put on a different cover (others might wear it as a dress, but I’m not ready for that yet), and once again did the hundred yard walk through the casino to the Boardwalk and then beach. Same carry bag, a towel, my number puzzles, a water bottle, and my phone, of course (gotta have pictures).

The surf was calmer, and being a Saturday, more people were around, and as opposed to Fri-Dee, there were people in the ocean. I wet my feet a couple of times, but with the wig actual swimming is out (and I’d already had a 35 minute swim earlier in the morning), my task at hand was to rest on my beach towel, do my math puzzle, and take the occasional picture.

During my Fri-Dee visit to the outlet stores, I noticed a Ruth Chris Steakhouse about a block from the hotel. I decided I had earned a nice dinner, but mostly I had a dress suitable for a nice restaurant that I wanted to wear. I made a reservation for 8:15 PM.

Of late I am collecting sparkly dresses (urged on by friend Ms. Dee-ism). I found the Akira black dress with gold sequins at a Plato’s Closet. Usually I don’t prefer long sleeves–I always worry about getting too hot–but when I tried it on and it fit, at $5 it was a must buy.

The long sleeves did have one advantage. For USA Triathlon races, participants wear number “tattoos” showing their four digit race number in inch high numbers on their left arm and left leg. As I had a second race to contest the following morning, using the same number, I couldn’t remove either tattoo. However, I could cover them with the dress sleeves up top and black patterned tights down below, and not detract from my look. It was somewhat warm out, but the walk was short enough I wasn’t too worried about the heat.

Even though the walk was only a block, I had an interesting encounter along the way. Passing a wall that hid an entrance to a parking garage, a young man–I’m guessing teenager–surprised me on a bicycle. He took one look at me–I’m not sure how good of a look–and began propositioning me. I think he was offering to pay for some sort of sexual act, but I wasn’t interested in a conversation and kept walking, while telling him whatever he was suggesting I wasn’t interested. After about twenty seconds he got the hint and trailed away, and I made it to the restaurant a few minutes later, no worse for wear and with a story to tell.

I was seated near the rear of the restaurant so I walked through the seating area, which was about two-thirds full. Upon seating, my young waitress said she loved my dress, which I loved to hear. We chatted some during my meal, and I had my drink and meal, enjoying my dinner, while entertaining myself on my phone in between bites or sips.

After dinner I walked back to the hotel–no incidents this time–and decided I didn’t want to retreat to my hotel room just yet. I cruised the casino (you can probably work out which one it was from the photos), looking for picture backdrops. I was about to take a selfie with the Caesars statue, when a lovely gentleman offered to take my picture, which I gladly accepted. I found a couple more photo ops, then recognizing my early wakeup call for Sun-Dee morning, headed to my room to get some beauty sleep and prep for my next race.