I just realised that I’ma WAG. No, not a dog. WAG stands for Wives and Girlfriends…to be specific..those wives and girlfriends of the fabulously rich English League football players. These ladies are normally decked out in designer wear, with perfectly manicured hands and look ultra cool even if they have about 3 children in tow. They normally appear at important football matches to support their husbands/ boyfriends. More often than not, they draw much media attention as well. Of course, the most famous WAG would be Victoria Beckham.
Well, I’m a WAG too…only I’m not the wife of an ultra rich Engish soccer player but the wife of a excercise-mad Englishman.
This WAG here doesn’t have any designer wear…(unless you count Giordano) and cuts her own nails at home. I think I look pretty cool sometimes- when my hair behaves. But one thing I do have in common with the other WAGS- I appear at the events that my husband participates in. Though I must admit, I normally only go to those important ones too because this husband of mine probably participates in more events than the number of matches that David Beckham plays in.
Last month, before our holiday, he went for the OSIM Triathlon. Of course, it beats me why anyone would want to pay and torture themselves with such grueling sporting events…but looking at the crowd there that day, I guess those 3,900 participants don’t agree with me.
These events start really early, so that means leaving the house at about 6.30am in the morning, when I’m barely awake.
It had been raining a couple of days before the event…so the place was really, really, really muddy…
If you want to go to the toilet…you have to queue in the mud. Lovely, isn’t it?
Designer wear definitely not suiitable here.
Ok, just in case, you don’t know…triathlon consists of 3 segments- swimming, cycling and running. The distance varies depending on the organiser but I think the official Olympic distance is…
Swim- 1,500m
Cycle- 40km
Run- 10km
A triathlon normally starts with the swim. Here’s the starting point.
And they’re off!!!!!
He had to swim 2 laps in the open sea. Unfortunately, the rain that had been threatening the whole morning, started to drizzle. And by the time he came in after the 1st lap, the storm was upon us.
Because of safety reasons, they stopped the other batches from starting and pulled in those that were still swimming. Tim and a few others were already half way through the 2nd lap. Frankly, I was really worried because even those rescue crew were having trouble controlling the boats in the rough sea. I was straining my eyes and crossing my toes and feet at the same time. He actaully told me later that he was swimming well and couldn’t understand why they were stopped and pulled in. Humph! So much for my worry!
The rough sea
And then it rained and poured and stormed…for more than an hour.
And yes, I was totally wet…and cold. Can you imagine Victoria Beckham looking like a wet chicken? No? me either. But I wasn’t as bad as the participants, who mostly dressed in shorts and t-shirts.
Everyone was frustrated and had to just stand around to wait for the rain to stop. They had to stop the whole event because it got too dangerous even to cycle. And then thankfully, the downpour came to a stop finally. But there just wasn’t enough time to restart the whole thing, so the swimming was modifed to a short run and then they could start with the cycling.
They had cycle 4 times round the route. Avtually, I like this the segment the best as most of them looks really cool in their cycling gear and racing down the track. It often seems effortless…at least it does to me.
At the end of the cycling segment
This was followed by the run. I think any participants will tell you that this is the worse part. After all the swimming and cycling, it takes tremendous effort to run that 10km.
As a supporter, I also agree that this is the worse segment…as it’s less exciting and by that time, it’s also boiling hot. And that’s anotehr difference between those famous WAGs and this WAG. They get to sit comfortably in the shade, served with beer and food, whereas I’m either being cooked in the hot sun or drowned in the rain.
BUT…
It does mean that he will be reaching the finishing line any minute and looking out for him, trying to catch him when he crosses over is always one that fills me with joy and anticipation (yes, despite all my grumblings ^^)
And the reward?
Btw, the elites (those professional participants who race for money) start off really early in the morning before everyone else and of course, finish before everyone else too.
The winner for ‘Men Elite Open’ was Courtney Atkinson, an Australian. He did it in 1h 50m 16s. The ‘Women Elite Open’s winner was a Japanese. Shizuka Kutsuna did it in 2h 6m 43s. For more infor on the results, you can go here
So does this inspire anyone of you to try it next year?
Hehe!
