Interpretation

I know I said I wasn't blogging anymore but I just had to share this. If you feel wronged, ever, you should look into it. I may turn out in your favor.

For those of you that read my "race report" you know how excited I was! You know that it took alot for me to get to that point. More mental than physical, I think. After a friendly phone call to tell me my time wasn't posted and that I was subsequently found on a DQ list, you can only imagine the devastation I felt. How could that be? Did they know how hard I worked, did they remember saying I could wear it? Obviously not. The joy of finishing my first triathlon had been stripped from me. The rug pulled right out from under me, the air in my balloon deflated...you get the picture....I will tell you devastation doesn't begin to describe it. I think I was close to a nervous breakdown. Jill wanted to come and take all sharp objects and drugs from my home. I kept saying to myself, if I had known that was what I worked so hard for, hell I would of saved myself 15 minutes into that stupid lake swim. I was mad! Mad at USAT, Set-Up events, but most of all I was mad at MYSELF! What was I thinking? I knew I wasn't ready for that swim. Humiliation would also be what I was feeling. I wanted someone to know it as well!

So me being me, I write a letter. I send this letter to anyone who will listen. Thinking all the while, it won't make a difference but it will sure as heck make me feel better to tell them how hard I worked for them to strip me of my pride and accomplishments! Not really happy or satisfied with the responses I got, I decide to go one level higher (just because at this point it is a mission of mine). I email USAT. I pay for the membership and I want them to know what I think of their rule and can't there be a better way! Yeah I know, not the girl you want to make mad! I will either boycott you or write you a letter! Nike, CVS and numerous restaurants have felt the wrath before and I am sure there will be others. Childish you might think but people should stand up more often and be heard! Ok back to the point...... I sent a letter to USAT. I got a response back today......"Hello Amy,congratulations on overcoming your fear and completing the White Lake Triathlon. If water temperature was 79.2, you should not have been disqualified. Our procedure, which must have been bypassed, is to change the wetsuit wearing competitor out of age group division and into a "wetsuit" division and let them race. Disqualification is not correct". Charlie at USAT then proceeds to send me my times and tells me that there is a USAT Penalty sheet that does say Disqualified but that must be for administration purposes. Great Charlie! My joy is returning. But what about the other people who might have felt this way on Monday morning when their friends called them? Like I have said to a couple of people, after I was cited some rules for USAT, my other friends and family don't understand rules, they understand that something I worked hard for, didn't happen. They know out beside bib no. 178 is a big fat DQ.

So friends and family, I was not DQ'd. I did finish, I did get a time and I wasn't last! My friend Chuck told me it really didn't matter what the stupid computer said, I know that I finished and I know how hard I worked and Chuck you are absolutely correct. Except today, I don't feel like it was all for nothing. I had even put my White Lake Shirt away vowing to never wear it since I was DQ'd. Well I will wear that shirt proudly every chance I get! I have this thing about wearing shirts if you didn't complete the race.

The point again is, if you feel wronged, and I felt way wronged, please question it. This may not of turned out in my favor and I was fully prepared for that since the joy was gone anyway, but it did! It turned out someone else's interpretation was wrong.