J. had given Zebbie a HUGE box of legos, to which Zeb said to Reece,
You can share with me, Reece!Reece was as excited at Zeb, we quickly dropped them off at home and grabbed the fixin's for s'mores, and headed out to the campsite she was staying at. After some biking and s'mores we headed home so I could get some sleep. Before going off to sleep I gathered all my gear so I wouldn't forget anything. I headed to bed when I figured that was complete. As I laid in bed I ran over the transitions from swim to bike, and bike to run, trying to think of anything I may have forgotten. Worrying about my rib injury. I changed my mind for the shirt I wanted to where. After doing a trial run on Saturday morning, I realized I needed some more fitted clothes, to help with the pain.
Bright and early on Sunday morning, the Algae was calling me.
I drove out just before 6am and called my sister to wake her up. I was surprised to see people already parking outside of the park. I kept going. I was able to park in the park, but not as close as I did last year.
After body marking and getting my timing chip, I headed to the transition area to set up. I saw Dez, who did her first tri last year, and Jackie, who did her first tri 3 weeks ago at the Trinity Triathlon that I did. There was so many people there already. I had a very open rack for my bike, I think at least 3 people didn't show up for the tri. A woman nearby was throwing a fit because she didn't get the right timing chip.
This is when your lack of self-confidence is non-exsistant. Imagine the most crowded beach in the world and your all going in to the water at the same time. Fat and all. Right next to these buff bodies with body fat of 2%, and then imagine having to stand next to them for 40 minutes while you go over your insecurities with the swim over and over in your head. Can you say intimidating?
The nice part of going in a few waves back is the water current is well established. If you want you can just lay there and let the other swimmers/water runners, in this case, just float you in.
Weeeee!
I did the swim in little over 9 minutes. I was boomin' with adrenaline at that point. I was so happy. I didn't get kicked. I managed to stay away from other swimmers in the lake and I wasn't exhausted! Wooooo Hooooo!
Ok, so now for the hill. I can do this. After the hill it is just a short run to the finish line. So far no pain!
I came out of the water and ran up the hill to the bike. J. was waving and taking pictures. I asked him where Sara was, he said she was out of the water a long time ago. I figured, I didn't expect to see much of her on the course. She was even swimming with a water proof camera and was planning to take pictures.
I grabbed my gear and went out on the bike. I just love getting up on my bike. I feels so much better than the bikes I used to have. I made my way up the hill, even passing a few people. The last 4 weeks of Tuesday night rides helped! I wondered how many of those I would see later on in the ride.
As I continued, I encounter a biker that asked if I was doing the sprint or the half. When I answered sprint, he quickly braked and turned around. I am not sure how he missed that one. I had a lady yelling directions, it was painted on the ground and LARGE signs where posted.
Every time I passed a biker I tried to say things like "Looking Good", "Lot's of people behind you!" I know how that helped me last year, plus it really helps the time fly by.
Before I knew it I came up to my sister. What the heck? I thought is that my sister? As I passed her, she said "I'll see you at the finish line!" I said "No way, you are going to pass me on the run!" Well, she wasn't waiting for the run, by the time I got close to High Cliff she was passing me! She said she forgot something, and took a picture of me with the water proof camera! Wow! She must have been flying!
I came in the dismount just behind her. I was frustrated by the amount of people standing around in the transition area. I finished off a Hammer gel, took a drink, off went the helmet and I headed out on the run.
Whew. Almost done.
I walked up most of the hill... why waste energy on the hill, is my thought. As I power walked, I passed a guy who must have bee 300+ lbs, I was looking for the right words to encourage him. That guy was working hard! Another girl came up behind me having an ASTHMA ATTACK! Now that is insane! She kept going!!! She was cursing as she stopped bent over. I told her just walk up the hill, and run the rest but she just kept going. I never did see her again.
As I started the swim I had started my watch. I peeked at it about 2 or 3 times as I made my way thru the triathlon. Just before the 2 mile in the run I tripped on a rock or a tree root and fell forward. Of all the situation's that I worried about I never thought I would have had to worry about falling on the ground.
I lucked out and landed just right, I was worried about my rib but the fact that it was in a rut from some motorized vehicles, that probably saved my rib, I must have hit on my left instead of right side first. I checked mentally. Hey I can still breathe! Yeah!
That short stop must have triggered something in my bladder to say, I have to pee. With every step it felt like my bladder was saying 'Ok, Are we there yet?'. I took turns, running and power walking.
Just before the top of the hill there she was again, MY SISTER! I thought she was ahead of me! She asked if we should run in together, but I couldn't push to hard because I was afraid my bladder wouldn't wait. Why don't they put port-a-potty's at the top of the hill?
As I came down the hill, Dr Al was yelling at me cheering me on down the hill! It was so easy to run down the hill. Just as it gets flat again, the crowds are cheering you on and you just keep going some how. I saw J. first. Then I saw Duner, and the boys cheering me on! Wooo Hooo! Its almost done already! And my rib is ok
After getting my print-out I realized just how well I did! At first I thought It was only 10 minutes better than last year, but then I read the print out...
Last year 2 hrs, 28 minutes.
This year 2 hrs, 4 minutes! (Obviously the bike helped)
5 minutes better in the swim, over 15 minutes better in the bike, and 3 minutes better in the run!
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