Race Day

Day Whatever
Stansbury Days Triathlon

Oh man. It was awesome. As in rain-lightning-craziness awesome. And I had a BLAST. Though, that's not what I was thinking during the second lap of the bike portion. But when it was all over and done with, overall, I had the time of my life. I LOVED it. Even if it took 15 minutes in the hot shower to finally get my teeth to stop chattering.

My parents arrived bright and early and I set off for the clubhouse at about 7 am. I think all three of us were a little harried. Christina didn't have her bike. But she did have a son sans one shoe who was a little perturbed. Hillary's parents were late getting to the house because of an accident which made her a little nervous about getting to the starting line. I didn't feel like I put as much thought into the my prerace routine as I did when I did the triathlon two years ago. If I would've been thinking, I would've put my dry clothes in my backpack to save for after the race. But I wasn't really thinking. It's been a long week with Wade being gone.

My mom informed me that there are certain activities that warrant her to ruin her hair for. She's still of the old school generation that goes and gets her hair done once a week--Thursdays--and if she stands outside in a torrential downpour on Saturday, she's hosed until the following Thursday. This, apparently, did not warrant her getting her hair ruined for, so she and my dad sat at home with the kids while I braved the elements.

I really thought they were going to call the swim judging by the thunder and lightning, but they didn't. The first heat went out and I saw Hillary get pushed to the back of the pack, but I know she pushed right back to the front. I'll be interested in seeing the results.

The second heat went out and as the siren blared, I looked over and saw the most gorgeous rainbow. Followed shortly by a bolt of lightning. It was a little scary, but we were underway.

I felt good in the water, as far as my swimming went. I wish there was a lane set up for people insistant on doing the back stroke FROM THE BEGINNING. One lady was going the same speed as me and kept pushing me under. She was literally on top of me. I finally had to move to get away from her, but then I got clobbered in the face by someone's wayward foot. It was crazy! Word is that the first heat wasn't much better. I think I needed to start in the front instead of the back.

By the time I got to the bike racks, Christina was gone. I started off and it was a downpour. The rain was dripping off my helmet. I felt A LOT better on the bike this year than 2 years ago. Though I was passed, I passed a few people and I didn't feel like I was riding in mud the entire time. The biking portion of the race wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The turns were clearly marked and as long as you didn't try to take them too fast, you were okay. I forgot to hit start on my watch until I was a mile in, so, I think I did the biking portion in 50ish minutes. It took me about 5 miles to catch up with Christina. We talked for a little bit and then I took off. I knew she'd catch me in the run anways.

The best part of the entire race was that I beat Malisa (the spinning instructor at The Difference and Gold's) on the bike. She passed me, but at the last bit down to the clubhouse, I totally blew right past her. Of course, she passed me on the run, but I still consider it a small victory.

When I got back to the transition area, my legs were really shaky. I had a hard time walking my bike to the rack and then hefting it up there. Then I had even a harder time getting going on the run. Part of the problem was that my feet were soaked! I probably had a quarter of an inch of water in my shoes. That's one advantage to having biking shoes. The other problem is that I didn't do a lot of training with the transition from biking to running. I tend to go out too fast and then have the beginnings of an asthma attack. Then I have to walk to catch my breath. I ended up walking most of the hill up Stansbury Parkway. Then, I started running again, but I was still going too fast. I had to walk some more. Christina caught up with me and we ran together for awhile, but she found someone she knew that came along and left with him. Good for her though. We were running at a sub-9 minute pace, so she was flying.

I walked again at the water stop and then again up the hill by the elementary school. I was surprised at the number of runners who were still coming the other way. Made me feel a lot better than two years ago, when we were closer to the end. I made sure to tell everyone good job that I passed by going the other way because those are the true inspirations.

I finished the last half mile really strong. I wasn't too winded. I still had some energy. I didn't feel like I was going to die, which is hard, because then it means that I could've pushed myself harder. But, I did my best. I finished the run in 33:25, which is on par with two years ago. But I sure felt a lot better. And I blew my bike time, hopefully, out of the water. I even think it was a mile shorter in 2007.

However, overall the best came when Hillary took 2nd place for the age group. She did AWESOME!! Congratulations!!

Can't wait until the results are posted and we can see where we were at so we can work on it for next year. :) I definitely need to improve on my running. Since I'll still be in the "easier" age group next year, I want to medal. So, things to work on over the winter.

Man, that was awesome.