Hello, Dum-Dum

Marty, Tassie and I had a great time out at the Hillsborough Sportsplex sprint triathlon this morning. They were great cheerleaders for me as I fumbled my way through an overall win.

The race was a 400 yard pool swim, 11.6 mile rolling bike, and a short 5K run with some hills (I'm thinking 30-40 seconds short). I have done a few pool swims and I just don't like them. I have not mastered the art of warming up followed by sitting around for 20 minutes and then pushing off the wall in all out sprint. Open water is different to me for some reason. And then you have all the logistics of flip turning under lane lines, passing people who put in bad swim times and getting passed by people behind you who are faster. Ugh. I wore my Blue Seventy Point Zero over my race outfit since my outfit is too big and draggy. My friends teased me but I figured I had the thing so why not wear it? This is why: because when you forget you've only taken it halfway off and proceed to run your bike out of transition with it dangling around your waist. Yup, that's what I did. Back up - of course the mat for the swim is a little ways away from the pool deck so my swim time looks nice and slow - 6:05, but it was 3rd and the other two girls who swam faster were definitely swimmers. Then I run out of transition and over that mat before I realize I hadn't fully undressed. I stop and lay my bike down, take my shoes off, remove the speedskin, put my shoes back on - at this point Marty runs over with Tassie and says, "Oh you silly girl." Tassie proceeds to lick my legs. Marty said it probably added 40 seconds to my bike split and is SO MAD he didn't get it all on video.

The bike was rolling the whole way, no chance to really tuck in and hammer. I felt okay, nothing great, nothing terrible and managed the fastest bike split: 33:47. I got off my bike and ran into transition, slipped my racing flats on and then thought, 'hmmm, where is my race belt?' STILL IN MY TRANSITION BAG! Luckily, I had already pinned my number to it. I ran over to my bag, unzipped it and rooted around until I found it. And I'm supposed to be racing Elite?! Marty, unfortunately, saw this too, but fortunately also did not get it on video. I started the run and felt awesome! I felt strong and light and quick. It was a very slight uphill going out then a turn with a steep but short uphill and the rest of the loop was fast, before doing the same loop again. I pushed it and really enjoyed feeling like myself off the bike. When I hit the finish line I knew the run was short, because I felt good, but my split of 18:23 was a bit too good. I may have been good for a sub-19, though and am hoping I can feel like that in my next races. Here's a link to the results.

We hung around for awards and talked to a lot of people and generally had a great time. I'm showered, napped and ready for a fun Saturday night!