Race Report!

Finally a race report!

Pre-Race: I went to pick up my packet on Saturday morning meaning to pick up both mine and my dad's (he did the sprint!). Unfortunately there was an extra waiver that needed to be signed so they wouldn't let me pick his up. Big time bummer since I didn't think he would be in until after the expo was over. Oh well, the said he could do it at 5am (doh!).

Unfortunately due to some repaving and construction the entire race course had been rerouted and it seemed to be quite confusing. I wasn't too worried about it, but there were a bunch of people there who were very concerned. The race directer was a total jerk about it and I almost saw him get in a fight with a guy who was trying to get clarification. Geez. Note to self: Find another race to give my money to next year.

My dad ended up getting in early after all and I got the pleasure of going to the race expo twice. This time they were out of everything! Not even T-shirts for people. And this race cost $100! Oh, well, just have to have fun with it :)

Race morning: Got up super early (4am) to eat breakfast (Cliff Bar) and got to the race early. Transition closed at 6:30 so we got there about 5:30 to give plenty of time for pre-race prep. Unfortunately my race didn't start until 8am, so there was a lot of downtime. Another negative for the race director- he didn't inform the nearby parking lots of the early start and most of them were not open yet. We managed to slide in to a restaurant parking lot and parked for free. Bonus!

Racing started at 6:45 with the super sprint. I watched them go and then said goodbye to my dad. He was super nervous about the swim. Although a strong swimmer, he panics in the water in race situations and has a very hard time. So I made sure to watch the swim portion of his race. I was a little bit nervous when I didn't see him swim by before my wave (the last olympic wave- all women) was called. Turns out he made friends with all of the kayakers. They told him that he would be a lot faster if he swam in a straight line! I must get it from him! Swam from one to the other until he got out of the water in about 26 minutes (for the 750 meters). I'm so proud that he toughed it out!

Swim: It was quite chilly that morning so I was a little leary to jump into the lake. But it was so warm! And not nearly as nasty as that part of the harbor usually is. I wasn't nervous at all and looking forward to the swim. It's my favorite part. I find it so relaxing. The perfect start to a tri! This swim went pretty well. It was my longest constant swim ever I think.

I started passing people from the wave before at the first turn so I knew I wasn't too slow. It felt good, but I wasn't pushing it. Halfway through the second length I realized that I was way off course and had to swim about 100 meters in to turn around the buoy. I was a little bit disappointed when the kayaker said: "Hard left- swim directly into the sun!" Have you ever tried to use the sun to spot with? Needless to say it took me until an hour into the bike to stop seeing spots. But before I knew it I was onto a boat and out of the water. My time 28:37. Not too shabby, but next time I'll try to go harder and in a straight line.

T1: Fine except I dropped my Gu and it took me a good 30 seconds to locate it amongst my messy neighbor's pile of belongings- it was somewhere under his kitchen sink.

Bike: Back/Forth/Back/Forth/Back/Forth. 6 hairpin turns in 24 miles and you're not going to break any land speed records. The course didn't have steep hills, but it was NEVER flat. I had a good time seeing my dad and the other CTC members. There was so much support out there! Everyone was cheering each other on. That club is amazing!I could have done better, but met my goal of drinking an entire gatorade and eating a cliff shot. Total time 1:26:35. Crappy, I know. Needs work :)

T2: fast. Not much to do here

Run: Death march. Kind of hit the wall at mile 4 and started having to walk through the aid stations to drink, re-compose, and dump water over my head. The surface was horrible- a torn up freeway. Ugh. I NEED to start doing bricks. But I have totally avoided running at all outside of competition to let my knee heal, so that just has to wait. But my knee feels like a million bucks now, so it was so worth it! Total time: an abysmal 59:05. But without all my friends cheering me on it would have been much worse- so THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

But I finished my longest race ever with a PR of 2:57:18 which was good enough for 3/13 in my age group (139/229 o/a 15/58 females). Can't be disappointed with that. And my dad did fantastic- 2nd in his age group and got to take home a sweet medal.

and got some really funny race photos!