Tri-umph!

You guys -  I'm in love with triathlons... !  My experience on Sunday was beyond my expectations. 

Ok, that's the condensed version... but now for the nitty gritty. 

Trench coatin'

Weather predictions were gloomy for this day... and it made me a little nuts in the last couple days, because I was totally planning for 80 and hot all summer long.  I don't have a wetsuit or bike pants or anything warm for tris.  In this picture, I am wearing my trench coat over my "suit" as I wait for us to be herded like cattle to the swim start.  Luckily, I had a Tony to take this from me for safe keeping shortly before the actual start.  On the plus side, cold air meant the water felt warm and it was at 78 degrees, so I didn't miss the wetsuit.  

Can you find me?

My parents came out to see me and snapped this of the crowd as we were getting going.  I was able to spot them first and then wave to them so they could see me.

Swim: (10:57)

As much as I've enjoyed swimming, am pretty comfortable with lake water and have even gotten quicker over time - This was still the hardest part.  Just something about that murky water, getting clunked in the head a couple times and having un-perfected sighting skills which caused me to go crooked a couple times... makes this all pretty hard.  This met my expected time though, so I can't complain.    

Wash station

 T1 (4:54) 

I splashed my feet to get rid of the sand, got the bike shorts and shirt on, helmet on, made an attempt at drying off and the time flew by. 

Bike: (56:17)

My first rookie mistake here was not making sure the chain was on properly before starting.  It fell off as I started to pedal.  I've dealt with this before as I was (trying to stay calm and) leaning down to fix it a race volunteer was already there to help me.  Needless to say, I was really impressed with how well this race was supported with volunteers.  Also, despite that mishap slowing me down... I had no trouble biking my heart out and even shaving a few minutes off my expected bike time!  whoo hoo! 

T2: (1:07)

Much smoother... but my second rookie mistake was leaving my helmet on... luckily I saw Tony on the run course and was able to hand that off to him - phew.  

Run: (32:54)

My legs were not feeling 100%, and I needed to tie my shoe, and I walked all the water breaks... but I guess I didn't need to worry much, because I totally rocked this! This is literally had my second best official 5K time ever.  I would have never guessed!

I'm in red

I had my polar on, but I didn't look at it until the run portion.  I wasn't sure how I had done on the swim or bike when I rounded the bend towards the finish line.  I told myself it would be okay if the gun time was past 2 hours, because I had started in the third wave.... but when I saw the 1:51... on the clock I knew I had done really really well.  At the risk of sounding conceited - I totally wowed myself. 

Final (1:46:08)

If you remember correctly, I was hoping for under 2 hours, with 1:46 being my best hoped for.  So, I'm 8 seconds shy, but really I'm floored.  I really feel like I put the umph into Tri...if you know what I mean.  It really makes we wonder what I can do now (or what I should do now).  I'm so sorry if this post just sounds like me reveling in my own glory - I honestly had so much fun and I don't even know how to feel.  

Tony and I

Tony provided me with race transportation and chauffeur service and he makes most of my meals for me :).  He's been all-around supportive!

My parents and I

My parents, I must say, were excellent spectators - I saw them at almost every transition point!  They are also responsible for most of the pictures on this blog!