I mentioned last week that I'm trying to get back on the workout wagon after mother nature so rudely pushed me off. I did a 5k on Saturday with a co-worker. As with most races, this wasn't just a race. It was called Dash for Donation which is for Lifeline of Ohio. It is Ohio's organ donation program. I'm a registered organ donor so if anything were to ever happen to me, my organs are up for grabs. Yeay for races with friends! Yeay for races that raise awareness for awesome causes!
My co-worker Jessica asked if I'd run this race with her awhile ago but in the midst of moving, I just couldn't commit. Well last week I realized I didn't have any set plans (other than house work) for that Saturday so I signed up and told her I'd run it with her. I feel her running is "my fault" anyways. I may have put the bug in her ear that racing is fun. She started running in the fall and did her first race ever in November. She had been plugging away at it (running is hard, yo!) until a major life event interrupted her "running career."
Someone she knew was in need of a kidney transplant. Jessica wasn't a match but her willingness to voluneer started a chain reaction. The next thing she knew, she was giving a kidney to a complete stranger via a transplant chain, all Grey's Anatomy style. Someone was a match for her friend and Jessica was a match for someone else. At the end of a very busy day in February, four people got new kidneys. Craziness! Four healthy people were able to save four peoples' lives. And now Jessica is rocking some serious bling...
Five months later, Jessica was ready to race again. After getting the go-ahead from her doctor 4-weeks post-op, she was back at it. Walking, running, shuffling, dealing with heat issues, she was back at it! She really wanted to run the entire 5k but with the heat and humidity rolling back into Columbus, her new goal was to run as much as was safely possible. And I was there to help her make it happen.
Pre-race. Only slightly warm and sweaty. And standing in traffic.
The festivities kicked off with a mascot chase. If you've never watched one of these, you must find one in your area and go. If you have kids, enter them into the chase. It's hysterical. All of the local mascots were there. Some A-list (the Columbus Blue Jackets' Stinger) and some B and C listers (a Subway sandwich....wearing jeans.). My favorites were the Cheryl's Cookies. There were two cookies....though this one looked like a giant piece of toast if you ask me.
Anyways...the little kids get a chance to "race" with the mascots down a city block. Lots of costumed people who have limited visibility and lots of little kids that only come up to the knees of said mascots. Good times!
Jessica's mom was there also and was doing the 1k fun walk so we joined her for a quick warm up before lining up at the start of the 5k. Jessica was a little nervous since this was only her second race ever and it was large compared to the small race she did back in November. Don't worry, I went into coach mode and passed along some helpful tips.
"Now Jessica, first you stand in the middle of this crowd and mess with your watch like you know what you are doing. Stare at it while it searches for a satellite. Look like a doofus while doing this. People will think you know what you are doing and just might get out of your way once the race starts Or not."
"Next step, don't be a sheep and wear the designated t-shirt. Wear whatever the heck you want. In my case, wear a bright purple shirt in a sea of green race shirts. This is because I'm slightly superstitious and I have NEVER in eight years done a race wearing anything other than a purple TNT jersey."
Sea of green, Lifeline of Ohio t-shirts.
It was a pretty good sized race and I was surprised by the number of people walking. Which I think is completely awesome. Unfortunately this is not so awesome when you are intending to run the race. It took a little while to get around the pack and find an opening but once we did, it was smooth sailing. Jessica was concerned we were starting too fast and that she wouldn't be able to maintain the pace for the entire race so we dialed it back several times in the first mile until she found a comfortable pace.
The humidity wasn't doing either of us any favors and being that I haven't run any distance since early June, I was absolutely fine with walking through the water stops. As we progressed through the course, Jessica was doing amazing. And around mile 1 she got a burst of energy. There was a drum line from a local school on the side of the road and as a self-proclaimed band nerd, Jessica was loving it. I have to admit, I have no rhythm whatsoever but even I could hear the steady beat and it was perfect to run to! Bonus was that the course looped back so we go to pass the drum line twice.
With less than 1/2 a mile to go, I shared a secret with Jessica. If we maintained pace from that point on, I was pretty sure I was going to get a PR. While I have a lot of race experience, I don't like 5Ks so I don't do many. And I've never actually run one. All of the 5Ks I've done in the past have been walking. I think this amused her.
Red faces=going pedal to the medal when it's hot and humid.
With that last tenth of a mile to go, I gave her one last suggestion. I told her that she should try to leave everything out on a race course. Don't have any gas left in the tank when you cross that finish line. You don't ever want to finish a race and think to yourself that you could have done more. At least that's how I try to race. And holy smokes did she listen. She busted out into a sprint. Ummm....ok. I had no choice but to kick it into high gear. That girl has some serious kick! I came across the finish line seeing stars and breathing hard! She outkicked me in the end....by 2 seconds! :) But I did come across with a new PR: 44:04. The Garmin's don't lie when I say we were hauling at the end. We went from a 14:48 pace to a 11:47. Nothing left out on the course for her!
Post-race. Hot and very sweaty.
Of course this got my race juices flowing. There is something so exhillerating about crossing a finish line. It doesn't matter what pace you cross at, it's such a high. Even when you feel like death. Those are the races that seem like a greater accomplishment because you survived and didn't quit. This race got me pondering what time I could get running at my own pace. Jessica's pace isn't far from my own but now I'm curious. Maybe I'll randomly sign up for another local 5k and see what I can do.
Thanks Jessica for kicking my butt into gear. Thank you fore being an inspiration. You are an unlikely runner like myself but you also just ran a race after giving up one of your internal organs. That's pretty awesome if you ask me. :)
You may have noticed a lack of workout related posts lately. I haven't exactly fallen off the wagon. I like to think that I have been shoved off the wagon by that B-, mother nature. What is up with 100+ degrees in Central Ohio? That just doesn't happen here. Hell, even 90 degree days don't usually come until August. There have been heat advisories more days than not. They were telling people with breathing troubles (me) to stay inside. So I did that. TNT has cancelled multiple group trainings lately as well. I don't keep a gym membership during the summer months so I haven't even had access to a treadmill (anyone wanting to let me borrow one, I'll take it. I probably won't return it though. Ever.).
We have had a *slight* break in the weather with some cooler temperatures sneaking back into the forecast. And by cooler I mean it's now down to 90 during the day. I finally dragged my lazy self to a TNT practice last night and I'm so glad I went. Earlier this week two little birds (Kim and Marcia!!!!) reminded me that I declared a 1/2 marathon "A" race on the blog. And they reminded me that it's only 2 months away. Crap. I don't even know what kind of pace I'm working with right now so I used last night as my baseline. (Remember I'm chasing a race walk PR, not a running PR).) It was in deed 90 degrees but I pushed hard anyways.
I did just over 4 miles but you can see from the splits that my Garmin died at 3.37 miles. I think Garmin needs to invent a car charger for their watches. That sucker could have be charging while I sat in traffic for 40 minutes on the way to training. But back to the workout. Check out the negative splits! I'm fairly certain mile 4 ended up being faster than 14:16 so I was on fire. Literally, I was on fire. I was SOOOO hot. Give me 30 degrees and a light snow fall and I'm a happy marathoner. Other than the heat, the 4+ miles felt pretty good. My legs are definitely feeling the pace today but it all feels good to be back in action.
Back to that A race. I'm wanting to PR. I need under 3:14 which is somewhere around a 14:45 mile. Yowzas. That's faster than last night's workout for sure. And then there is Marcia and Kim in my ear telling me I can break 3 hours if I just stick with Marcia (she's agreed to be my "pacer."). Ummm....that's somewhere around a 13:35 mile. Crazy town. If mother nature will start cooperating, I will just have to see what I can do.
Until then though, I'm doing a 5K (that evil short distance) with a co-worker tomorrow. Her goal is to run the entire thing and I told her I'd do it with her. I haven't necessarily told her though that the last time I ran was during the triathlon and I'm not even sure that counts as running. Fun times!
I don't really enjoy cooking. I'm capable, I just don't enjoy it. I get it from my mom . . . who got it from her mom. It's just not our thing. Luckily The Pilot seems to enjoy cooking so most of the time when he's around, he will make dinner. Sometimes it's fancy, sometimes not. We try not to eat out more than once a week. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we don't.
With the chaos of the move, I'm surprised to tell you we still managed to eat at home more often than not. There were certainly several pizza runs during the moving process but we are back on track. Now that we have a huge (to us anyways) kitchen and brand new appliances, it certainly makes cooking a lot easier than when we were in the condo. I've even stepped up a little and have cooked some recently....and nearly burned the kitchen down.
A fellow pilot wife and blogger shared her love of a grill pan quite a while ago and all of her dishes looked so pretty and colorful. This led me to make one kitchen-related request when it came to choosing items for our wedding registry last year, a grill pan. Unfortunately after the wedding, the grill pan had to go into storage because there wasn't anywhere to put it in our tiny kitchen. But that thing is out of the box and in a kitchen cabinet finally!
Recently I cut up some vegetables (onion, red bell pepper, zucchini and squash) and made a seasoning mix to rub the veggies with prior to putting them on the grill pan. I found a recipe online but didn't have all of the ingredients so I kind of made it up as I went. There was some soy sauce, garlic, olive oil, some other random things I found. I should have my own show on the Food Network.
Look how pretty they looked prior to grilling!
I was doing really well until the last few veggies were grilling. The Pilot came into the kitchen and immediately went "woah!" In a matter of seconds, the kitchen filled with smoke. Oops. I think I ran out of oil in my pan and it started to smoke really bad. It's a good thing we are planning to refinish the kitchen cabinets because I was well on my way to having a smoked kitchen. Once the fan was on and a few windows were opened, we were back in business.
Yum!
I'm not so great when it comes to meal planning. I can barely get one item prepared let alone multiple pieces so my grilled veggies were served with a side of.....garlic bread. Again, Food Network, here I come! I thought was good. The Pilot enjoyed it as well but said I probably shouldn't make it again because he had to clean up my grease mess. (Typically when one cooks the meal, the other cleans up.)
Another item that has been holed up in the basement because our kitchen was so small was my beloved crepe maker.
I bought this thing in 1998 (no, I don't remember this off the top of my head. For some reason, I left the receipt in the box.) when I was still in high school. I was in the French Club and we had a "crepe making party". I was so cool. Anyways, despite lack of use over the years, I just couldn't bear to part with it. I kept telling myself that once I had a bigger kitchen and could actually keep it IN the kitchen, I would use it. When The Pilot moved in and we were making space for his things, he asked if we could get rid of it. Nope. Not going to happen. You know, sentimental feelings for an appliance and all.
I brought the poor crepe maker back into the light and made a batch the other night. I even had the copy of the recipe from my high school French teacher still in the box. One slight problem is that its been 13+ years since I've made crepes and I forgot that the batter needed to sit for at least an hour before using. Crap. Out came my appetizer to tide us over until it was ready....pretzels. FOOD NETWORK!
Finally, a 1/2 bag of pretzels and one hour later, I was in business. I started cranking out the crepes while sauteing some spinach on the stove. One reason for the recent interest in making crepes is because of this food cart. I encoutered it twice earlier this year and the simple spinach and feta crepe made my mouth water. Surely I could recreate it, right? FOOD NETWORK!
I had the crepes (albeit smaller than Leslie's), I had the spinach and I had the feta. Did I recreate it? Not at all. Don't worry, Leslie's, you aren't going to have any competition anytime soon. While it was certainly edible, it just wasn't the same. Oh well. We did however have a large stack of crepes to play with.
A million years ago, I went to France with one of the high school teachers and some of my dear friends. I have a very fond memory of ordering crepes from a street vendor in Paris. I ordered just a plain sugar crepe and it was soooo good. So good in fact that when I accidentally dropped it in the subway station, I picked it up and kept on eating. I was classy even at 17. Anyways, I was about to make myself a sugar crepe when I remembered that we had Nutella (generic of course) and bananas. Score. The Pilot and I then proceeded to stuff our faces with Nutella and banana crepes. My new favorite thing. I didn't even have to drop it on the floor to enjoy it.
And in case you are wondering what The Pilot does when I'm cooking up these gourmet meals? He likes to train the cats so they can run away with the circus some day.
So we had some crazy weather around these parts over the weekend. I got caught in one heck of a storm on Friday night. During my commute home from work on Friday night, I was just a few miles from home when it was as if someone turned the lights off. It got so dark, so quickly! I made a left turn and was heading west when all of the sudden the wind came out of nowhere and then there was this giant dust cloud that came right at me and seemed to swallow my car. It was the strangest, scariest thing I've ever seen. It was this big ball of dust but then as quickly as it approached, that big cloud was filled with trees. Giant tree limbs and branches were flying all over the place! I wasn't in a place that was safe to pull over and with only about 2 miles left to get home, I decided to head for home and hope a tree branch didn't come through the car.
I made it home safely but then The Pilot and I sat in the house and watched our (new to us) trees and crossed out fingers and toes that they would stay upright and out of the inside of our house. We've been meaning to call someone to give us a quote to trim/take out some of the trees that are hanging over the house. I think we might be in a little more of a hurry to get that taken care of!
We came through the storm in pretty good shape. There were sticks and leaves all over the yard but no damage. We also seem to be in a very small pocket of town that still has power. Even several days after the storm, there are over 200,000 people in the area without power. And naturally it has been unseasonably warm and in the high 90s. I can't think of much worse than not having AC during heat like this. I'm a heat weenie but this is BAD! I've offered up our house in case anyone needs a break from the heat. I would certainly hope my friends would do the same for me....especially since they all know I'm a heat weenie.
We had a group training on Sunday morning and with no storms in sight and an early morning start, we decided to brave the heat. It was already in the 70s with obscene humidity at 8 am but we stuck it out. There was at least one detour as there was a giant tree down across the path (with power lines under the tree!) but I got in about 6.5 miles. I was soaked after about .25 mi and I won't even begin to describe what I looked and felt like after 6.5 miles. Ugh.
I saw this on my way home after training.
That is a giant tree on top of a building. Seeing so many big, old trees like that makes me sad. So did seeing all of the food coolers at Target with yellow tape all over them. They had to throw away all of the food. It's been an expensive weekend for a lot of people but so far it seems like everyone is ok....hot and sweaty, but safe.
Those clowns at RAM Racing are bringing that horrible hot chocolate race to my town. Let me jog your memory about the worst race I have ever participated in (and blogged about here). It was an overcrowded race with so much poor planning that it makes my blood boil even after nearly 7 months.
Yesterday, my co-worker innocently Skype'd me and asked if it was a Hot Chocolate race I ran in DC last year. She then broke the news that they were bringing the race to C-bus. While my jaw dropped, I was instantly on Google looking it up. I'm not even going to give RAM Racing the satisfaction of putting the link on here and driving more traffic to their site (unless of course you want to go on their site and tell them what a bunch of clowns they are).
While you can register for the race and fork over $45 for the 5K or $65 for the 15K, there are practically no details on their website yet. No race course, no parking options, no accommodations. Maybe it's just me but I certainly wouldn't sign up for a race unless I had at least the basic details like WHERE it will be. I'm also going to throw out there that you can register for Columbus' two largest and most reputable 1/2 marathons for about the same price and you are guaranteed some decent swag and a fully supported race course.
I will give them this: Most areas of Columbus can accommodate a large number of people and cars. The Columbus Marathon is one big event. We have an arena downtown that can hold about 18,000 people as well as parking lots/garages to hold all the cars. That being said, I don't think they would have the parking/crowd control issues they had in DC. I've also participated in A LOT of local races and no matter what kind of swag they are giving away, other than the large full and half marathons, C-bus races don't pull 15,000 racers. I think the largest non-half or full marathon event I've been involved with here in town has had about 1000 racers.
I've given bad races another chance before (check out my 1/2 marathon re-do) but even a free race registration couldn't get me to go to another RAM Racing event. In addition to a craptastic race, the EXCUSES that RAM Racing delivered after the race were downright offensive. I blasted them back in December (and ironically, that blog post is currently my most viewed blog post EVER) and I'll blast them again now. I have already strongly encouraged everyone I know to not sign up for that race. I think maybe I'll start my own little protest. You know, Occupy Hot Chocolate.
My co-worker actually said it well, "For $65, I'll just pick a day in November, go on a 10 mile run and make my husband fix me hot chocolate when I get back. That should cost me 65 cents."
Here's how me and my BFF felt about RAM Racing back in December:
Let me start off by saying I am type-A all the way. A strong type-A at that. I like lists, schedules and rules. I like order. So let's just say this this moving process has been anything but orderly in the eyes of a type-A control freak. Nothing in particular, it's just challenging for me to have my entire life in upheaval.
It's getting better each day though. The Pilot was home over the weekend and we go A LOT done. We are getting to the point where the new house is really starting to feel like OUR home and not just a house will all of our stuff in it.
One reason it feels like home? The Disney-tourist Potato Heads have been unpacked.
Even the cats are feeling at home. As long as The Animal Whisperer Pilot is home, they are happy. When he's gone, those furballs pout and only come smearing around me when they are hungry or so desperate for attention that they will take whatever they can get.
One of the challenges we are having now is meeting the neighbors. I think it's really important to be friendly with your neighbors. I'm not expecting to be BFFs with all of them, but I'd really like to get to know them all. To say we didn't have the best neighbors at the condo is the understatement of the year. Besides, I grew up in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other and good or bad, everyone knew each others' business. People looked out for each other. My parents still live in that neighborhood and are close with several neighbors. They really are extensions of our own families. We have vacationed together. Now as the "kids" are growing up, we are all attending each others' weddings. Lots of fun! I want that same experience now that I am a "grown up." If we decide to start a family, I want that experience for our offspring.
So here we are the new kids on the block (yes, I grew up in the 90s) and really wanting to meet the neighbors. Whatever happened to the Welcome Wagon and bringing over a casserole to meet the new people?? We've lived here over a month now and the only interaction I've had has been forced and I've been the one to stick my neck out. I'll go ahead and fess up that I am terrible when it comes to introducing myself to new people. If someone else introduces me to a stranger, I'm ok. I'd like to think I'm not completely socially awkward, But if I have to be the one to initiate, I turn into my 8-year-old formerly shy self.
It's hard to make myself available because there is so much work to be done on the inside of the house. I hate to hole myself up inside but that's where the boxes are calling out to me that they need unpacked. I've forced myself to go outside to water our hanging flower baskets and then I'll linger like a creeper out front or in the garage. Just hoping maybe someone will be outside and I can say hello.
Another dilemma is that I am terrible with names. I've now met three adults, two kids and a dog. Is it strange that the only name I can actually recall is that of the dog? Sigh. None of these encounters have happened in the presence of The Pilot so I'm totally dependent on my own recall, which obviously sucks. At least I can say hello to Charlie the dog when I see him.
We do have one slight advantage. The previous owners of our house left us a letter which their realtor gave me at closing (the previous owners didn't attend the closing). It was a very sweet hand written letter telling us that it was such a great house for them and how they brought home their youngest son from the hospital there and how their older son learned to ride a bike in the driveway. It was very thoughtful. They also described some of the neighbors they were friendly with. They included names! So even if we haven't met those people, we do know their names. I've made it my mission to figure out how to meet the neighbors directly across the street. According to the letter, they are newlyweds also and don't have any kids. We must meet them because everyone else seems to have a bunch of kids so at least we would have that in common.
Tonight was absolutely beautiful. It's been so hot around here that it was nice to not be sweating like a banshee after being outside for 10 seconds. After taking the trash out (and wondering why it is that The Pilot has been working every single trash night since we've moved into the new house), I decided I'd go on a short bike ride through the neighborhood..... and smile to anyone and everyone I passed so they would think I am a nice person and they should come talk to me....or wonder what is wrong with me and call the block watch captain.
I hopped on my bike and here's what I discovered:
Just like at the condo, we have some expert trash pickers here in the new neighborhood.
It is .1 mi from our house to the neighborhood playground and picnic shelter.
It is 1.1 mi from our house to the nearby elementary school and playground.
The path that winds around the perimeter of our neighborhood isn't so great for bikes. The tree roots have pushed up the blacktop and it's bumpy!
I wish it wasn't creepy for a 31 year old woman to go swing by herself. I really need to go borrow my niece and nephew so I have an excuse to go to the playground.
Some of the neighbors don't make their kids wear bike helmets. And yes, I judge them. I'm sure they are nice people and I still want to meet them, but I also have a strong urge to give them some literature on how bike helmets save lives. Stepping off soap box.
I need to find out exactly where my friend lives because I rode down his street and probably looked really strange as I rode by reeaaaally slowly and stared at all the people in their yards trying to see if any of them were my friend. (Hey Andy, send me an email!) :)
I rode by the house we originally made an offer on but ultimately lost and decided I am really glad that we have the house that we have.
That just 20 minutes prior to my ride, I was admiring our weekend project of finally getting some bike racks for the garage so we can actually park in the garage now.
The Pilot still needs to mount a rack for his mountain bike but our road bikes are up off the floor now! It's like a work of art. It only took an hour, several tries, some new home-owner drama, a lost screwdriver bit, a call to my dad for help and me covered in mosquito bites from trying to "supervise" but they are up on the wall!
Anyways, on my way back to our house, I passed by a house several doors down and
realized The Pilot and I are amateurs when it comes to our bikes and bike racks. If my eyes weren't tricking me
as I road by, this garage had at least 5 road bikes hanging from the
side wall. I'm talking professional looking racks and bikes. We must meet these people! If only I wasn't so socially awkward.
I completed my fourth triathlon two weeks ago and I'm calling it an automatic PR. It was a sprint distance tri but I'm pretty sure the swim course was a little short (was supposed to be 1/2 mile) and the bike course was loooong. Usually a sprint tri has a 12 mile bike but this advertised as 17 miles. And in reality it was closer to 18.5 miles. Anyways, I came blazing across the finish line in 2:27:15. I say this not because I'm fast but because I have now completed THREE triathlons that have taken place on the thresholds of hell. It was HOT!
Now for the nitty gritty details.
It was a 4:15 am wake up call. I told The Pilot that the early wake up calls are by far my least favorite part of racing. And also one of the main reasons why I'll never do the Goofy Challenge again. I slowly wandered around the house and got ready.
Off to the lake!
We got up to the lake around 5:45 am and I picked up my timing chip (which for triathlons looks a lot like a house arrest monitor, not that I know from experience) and my swim cap. The race had different color swim caps for the different age categories. I was rocking out the red swim cap, representing the 30-34 age group.
Hey kid, I'm an elite athlete. Can't you tell?
I headed to the transition area to set up while The Pilot acted as my sherpa and paparazzi. Isn't he the best?
Super Sherpa Spectator! He's loaded down with a folding chair, a man purse full of camera lenses, the camera, and a backpack with dry clothes for me to wear at the after-party, sunscreen, water and if I know my husband, a snack.
It was a party in transition since there were 5 of us teammates in the 30-34 age group so our bikes were all racked near each other. Our other teammates were close by as well. Team in Training had a tent set up near the beach and we all met there. It was also time to meet up with my own personal race stylist, also known as Lisa, who has some serious French braiding skills. I've found the best way to keep my mass amounts of hair in check during a tri is to have it French braided into two braids. It will fit into a swim cap and a bike helmet but it will also stay out of my face during the run.
There was supposed to be a mandatory meeting in transition with the USAT officials at 6:30 and then the race was to start at 7. I knew this was more of a guideline than a hard and fast time. This race company is notorious for late starts. Normally that bugs the hell out of me but time was flying by on race morning so I was ok with it. We made our way to the beach and I was squeezing myself into my wetsuit as the first wave of people started.
Coach! I need assistance! Can you make it so its not so tight??
Suck it in Mary!
Our team was milling around on the beach and then wading around in the water as we waited for our waves. I never actually heard them call each wave, it was more a follow the crowd kind of vibe. Before I knew it, there were a bunch of red swim caps lining up at the buoys in the water. 30-34 age group. This was an in-water start, which I had never done before and I have to say, I liked it! It started in about chest deep water (for me) and there was no running from the beach into the water and getting your heart rate all jacked up in the first 5 seconds of the race.
A very anti-climactic start
As the siren (?) went off indicating we could start, I swam a few strokes but quickly realized my swim buddy wasn't next to me. My teammate Susan, while a tri alumni, hates open water swimming. She was really freaked out before the race started and so we decided to be swim buddies and stick together. When I looked back, I saw Susan still standing at the buoy. She yelled to me that she couldn't do it and was in the process of turning towards the beach when I swam back for her.
Susan, I will drag you through this if I have to!
No way! Not on my watch, swim buddy. I told her we'd walk it if we had to (the swim was along the shoreline so the depth stayed anywhere from knee deep to chest deep) but we were going to finish that swim. I gave her some encouragement, which included me telling her that I don't like the swim anymore than she does. She slowly started walking towards me and slowly but surely, we started to make some progress. We walked. I did the side stroke. I would swim a few strokes and then make sure Susan was still with me. We'd walk a few, swim a few. Susan finally found a groove and got her head down in the water. And that's when I thought I was going to get dropped! Susan is a strong swimmer and can easily kick my a$$ any day. Once she started swimming, I was giving all I had to keep up with her! We finally made it to the last buoy and made the trek up the beach and into transition. I must say, swimming with someone sure is better than being in the back all alone. Swim buddies never leave a man behind!
Heads in the water!
Susan, look at us looking like hot stuff coming out of the water. See, we are beating that guy in the Speedo (never mind the fact that he started in the wave behind us).
Swim time: 17:00. Supposedly that is for a 1/2 mile swim plus the run up the beach into transition. Considering my time last year was 21:00, I'm thinking the swim course was a little short. Or as a race walker, I have an ability to walk really quickly through water and made up 4 minutes.
Again, I had a picnic and knitted a sweater while in transition. 4:39. I have no idea what I was doing for it to take me so long. I pulled off my wetsuit with no trouble. I squeezed the water out of my braids (mass quantity of hair = super absorbent). I sprayed on some extra sunscreen on my arms and legs. I put on my cycle shoes, gloves, helmet and off I went. I had to run the bike for what felt like a quarter mile before I reached the bike mount line (mounting the bike before the line will give you a penalty). 4:39?? I have no idea.
Once on the bike, I just told myself to push as hard as I could and deal with the consequences on the run. I'm not sure why I went with the strategy. I had no strategy at the start of the race but for some reason, I wanted to prove something to myself on the bike. Prove that I can average faster than 12mph on a ride? Maybe.
Remember that mandatory meeting I mentioned? During it they mentioned that they had to re-route the bike course due to some local construction. We sort of expected that. The course was advertised as 17 miles (which was already long for a sprint distance tri) but they announced that because of the re-route, it would be closer to 18 miles. Say what? I was certainly glad I got in a couple 20+ mile rides during training.
The bike course was a lot different than I expected. I knew the original course and was mentally prepared for it (including a long climb at the end). But the course was completely different, though it still had the long climb at the end. This course was full of rolling hills. Not long or steep, just a large quantity. And I hate hills. But I will say, I've improved a lot this season at reacting more quickly when I need to change gears to prepare for a hill. That meant that I was able to get up the hills. Most of them went by without much difficulty but there a few out there that I was completely sucking wind.
Why the heck did they put a photographer right at the top of a hill
(at least I hope this was at the top of a hill)?? Not cool.
And in a complete first for me, I was actually passing people while on the bike. That never happens. Granted the majority of those people were on mountain or hybrid bikes (heavier bikes) but there were a couple on road bikes. While I don't climb hills well, I have no fear on the downhills and that is where I tended to be able to pass some of those people.
Some of my teammates started passing me in the last 5 miles of the bike and while it sometimes sucks to get passed, its awesome to get passed by teammates who are doing amazing.
As expected, there was the long, slow climb in the last mile. I managed to stay out of my granny gear and I even passed someone on the uphill but boy was I breathing hard when I got to the top. Luckily it is literally downhill back into the transition from there so I was able to spin out my legs and catch my breath before getting off the bike. Bike time: 1:19:02. The course was closer to 18.5 miles but a 14 mph average? I'll take it! 14 is faster than 12!
Finally back from the bike.
Don't fall!
The second transition wasn't as slow as the first but it still seems like I was knitting a sweater. 2:39. I racked my bike, took off the helmet, gloves, cycle shoes and shoved my feet into my running shoes. I also made the call to take off my tri top and throw on a jersey. I blogged about the tight tri top previously and even had my mom cut and hem the sides so it would at least work for the swim and bike. But it was still uncomfortable. I could have survived 3.1 miles with it but I also realized just how hot it was getting as I was still about 5 miles from the end of the bike. My mouth felt like cotton yet I was sucking water down like it was my job. I needed to protect myself from the sun so I took off the tri top and put on a jersey with sleeves so at least my shoulders were covered. I instantly felt more comfortable...
...that is until I had to start actually running. More on that later. When I came into the second transition, Team in Training had a HUGE group of cheerleaders that situated themselves in between the transition area and the last 1/4 mile of the run. It was perfect! They could see people coming from both directions. As I came in from the bike, I heard the cheer team go nuts but when I saw them, I realized they all had their backs to me in transition. I looked up and saw one of my teammates, James (Susan's hubby), running towards the finish. I won't lie, my first thought was "holy sh#$! He's finishing already?!" James was in the same age group and started the swim at the same time Susan and I did. As quickly as I had that thought, I suddenly was so excited for him. It was his first tri and obviously he was rocking it out like the hero he is.
Cheer team!
Once I completed knitting my sweater and having another picnic, I headed out of transition to start the last leg of the race. A 5k. It seems so simple. Hello, I've completed full marathons. I survived all 39.3 miles of the Goofy Challenge. 3.1 miles seems so short. But remember how much I hate short distances? I'd rather do a half marathon than a 5k. And a 5k after I just swam 1/2 mile and cycled 18+ miles? Ugh. If you'll also remember, I only did one brick workout this season (much to my coach's chagrin). As soon as I started to run, it felt like I had concrete blocks tied around my ankles. From experience, this is normal. I just needed to get through the first 1/2 mile and typically that feeling goes away.
Guess what? That feeling didn't go away. I don't even think I made it 1/2 a mile before I started to walk. I didn't walk too long before I tried to run again. No such luck. The first part of the course was on a gravel/dirt/grass path. It was uneven and difficult to walk on. But running was so uncomfortable. I just kept moving forward and cheered for my teammates as they passed by going in the opposite direction (it was an out and back course).
I finally made it up to the dam and was on blacktop for a little while. I tried to run again and while my legs were starting to cooperate more, the sun was beating down on me. I was so thankful that I put on a shirt with sleeves so at least my shoulders weren't baking.
This is about when I started to contemplate my triathlon "career." Why was I doing this to myself? Why do these races always have to be so damn hot? What am I always running on top of a damn dam with no shade? I decided around mile 2 that I was never going to do another tri ever again.
I also decided that I never wanted to wear my race belt ever again. This race required that a race number be worn during the bike and run. With the number written on our arm, I have no idea why they also required a race number. Anyways, I wore it on a race belt which I had never worn before. I tightened it up before the race and tried it on and it seemed to work fine. But because I probably lost 5 pounds worth of sweat during the race, that thing wouldn't stay in place at all. I spent the entire 5k messing with it because it kept riding up. I came close to taking it off and carrying it but I was already carrying a water bottle and didn't want something else to focus on not dropping.
I'm pretty sure it was thinking about Parker and Seth that kept me going.
I walked much more than I ran but I kept moving. I eventually made it off the dam, made a brief jaunt through some trees (shade) and back to the beach. Before I rounded the last corner though, I heard The Pilot. And soon enough, there he was in all of his Super Spectator glory, rattling his noise maker with camera in hand. I was walking but even seeing him couldn't motivate me to run because I knew I didn't have the steam to run to the finish from that point. If I was going to run again, it was going to be for the last time and I wanted to run across the finish.
Lucky for me, one of our amazeballs alums, Stephanie, jumped out of nowhere and started running next to me. Well, ok then. I guess it's time to run. She pumped me up with some encouragement, got me running and ran with me through the last stretch along the beach. I love that the tables turned because it wasn't long ago that I was cheering and encouraging her through a race as a coach and here she was doing the same for me. Reason # 1,098 why I love TNT.
That's Stephanie running with me but then jumping off the course to let me have my "glory" as I made the last turn to the finish. The little guy is my nephew and the cutie in the watermelon dress is my niece. Super spectators in the making! My niece was only 18 months when she was at the finish line when I crossed my very first marathon back in 2006.
And after 43:57 of trudging my way through, I completed the 5k and came across the finish line for a total time of 2:27:15. I could have walked the entire 5k in the same amount of time, if not faster, but after the swim and the bike, that's all I had. And that's all I needed because I finished.
That was one goal. The ultimate goal was to raise money for research and patient services for blood cancer. Thanks to my amazing supporters, I was able to raise $1,305. We are getting that much closer to finding cures. And that brings me to by far, my favorite part of race day. I've been racing for a couple of years now in honor of Parker and in memory of Seth. Two amazing boys who, with their families, battled cancer. Parker is a success story and is 6 years in remission. Seth didn't make it, but there are still a lot of people still fighting in his memory.
Like the joy of finishing another race isn't great enough, this time around, Parker was at the finish line. He has been a super spectator at a lot of races along with his family but this is the first time I've been in a race he's been a cheerleader at. His dad and his aunt were also racing so he, his mom and little brother, Miles (a "side-hero") came out decked with signs and noise makers. Awesomesauce. I think Parker is still surprised when he finds out people do these races for him but he's also very thankful.
Parker and I at the finish
Super spectators! Because real men wear purple! Parker, Miles and The Pilot.
And let me tell you, seeing Parker and his family at the finish, along with all of my teammates who finished before me, it made the pain and the heat go away. While I was telling myself I'd never do another triathlon again at mile 2 (and beyond), seeing what I saw at the finish made me realize that my work isn't done. Whether it is racing, coaching or donating time and money, I will keep fighting until there is a cure for blood cancers.
I love this picture! Hugs all around! I'm getting a hug from Meg. She's famous for her amazing hugs. It doesn't matter if you just met her, she gives full on bear hugs! :)
GO TEAM!
We all finished and raised over $18,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!
