So, My Aunt and Uncle are selling their house and their for chaos has come down on upon their house. I've gone to their place a few times doing some mulching and it just so happened the Friday before the race I went to paint their basement. When I came back home after 5hours of painting I had a soar throat...I played it off as irritation from the oil based paint but that was all all a lie. That night as my I taxied my parents and neighbors to Musicfest (an annual music and arts festival with the added wonderful tasty treat) I fell into a fatigued and sickly state. I was in a furry! I always have a unique ability to get sick when an important event comes up. And hence my body failed me again and I got a wicked gold fever, sniffles, and all. Through Saturday I battled on as I went and got my racing packet. I made a strange decision to walk the run portion of my tri, smart or dumb I'm not sure.
Finally it was Sunday at 4am and after visualizing the entire day up to crossing the finish line I had no time to think about my cold. I went through the motions of stretching and eating and my parents and I were on our way to Lake Nockamixion. Arriving at 5z;30am the parking lots were complete insanity! Glow stick waving volunteered shouted and flailed trying to direct the nervous athletes to a parking spot. While my parents waited for the dazed and confused helpers to make the decision to allow people to park on the grass I got out with my bike and began the walk down to the marina. I was on my own this year because my tri buddy Amy B had been in Argentina for most of the summer meaning she didn't train. So, i attached myself to a group of veteran triathletes as we all walked to the transition area to be marked. They joked with each other about already being tired and how some guy named Rick was only able to stand because of the help of his bike. The light hearted group kept me feeling at ease. Once to the transition are I got my number 677 written on my by a nice older man who reminded me I had two arms and therefore needed the other marked as well. I got my age and event (Sprint/ 20) written on my calf (Little to my knowledge they had bumped my age up again to 21 because my birthday was that following Saturday (Aug 14th).
Once in the transition area i set up my gear and then headed out to the bathroom. Now last year I made the mistake of finding the closest port-o-potty with the longest line. This year I was a sneaky ninja and I went to the farthest possible bathroom which happened to be one of the Marinas actual facilities. And what I found was most wonderful surprise..no line...it was like i had one a secret prize. Just as if someone had come to my front door and handed me a check for 15,000$...well maybe not that exciting but in the moment it was dang cool.
So after the successful bathroom mission I chilled and waited for the Olympic distance to start. A wonderfully talented young girl sang the national anthem busting it out. The race was then afoot. With the swim warm up for the sprint distance around 7:30 and then my wave (wave 8) entered the water at 7:50.
Swim:
The swim was magnificent. I was in the front of the group of the 20 to 35year olds completing the half mile swimish in 13:28 coming in 45th/537. Exiting the water my transition was 2min and I was off on the bike.
Bike:
It was harder then last year getting up the hill I cold feel my cold weighing on me a bit. I wold catch myself and pic up the speed again. A few nice characters said hello and one Olympic competitor told me when one hill was left.
Run:
I came in from the bike and was off running with a 54sec transition. The run felt horrible I was passed by 2 in my age group. My legs where heavy and the pace the other girls where setting was insain. It just so happened they where doing 7min miles and under. I was at a 8:44 great for me but not good enough to place higher in the age group. The fastest in the 20-24s was a 22:00 time. CRAZY haha they were quite amazing. I finished off the race and was pretty excited that I had passed people during the bike and the run which was a billion times better then last year.
I finished the race 1:32.17, Swim 13:28, Bike 47:32, Run 27:45
5/22 for my age group making it onto the awards page. I never thought I'd ever be good enough at anything to make it to a place a recognition in any race. I've always been good but not great just out of the light but able to come along for the ride.
43/537 for the swim :D fastest of the top 5 finishers in my age group
212/537 for the Bike
303/537 for the run
46/246 for the women
145/537 overall sprinters
It was another great experience again. I was all pooped out after but not sour the next day at all so strange. So with that another tri is under the belt. Next year I plan to shoot for the win. And an Olympic distance. I have a bit of research to do with how to create a training season.
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