Half Vermont Journey (8/29/10) - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Good swim - but I think it was way short. At E-man, with that ridiculous swim, I took 53 minutes; here, I took 35. I think a normal, well measured swim-time for me would be in the low 40's... Someday they'll get it right!

I wasn't too mad about it though, it felt so good to see a good time on my watch when I got out of the water! Much better than the near heart-attack I had when I saw 53 after Eman swim!

Sighting was tough on the return part of the out and back because of the sun. But I did ok, and was definitely pumped when I started catching up to the slower men (who started 3 minutes ahead of me).

Of all the things I improved on over Eagleman, I am very happy with the improved transitions.

I wasn't the slowest biker out there! I actually was very pleased with this bike performance. It was a rolling hill course, so the fact that I was only 7 minutes slower than Eagleman (pancake flat) made me happy :) Also, I just generally felt strong. I caught, passed - and stayed in front of - some other women. I didn't get scared on any of the downhills.

The last hill returning into the park was a bit of a challenge (coming at Mile 53!) but I grinded (ground?) up it.

I wore my new DeSoto cool wings on the bike and I am now officially IN LOVE with them. I got NO sunburn on my back! Again, at Eman - I walked away from the race with 2nd degree burns and sun poisoning. Cool Wings + sunscreen = life saver for me.

Good! Took a break to have Mark apply sunscreen.

Eh. I wanted to average under 10min/miles. But, I held on fairly well despite the challenging course! The hills were really brutal, not much to say about that.

Exhausted and had to lean on the fence for a few minutes. Then packed up my stuff, and headed over to the food tent. Met up with Mentor Steve and Anne and Ken :) Had a great post-race meal.

Won a free wetsuit in the raffle!! I either get a FREE Vortex 3 sleeveless, or I can take $300 off the price of any other Xterra wetsuit! So I'll be wetsuit shopping soon! yay!

Also found out that I got third in the age group! Yay! I got a cool plaque for that. Didn't think I was going to place, but I knew I wasn't last because I had passed one of the other ladies on the bike. They started off the F25-29 by saying: "with a time of 6:11:27...." and I turned to Steve and said, I think that's me! Haha :) Very fun.

Overall, a GREAT day. Nearly a 30 minute improvement over Eagleman (which was my first HIM) - on a much more challenging course. The temperature was lower, of course, but that wasn't everything. I just had a better attitude and enjoyed it more :) It shows in the results!


I really enjoyed the race. Challenging run course, great bike course. Excellent door prizes!