Stonebridge Ranch - TriathlonOlympic

So the first wave went off, and I don't know what I was doing, but I guess I didn't see the women (in pink hats) in line to get in the water. There were red hats that looked very similar to the women's, so I assumed they were all the same color. Needless to say, I almost missed my swim wave. I'm really not sure when they lined up, but I made across the mat at just the right time. What a mess!!!

Ok, so let me say, I felt better than I ever have in a swim. I don't know how, but I never even had to take a break during the swim. Andy told me I looked much more confident than he had ever seen me in the water. The water temp was nice, so it didn't take my breath away like last year.

When I got out of the water, I must have been swimming through the mud, because as I look back at the pictures, my entire face is covered in mud.

It was a great swim overall. I improved my oly time in the water by 12 minutes. That's enough to be proud of right there!!!

Not almost miss my swim wave!!!

This was a long run down to transition. It really seemed to take me forever to get down there.

Wipe the mud from my face!!!

I felt really bad on this ride. I don't know if it was the not eating breakfast, or if I was just having a bad race (probably both), but I felt HORRIBLE. On my third loop, I almost quit. I really felt like I was going to throw up, but I was not going to let myself give into it.

It was great to come around the corner each time and see people cheering me on. On the third lap in, pretty much everyone was in already finished, so there weren't many spectators. I think the only thing that kept me going there was hearing my husband's voice, and seeing Marcy & Laurie cheering me on. I'm sure there were others, but those are the ones I remember.

The most discouraging thing was to have the RBM van behind me the entire last loop picking up volunteers. One thing that helped was the police man that pulled up beside me on his motorcycle and said, "girl, you can do it, keep going, you're almost there!!!" Thank goodness he was there.

Go faster!!!

I was so happy to see the finish to the bike I could hardly see straight. I know everyone was happy to see me too (they couldn't get their bikes out of transition until I came in). It was encouraging to see so many people cheering me in. I kinda made a joke out of it as I came in. I think I said something to the fact that I wanted to be last because I wanted everyone to cheer for me. I didn't really think much about transition. I was just happy to be there.

Nothing really, I was just trying to survive.

Ok, so this may have been my worst run yet. I started off jogging to try to get my legs under me, but quickly realized they were not going to work like I wanted. At the beginning of the course there is a tunnel that ends with a pretty steep hill.

I saw Sean at the 3 mile mark for him and he cheered me on. Some stupid girl was there though, and I almost turned around and kicked her. Sean had said something about his goal was not being last. I made a joke out of it and said, well, you didn't make last becasue I am!!! The stupid girl said, "Well, I'm just glad it's not me". I still had 5.5 miles to go.

I was doing ok until I got to the top of the hill. My legs completely seized. My left thigh and my right calf completely locked up. You can imagine what my limp looked like with that. So I was less than a mile into the run, and I was afraid I wasn't going to make it. I think my major problem was I didn't take in enough salt on the bike. So, I was limping along about 3/4 of a mile into the run, and the medical staff stopped to talk to me. He asked me if I was ok, and I said I thought I could make it. He asked if I was doing the oly or the sprint. When I said the Oly, he asked if I knew I was less than a mile into it. I wanted to kick him, but I understood his reasoning. He thought if I was cramping this bad at mile 1, how would I feel at mile 3??? I stopped and stretched, and decided I could make it. I asked him if there was a cutoff time (because at this point, my only goal was to finish). He said no, so I took off limping. I limped all the way to the first aid station, and managed to take in some shot blocks with lots of salt, and I felt a little better.

I walked a lot of the way, and I wasn't too discouraged on the way out because I kept passing people that were coming back in. When I got to the 5K turn around, the boy there asked me if I was ready to turn and go back. I told him I was doing the Oly, and he said, "Oh, I'm sorry, you've got a long way to go!!!"

I kept going, and finally made it to the turn around. They had already picked up everything except the two glasses of water they had sitting there for me. At least the kept the water out.

The last 3 miles were very lonely. There were no supporters. There were some people at the aid stations, but they had pretty much cleaned everything up. Everytime I made it to an aide station (except the last one), everything was cleaned up except for my two glasses of water. It was pretty sad.

When I rounded the corner and saw Laurie & Marcy standing there, I knew I could finish. The last mile I tried to run 30 steps, walk 30 steps. If I could have done that earlier, I probably would have done better. I guess seeing them standing there was what got me through the last half mile. They went in with me to almost the finish.

At about 100 feet from the finish was my husband and kiddos. Drew had a flower for me. He dropped it when he handed it to me, so I had to turn and go back for it. I wasn't going to finish the race without his flower. They had pretty much taken down the finish line, so thank goodness there were all my BT friends to show me where to go. I almost missed the finish mat. Oh well, at least I made it to the finish mat.

Take in more salt.

Warm-down? Ok, so I didn't feel like eating anything, so that was out. Laurie and everyone else walked with me to transition to get my bike. I was so late, they even let everyone come into transition with me. How awesome was it to have people stick around long enough to see me finish? I just couldn't ask for better friends. I mean, who else but your friends will take a picture of your butt-shaped sweat stain on the cement, and pick up your earplugs?


My legs completely seizing, and not enough salt.


Glad it's over!!!