American Triple T Race # 4 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I wasnt looking forward to being beaten up so I stayed off to the right and tried to leave the bouy line open....where it was kinda shallow i hit my arm a couple times on some tree limbs in the water. Again second lap was much more pleasant since there isnt many left

made sure I had my feet good and dry and all gravels out of my toes and off I went to bike

This was an interesting ride....last year it was so cold I didnt hydrate and was the first time I ever hallucinated during a sporting event so this year I was gonna be sure to stay hydrated! I started the first climb and a guy came upon me and started to talk. He slipped in Sat morning race and twisted his ankle so dropped out and wanted to do half of todays course so that is why he was out there. We chatted and hung together. We got to one corner and believe it or not a freakin coyote runs out in front of us...10 feet away...I was like holly shit...that was a fucking coyote and we started laughing...I said you did see that cause last year I saw shit that wasnt here and he said hell yeah I saw that...wtf? We laughed about it for about 8 or 9 miles then came upon a group of wild turkeys. He stopped at the last hill to wait on some buddies that were racing and I went to go in for my second lap. I was about 2 miles away and a dang bee stung me on my inner thigh and each time i would pedal it just burned...it felt like the stinger was still there rubbing against my shorts. I was a little worried cause my mother became highly allergic about 10 years ago and I havent been stung in forever...so I get to transition and it is even bleeding some so the medics came with some vial and told me to squeeze it on it...i couldnt figure it out...you had to crack it open then put it on it so finally they did it for me. I put a bandaide on it and they had me sit for a few to make sure I didnt have a reaction and off I went. I thought I had been there for 10 min or longer but when i looked at my bike computer it was just over 5 mins so my real bike time still sucked! LOL

got into transition and they were really being strict on time cutoffs this year and i said how much time to I have and the guy said 1:45 so Im thinking I may as well not even try...how am i gonna run 13.1 miles in 1:45 so I asked Shannon if they would really pull me off and he said yes...so Im freaking and went to my friend that had volunteered all weekend and was told she could go out for the half marathon run with me and I said Im not gonna even start...I said I cant run 13.1 miles in 1:45 anytime let alone today and she let me know the first loop was only 6.55 miles not 13.1 so she cleared my head! It was pouring the rain at this time too.

It was pouring the rain as we went out for the run...it felt pretty good but the gravels would get stuck to you calf and was kinda miserably feeling. we walked the uphills and ran mostly downhill. By this time the little grades were considered uphills to me and I would tell Louvina..ok this big hill coming up we're gonna have to walk. This is one of those times you can say I made mountains out of molehills. My socks got so wet and heavy feeling. We got thru the first loop and I asked for the time and they said you are fine you have till 5:00 and that is 2 hours from now so off we went. I was so proud of Louvina too cause even though it was a slow pace the hills are tremedous this was her first half marathon.

ate some oranges and went to my folks house for big juicy cheeseburgers! Tried to sleep but couldnt get much sleep.


324 out of the 345 started race number 4 and 303 finished race number 4.