Jefferson, Texas United States Jefferson 86F / 30C Sunny

Total Time = 1h 27m 25s Overall Rank = 2/55 Age Group = F25-29 Age Group Rank = 0/

Okay, let me just start by saying that this race was a for fun race, just doing it because it was local and could have fun with the local clubs. I didn't taper at all and honestly didn't care how I did. It was so funny how so many of the local people were serious as a heart attack about this race. I guess doing the long stuff, which is what I love, it's hard for me to take the short stuff seriously (not that I am in any way belittling sprints...I'm an endurance perosn, not a speedy-gonzalez...I hate the short stuff). Everyone seemed to be out to get me. Eric said Chauncey was out for revenge since I beat him in the half at BSL. I'm just like, come and get me. I'll always have the half over his head anyways, lol. Anyways, so all that being said and you know my lack of caring mindset...here's how Saturday evening went...

Dwight and I headed to Jefferson around 3:30 in the afternoon to hang out in the shops and pick up my packet. After walking through downtown we made our way over to packet pickup where I saw some Tyler peeps. So, we decided to eat a "little" bit of food at the free pasta dinner and then eat more later. I ate spaghetti, bread, and salad. Oh, and they had kegs there, so started drinking beer. Well, they Tyler folks eventually left, but not to worry because now all of the Longview people started showing up. We basically closed down the pasta dinner and I managed to get 5 beers down...hey, they were free! Dave kept telling me to drink up because he wanted to have someone he could beat in the race. Anyways, so could we quit there?? No, not when there is a perfectly good bar in need of our service down the street. So, we headed over to Auntie Skinners for drinks and food. Some people didn't eat at the pasta dinner like Dwight and I did, but I didn't want them to have to eat all by themselves (okay so there were about 10-12 in our group and over half hadn't eaten yet)...so I had chips and salsa, Dwight and I split a hamburger, and then someone orderd stuffed jalepeno's that I couldn't pass up. And of course, had to have a couple of margaritas. Man, I'll be super fast with all this great carbo-loading!! Meanwhile, down at the other end of the table...they're getting way to serious talking about the race. I'm looking at the dance floor and watching the band and thinking of ways to make it on stage :) Anyways, the group called it quits at like 9:45...something about a triathlon being the next day :) So, drove back to Longview and headed to bed...

Woke up around 4:30 and took my sweet ol' time getting ready. Left the house a little before 6. I love having races close by! Arrived at Lake O' the Pines at 6:30. And get this...I wasn't the first one there!! That again proves how lax I was about this race. Normally, I'm there before the volunteers, lol. Since I did this race last year, I now consider myself and expert :) Marched to transition, and was set up in about 0.2 seconds. Gradually the other tyler and longview folks started showing up so I chit-chatted with them. Oh, and I made the mistake of asking Kayla about my racing attire. You see I had on my roadkill top but at Tinman I realized how much it dragged in the water because it's loose. So, I thought about just swimming in my sports bra, but didn't want to take the time to put a top on in transition. So, my question was, do i deal with a little drag in the water or do I go without the top and do the entire race in my sports bra. Of course, Kayla the wild woman was like, "Go without girl! Flaunt what ya' got!" Didn't realize flaunting love handles was a good thing, but decided to be bold and go with it...man did I feel NAKED!! Did the normal 50 bathroom stops routine. We finally got in the water where we continued talking away and didn't realize the first wave taking off...oops!