This is the first time I understood what people meant when the talked about "being in a washing machine". We were all treading water, and wound up bobbing around getting in each others way. This was also the first time the water was comfortable enough for me to put my face in it to start with. I still had a problem with breathing when i was supposed to. I kept adding in breaths, but I'm very happy with my time, so I'll take it. At the end of the swim you have to crawl up wooden ladders, and that kinda sucked, but it wasn't too bad

Pretty fast for me. I actually ran for a lot of it.

I knew I was in trouble on the bike. I was breathing hard through the first couple of miles. I just wasn't in shape for this race. The course was nice, well protected, smooth, manned, and everyone and their dog passed me. Well except for the chick on the pink bike who had it in too high of a gear, so she pedalled like she was on a gerbil wheel for 30 seconds, then coasted for 30 seconds....I was painful to watch.

Get on my bike every once in a while

Forgot my race belt (actually Cathys race belt that I forgot to return after the 5430 and decided to use so I could get some Cathy mojo flowing), but a nice volunteer pointed it out before I got far from my TA.

This was my favorite part....YES you are in Kristens RR...this was my favorite part because I met Misty. Misty and I kept passing each other on the bike. Then about .5mi into the run I see her again. We are both struggling. At this point we were walking, and we introduced ourselves. We wound up motivating each other for the remaining 2.5mi. First I was feeling stronger than she was...then she was stronger than me. We would do the walk/run mix and we were a perfect fit. Gina & Aaron of course were done when I still had 2 laps to go. They positioned themselves int he shade where they could see my twice per lap! They cheered for me & Misty every time we ran past (and of course we ran past them...can't disappoint the fans!!) This was the most enjoyable run I've done on a tri. Imagine that...I get to flap my gums and I enjoy it more! Huh!

WATER!!! Walked over to see Holly & my mom. Picked up Aaron & Gina along the way. We headed over to look at race times. Gina made 3rd in her AG and Aaron made *1st* in his! Gina and I packed up and dropped off our stuff at the cars. We walked back for the awards ceremony and looked at the results again, and just for shits & giggles I looked up mine and Gina tells me *drumroll* I'm THIRD in AG!!!! Yeha baby. Kristen's getting hardware. See this is when it PAYS to be a big girl! Well the overall Athena was in my age range too, so I wound up taking home 2nd in the "Fat under Fourty" category.


The funniest part of the day was when the announcer was starting the race, he couldn't see the lake. He had told the first wave to get in the water, then started counting down. Well none of the guys got in the water. They were all huddled up on the shore. Everyone was shouting for them to get in the water...but I dunno, I guess they were addle-brained. The announcer was hilarious. He kept saying "What th...can I cuss on this thing" "This is the first race I've started when nobody started", then he apoligized to all the women *grin*

This race was great because I got to hang out with Gina, meet Aaron & Misty (who btw I exchanged numbers with and we're gonna get together to go run soon). Holly & Mom were there. The water was nice. The bike was smooth. The run was entertaining and I GOT HARDWARE.