Holy crap - this swim looked SO long! I mean, that's what I get for not swimming once before the race, but this looked REALLY long! Oh well, I knew I could get throught it so I just stayed to the outside and back and started off on my slow, breaststroking way. The lake was beautiful so I wasn't nervous about anything, but I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere so I stated to feel a little worried. I don't know why - I knew I'd finish and I knew I wouldn't drown or anything, I guess it's just the feeling of being last and alone in a big lake. Turns out there were a few other ladies around me so I wasn't totally alone.

I felt OK for the swim, I was a little out of breath so I did a lot of old lady breaststroke with my head out of the water even, I never stopped though. I was never so happy as when I saw that last buoy!

Practice

I was planning on walking the long way from the swim to T1, but I felt so happy to be out of the water I decided to run a little bit. I had left my flip flops there so I wouldn't step on anything and that helped a lot. (I saw one of the front guys step on something as he ran down the path and he was pissed!)

I knew I wasn't in this race to win anything so I took my time. I sat dwn and dried my feet and got a band aid, my socks and shoes on. I grabbed my helmet, stuffed my pockets with Sport Beans (can't handle anything more grown up yet) and ran with my bike out of T1. That's one of the many good things about being such a beginner - I still wear my running shoes on the bike so I can run past the people shuffling in their bike shoes.

Nothing

Before the race this was the leg I was most worried about. I had never ridden my bike more than 13 miles and here I was going for 22! I was planning on not going too fast to make sure I could cover the distance, but once I got out there I felt so good!

Around mile 5 or 6 I saw a guy on the side of the road all alone. He asked if I had a spare so I pulled over and gave him my only tube (which I bought two days before the race even though I couldn't have done anything with it if I got in trouble!) Then he asked if I had air but of course I didn't. I figured nobody else would stop for him and maybe good karma would come back to me and help me get through the rest of the race. :) I hopped back on and tried to get back up to speed.

I wen tpast a creek where I saw a bunch of turtles sunning themselves on a log. I went by Monkey Jungle and heard a bunch of monkeys squaking away. I finally got to the turn around but it was just two volunteers in the middle of the road saying, "turn here!" It seemed funny that it was in the middle of the road so I went past them a little before I turned aorund (I didn't want to turn too early and get in trouble!) There was also a huge group of about 25 rider going the other way right when I had to turn and I didn't want to get mixed up with them. They weren't wioth the race - just a cycling group out for a ride. One of them cat called to me, "Hey baby!" It made my day. When I turned around I ended up passing them (I don't know why they were going so slow) and I told them I had never felt so fast in my life - passing a bunch of real cyclists!

I felt good (but lonely!) until about mile 16, then my legs started to get heavy. I wasn't hurting, I just had to slow down a lot. Oh well - only 6 miles to go!

I got to the dismount line and stopped my bike but could barely lean over. I just sort of sat there balancing until the bike tipped to the side and I got off. My legs were jelly then and I definitely wasn't running my bike into T2!

Practice more

Hobbled to my rack, racked my bike, grabbed a cold water. Grabbed two handfulls of my cold M&M's and offered some to two guys next to me who had already finished the race. They declined. i told them they were missing out and went on my way. I walked over the timing mat but managed a very slow shuffle once I was on the official run course.

Nothing

I felt like I was going SO slow on the run, but when I looked at my watch at the 2 mile mark I was going between 10 - 10:30. I was happy with that. Unfortunately I couldn't keep it up the whole way. I was convinced they had messes up the mileage signs - they seemed like they were all two miles apart! Oh well, it was fun to go through the zoo. it was not fun to go through the parking lot - hot, sunny and boring. Until I got to Janice's water station - that was a nice boost in the middle of a boring run! :)

I think I only walked once to eat some beans until about mile 4. I had to pee so much and at one point I started to get the chills. I figured that couldn't be a good sign so that's when I added more walking. I also strated drinking more (I think I had been holding off on the water since I had to go to the bathroom)

Once I got back into the zoo I got the biggest boost of the whole race. I was sure I was last - I ame out of the water with only about 3 people behind me. Then they all passed me on the bike. The only girl I passed on the bike (she was on a mt. bike) flew by me on the run. Then, all of a sudden, I came up on a girl with a 31 on her leg!! Not only was I not last but she was in my age group!!! I said hello and commented on how cool it was to see the animals - then I took off! :) OK - not really took off, but shuffled faster than she was shuffling.

For the rest of the race I got so nervous if I heard steps behind me - luckily it was never her. Now I was back on the dirt path thinking I was right at the end - I didn't know the path still went all through the campground - that was a little bit of a blow. I just kept on walking/running and finlly got to the 6 mile marker.

I ran the last few hundred yards to the finish and had a huge smile on my face - I couldn't believe I did it and it looked like I was under my goal.

Train more, drink more.

Walked around, met some nice people, waited to see Mimi on her first run lap and got to see both Mimi and Sharon looking awesome! I tried to wait for my results, but by this time I just wanted to get home.

When I did get my results I was so happy - my big goal was around 3:30 - and my realistic goal was more like 3:45 - so I was so surprised when I came in under 3:30!! :)


Not having enough time to train, but someday I will and then I'll go for a goal of under 3 hours. :)