Mary, Todd & I met at our house in the morning. I still can't get over this, but the nerves are just not there this year. My new attitude is absolutely working for me, it's all about the fun this year. It's not to say I won't hammer down and try to go as fast as I can, but I'm not setting any high expectation time or placing goals. The only thing I did was write down the 5th place times for each event from last year (swim, bike, run) and see how doable all of them were. Shoot for the stars, right? Mary & Todd arrived and Todd's nerves were plenty for all of us, but Mary and I both seemed to be on the same page and ready to have some fun. We biked down to the transition, it's always fun to bike past all the congested traffic and just ride into transition. We got everything set up, ran into Sara and chatted with some other people we knew down at the beach start. Our wave started about an hour after the pros, so we had some time to kill. I decided that Sara is the absolute perfect person to hang with before (and after) a race - she is relaxed, funny, low-key... love it.
I finally got into the water and swam what I was expecting was an average swim. The water was not too choppy, but a little wavey on the way in, enough to be a little tipsy running out. I ran into transition and almost fell over when I saw Mary getting her bike stuff on. What!?? I've always thought of Mary as a very strong swimmer and myself as a slow swimmer. Could these master swim sessions really be helping this much?, did Mary have a really slow swim?... all of these thoughts crossed my mind, but once I saw the clock on my bike (I of course forgot to start my watch again! grrr) I felt like it was very possible I had a great swim. This was a great confidence boost, one I needed as I was heading out on the challenging bike portion.
The bike portion went pretty well - it's fun to bike all the familiar routes of the city. Our bike group literally rides a lot of the course every week. The first loop went well and I was happy with my effort. I passed through Nokomis area and headed for the final loop around Lake Harriet. Somewhere around there I lost my mojo and when I saw my mph dropping and my mental attitude dropping, I had to have a talk with myself and get myself back in the game. Somewhere around Harriet, I passed Sara and then she passed me shortly after that and I tried to keep her in my sights but slowly saw the Birchwood blue disappear in the distance. The good news is I was heading into T2 and FINALLY off the bike. The potholes and bumpy roads made me really uncomfortable and I just wanted to run. Looking back, I've decided something that may help this is more nutrition - I think a gu before or early on the bike could help this. Also, I must point out that some more intense bike training might help this as well... ya think?
T2 was fairly quick and I headed out for the 10K run. I felt strong and great the entire run. I saw Mike and the kids multiple times on the run and even my parents were there with Greta - yay, fans!! Like I said before, the day was perfect weather-wise and I was rounding the last turn before I knew it, smiling and feeling great the entire time. The only pain I had was from a few blisters. I crossed the finish line with a 2:37, a big-time PR for me at this distance and good enough for 7th place in my agegroup. How cool is that? It was fun to find friends at the end. Mary and I were both beaming about our races - she finished 5th a couple minutes ahead of me and we were having fun telling our race stories. We celebrated by getting a free race massage and hanging out for a little while trying to savor the race atmosphere. I'm still on a high from this race and would be surprised if any race this year can top this one. Good, good times!!
I found out later, and this was a joke I've been using. I found out... "I got First Place!!!" (oh, in the T1 category). :)
