ALSO Turkey Trot

November 22, 2012

What a great way to start off Thanksgiving day. Race morning was a lot cooler today than just a few days ago in Miami. 52 degrees and very windy! Race started at the Hyatt, next to the water. We ran a loop around GWIZ and then headed toward the Ringling Bridge. Up and over the bridge, over the flat bridge and then we took the first right, before St Armand's Circle. Turned around at the end of the street and then headed back. The worst of the wind was on the way back. I almost took off my arm warmers (a last minute item I tossed in the car) on the way out, but I knew I would need them once I got near the bridge. And I was right. Once we hit the base of the bridge, not only did we have the head wind to deal with, but we joined all of the 5K runners who had started a half hour after us. Lots of weaving around people. My pace started out faster, but the wind and bridge really slowed me down. Not sure I should run the PAL half on sunday. I've been thinking about it, but maybe I should just run my scheduled 20-22 miles. :)

Finish time: 54:29, 6th (out of 20) in age group
Splits - 8:19, 8:41, 8:30, 8:43, 9:16, 8:46, 2:10

Latin Music Miami Beach Half Marathon

November 18, 2012

Girls weekend in Miami Beach! :) Me, Dawn, Gina and Amy headed down to Miami Saturday morning. We made good time, arriving in the early afternoon. Thankfully we got to check in early, so we dropped off our bags at the hotel and then walk the mile to the expo on the beach, which was also the location of the start and finish line. The expo was pretty small for a Rock N Roll event, so we were finished with that pretty fast. We walked along Ocean drive for a bit and then headed back to the hotel to relax near the rooftop pool. After a little bit of relaxing, we walked over to Lincoln Rd, which was just two blocks from our hotel. It sure has changed a lot since the last time I was there. But since, it's been over 15 years, I kind of expected there to be more going on! :) We met up with Ken, Bret and a friend of their's for dinner at Tiramesu Restaurant. They had a yummy Pesto gluten free pasta with zucchini. After a fun dinner, we walked down Lincoln Rd for a bit, checking out the fancy stores, before heading back to the hotel for an early night.

We started race morning early, 5:30 am wake up call. We were out the door by 6am, heading toward the race start, we encountered lots of people still out having fun from the night before! We arrived, took a few pre-race photos, checked in our bags, made one more pit stop and then headed to the corral. Amy was in corral 3, so we wished her luck and headed to #4, were we met up with Bret and Ken. We only had a few minutes wait before the national anthem was sung and the first corral was off. It was a small race, so only a minute between each corral being let go. Soon we were off and running!

We ran along ocean drive for a couple of blocks before turning left. We then turned right, on to Washington. We passed by out hotel and then Lincoln Rd. Our pace was brisk. I was already thinking I couldn't keep it up for long. Just after mile 2, I asked Gina when we would start intervals, because there was no way I could keep this up much longer! I was already dripping in sweat. She started her interval watch, so we had 5 minutes before our 1 min walk break. Just after mile 3, I noticed Amy up ahead at the water stop. Normally she is much faster than us, so I knew she must be having a rough time in the heat two. We had a long, banked, slight up hill to take us towards the first bridge. I hugged that as tight as I could. I didn't want to have issues with my IT Band This first bridge wasn't too bad, but we did feel a bit of a head wind. Miles 1 through 3 - 8:29, 8:31, 9:10.

We had a nice flat stretch for a while, but up ahead, we could see the big bridge looming. It looked very high! At the base of the big bridge, there was a band playing. They kept saying the same words over and over again. As were were passing them, I heard them say "your almost there!" Um, no. We are not even half way done yet! Geesh. I asked Gina how far we had until our next walk break. It wasn't going to happen for a while, so I put my head down and powered up the bridge. Of course our walk break came as we reached the top! I got a chance to get my breathing under control before we started running down hill, which was the best! For a little while now we were going back and forth passing Amy or being passed by her. By now, we had left her behind. She really wasn't doing well. The next few miles were in a not so great area of Miami. Lots of run down, industrial buildings. Nothing interesting here. At mile 8, we came up to the relay exchange. There were lots of people running the relay. So now we had a lot of people pass us because they had just started and had lots of energy! Miles 4 through 8 - 9:04, 9:35, 10:44, 9:22, 10:03

Just before mile nine, we made the turn towards the third bridge. This one wasn't too bad, but the sun was starting to pop out of the clouds a lot more now. Poor Gina had no hat or sunglasses. I don't know how she did it! The next few miles were a blur of running and walking and surviving the heat. I was happy to cross the last, little bridge back onto the island. We hit mile 12 at just before 2 hours. No sub two on this day. I just wanted to make a respectable time, which I knew we could. Thankfully the last mile went by pretty fast. We made the left turn onto the sand last stretch and hauled it into the finish line. Miles 9 through 13.16 (a little long) - 10:12, 9:35, 10:23, 10:29, 9:36, 1:21

Amazingly enough, Gina and I finished with the exact same time of 2:06:38

Overall, it was a fun trip and run in Miami. Looking forward to a colder race. :)

TriRock Clearwater triathlon

November 11, 2012

A few months ago I became one of the local Ambassadors for the TriRock Clearwater race. I was very excited to help promote this new triathlon that featured bands on the course, a red carpet finish and bling for all finishers!

Race weekend started for me very early Saturday morning. Gina and I headed up to Clearwater to work at the Fit2Run tent at the expo. We got all our gear and bikes stored in the hotel room, before walking the two blocks to the expo/triathlon area. It was a perfect spot, right in front of the beach! A beautiful day out for an expo. We both had fun working and talking with the athletes who showed up to shop and pick up there packets. After working until 2pm, we headed to the beach for some relaxation and sun time. After the beach, we headed to this restaurant/bar near our hotel. The name: Cooters. :) We took a seat at the bar, with the intention of having just one drink. The bar tender, Patrick, heard it was my birthday (recently) and decided to give us a couple of Strawberry Shortcake drinks. They were pretty yummy! Melissa, Lauren, Katie and her parents, decided to come over, so we all got a table and had dinner. We had a yummy dinner before heading back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

Dawn, me and Gina before the race.

Race morning started at 5:30. We got up, put on our number tattoos, grabbed our gear and bikes and then headed over to the transition area. It was a little cool out, but not to bad. We meet up with Dawn, Susan and Steve, who were doing the intermediate triathlon as a relay team. Dawn was very brave to be swimming the 1500 meters with no wetsuit! We had tested the water the day before and it was cold! I got all my gear set out in front of my bike (normally it's under the back tire open space), pulled on my wetsuit, grabbed my swim items and then headed to the beach.

The sand was so cold! We were kicked out of transition at 6:30. I had almost an hour to stand around in the cold before my wave started! There was a great rock band up on the pier playing music, which helped to get us all pumped up and ready to race. Dawn's wave was going out early, so we stood near the water to cheer her on as she ran into the water. Since I had some time, I decided to head back up to the bathroom for a quick pit stop before getting myself into the corral. I got back in time to see Gina head out. I finished getting myself ready. Pulling the wetsuit all the way up, putting my ear plugs in and putting the swim cap on. Soon enough my wave was heading into the water!

Pretty sure this is in T1. Getting my bike
off the rack and about to head out. :)

Swim, 500 meters: I ran in feeling good. The wetsuit was working. I didn't feel much of anything until I got all the way in to start swimming. Yikes! What a shock to the system that water was once my head was all the way in! I was side swimming with my head out of the water for a little bit before I had the courage to swim with a normal freestyle stroke. The water, that looked calm before all the swimmers got in, was very choppy and had a strong current. Once I made the first turn to the right, swimming parallel to the beach, I found the swim even harder. I just kept swimming along. Lots of people were off to the side, hanging on the volunteer surfboards, resting. Soon I was making another right turn at the green buoy and heading back to shore. Hooray! By this time, the wave of guys who had started behind me, had started to catch up. I had a bunch of them passing me. No worry. I was doing my own pace and race! Ran out of the water and up the soft sand beach to the transition. I pulled my wetsuit down halfway as I was running up the beach. Got to my bike, pulled the wetsuit off pretty quick, poured some water on my frozen feet, and then dried them a little before pulling on socks and shoes. I grabbed my sunglasses, race belt (didn't want to forget it again) and put on my helmet before heading off with my bike. I did spend a little too much time trying the change my garmin from swim to bike mode. Need to figure out the multisport mode! The run with the bike out of transition was long! Finally I was able to get on my bike and take off! Swim - 16.54. T1 - 5:18

Bike, 13.4 miles: The bike course is very similar to the run course of the Iron Girl half marathon. I knew to expect bridges! We got in a couple of flat miles before hitting the first of 3 tall bridges. I made decent time getting up that first bridge. I even managed to pass a couple of people. I had fun speeding down the other side. We had lots of right and left turns through the neighborhood after the bridge. Thankfully that was over pretty quick and we were able to build up some speed. It didn't seem like I was riding as fast as I normally do (though finish time says I was) but I didn't let that discourage me and just kept peddling as hard as I could. Soon we were at the second big bridge. This was my only frustating part of the race.  Just as I was starting up the bridge, this woman started to pass me. But she only got her front tire past mine before slowing to my speed. The rules say that she is now ahead of me and I must drop back or get a penalty. What! I didn't want to slow down going up hill! She finally got ahead of me enough that I could drop behind and pass her on her left. There were lots of other people coming up on my left too, which made it kind of crazy. This section was not closed to traffic, so we only had a bike lane to ride in. Thankfully I got clear of her, made it to the top and was able to speed down the other side. We were now back on the Island. A nice long stretch of road heading toward Clearwater beach, with a bit of headwind! Made it to the last, steep bridge, powered over and headed toward transition. Just before reaching it, I hear my name called. Gina is heading out on the run. Made it to my transition spot, quick work racking my bike and grabbing my run gear before heading out of there. Bike - 43:36. T2 - 50 seconds

Run: 3.1 miles: My legs felt surprising good as I started the run. I felt like my pace wasn't too hard (8:42 min mile), so I decided to try and hold it for a while. We had a short out and back in the lane next to the returning triathletes on their bikes. I was able to see Gina here. She was looking strong! We ran back by the transition area and finish line before running towards that first bridge we rode over on the bike. Thankfully the sprint distance runners were going to turn around before that bridge! The longer distance racers were going to be running over it! The run was still going great. It was sunny, but not hot. I never felt overheated. As I was running through the very narrow water stop, that was just before mile 2, I felt someone push me in the middle of my back, What!! The guy did say "sorry" after he passed me, but geesh, he needed to back off! There was another band here playing 80's songs. Love it! :) I saw Gina again before getting to the turn around. Heading back I saw Elaine and then Teresa. I was very happy as I turned the corner and started running down the red carpet. I gave the race announcer a high-five as I ran passed her and then raised my arms in the air as I crossed the finish line. Hooray, I finished my 6th sprint triathlon! :) Run - 27:18.

Me and Gina after the race!

Gina and I got to hang out in the VIP area (lots of nice food and hot coffee!) while we waited for our friends to finish. I soon found out that I had placed in my Athena age group. I got 2nd out of 10! :) We hung out for a while and then grabbed our gear and bikes, took them back to the car, before heading back to wait for awards. I got a great big beer mug for my award.

I've been having fun doing triathlons this year, but I'm happy to take a break and focus on running. Lots of races on my schedule. :)

Bling, shirt and age group award mug!

Me with Kristen,
my ambassador boss. :)

Halloween Halfathon

Ft Desoto Park. October 28, 2012

The Halloween Halfathon is the first race in a series of four. This is the first time that I've been able to sign up for all 4 races. When you complete all 4, you get an extra special bling and t-shirt. :)

Brenda, Amy, Leah and me before the race.

I arrived about an hour before the 7:05 am start time, getting a good spot not to far from the start/finish line. The plan was to meet up with fellow CAPS members Brenda, Leah and Amy, so I gave Brenda a call. She said she was headed to packet pickup and porta potties. Leah texted, saying she was here with her run group. We all took care of business and managed to find each other in the dark. I needed one more pit stop before we started, and so did Brenda, so we had to take our group shot while in line for the porta potties. We wished each other luck and then split up. I tried to get a little closer to the start, but not too close. One of the race participants sang the National Anthem, then a few words from the race director, and then we were off!

My plan was to make this a training/pacing run. I wanted to get a sense of how 5/1 intervals would feel during a race pace of 9:05 min miles. We would need that pace next month to get a sub 2 hour finish time in Miami. I ran the first mile before starting the intervals. It was still kind of dark for the first mile or so. The first 5K is a big loop that takes you back by the starting line. We headed south and then turned back just before mile 1. Very strong wind hit us (from the north). Yikes, the last couple of miles of the race were going to be tough! Just after mile 1, we turn right into a side area, that we run an out and back on. It's fun to see the lead runners and catch glimpses of people behind us. I have to take special care here when I stop to walk, since the road is narrow and the race is still congested at this point. Coming out of the small loop, we turn north again, run around the end of the road loop, turn into the parking lot, and head back past the starting line. I missed most of my interval here since it hit right before we passed the start area. I didn't want to walk with all the people there cheering!
Miles 1 through 3: 8:38, 9:12, 9:03

For the next couple of miles, we had the wind at our back. Wonderful! It was hard to take the walking breaks, because I was feeling so good. I did have some nice eye candy. This guy was running in front of me for a bit. No shirt, nice muscles. :) I would pass him and then he would pass me during run breaks. Left him behind after a while. Running at a faster pace to get back up to my goal pace seemed to be harder then just running an even pace without walk breaks. Hopefully it will work out OK in Miami. Once the road curved to the left, we got the cross wind. Most of the time it wasn't too bad. But there would be times when it would catch you and swill around, making it challenging. I think it was around mile 6 that the lead runner passed me on his way back. He had a large lead. I kept waiting for more runners to come by, but it was a while before that happened.
Miles 4 through 7 - 8:59, 9:24, 8:52, 9:27

I managed to keep up the average goal pace until just before mile 8. We got to the end of the road, where there is a wide open view of the Skyway Bridge, before rounding the circle and heading back. I was still leap frogging the same few people. This one woman had commented early that she was trying to pace off of me, but when I saw her just after mile 9, I told her it would probably be the last time she saw me. I was slowing down. My goal had been to get to mile 9/10 at the set pace, before easing up, so I wasn't to upset with slowing down. I knew the last few miles would be tough, since we were going to be heading into the wind.
Mile 8 through 10 - 9:15, 9:38, 9:28

Just after we hit mile 10.5, the road started curving back to the right and into the northern wind. By 10.8 (I looked at my Garmin!) we were in the full force of the wind. Oye! I plugged along, enjoying my walk breaks when they came and pushing through the run portion when it was time to run again. I tried tucking in behind other runners when I had the chance, but that didn't do anything! I just kept telling myself, it would be over in a couple of miles. Eventually we got to the end of the road again, ran around the big half circle, took the turn into the parking lot and headed toward the finish. All along, the mile markers had been showing up after I would have them on my Garmin. So, when I ran by mile 13, my Garmin was showing 13.1 at 2:03. This would have been my second best half marathon time! Boo. I made the turn in the parking lot, straight shot toward the finish line. An annoying guy, that I didn't even realize was behind me, shot passed me to finish right before me! Oh, well. I heard the announcer call out my name, so I raised my arms up in the air and finished with a smile on my face.
Miles 11 though 13.26 - 10:02, 10:13, 9:49, 2:11
Finish: 2:04:16

My next half is November 18th. I plan to get in a few speed workouts at the track. Hopefully that will help me keep up the faster pace needed to run those faster intervals during the race! I had a great time meeting up with Brenda, Amy and Leah today.

CAPS group photo! Laura, Jenni, Melissa, Crystal, Brenda, Amy, Leah, me,
Kris, Stephanie, Ness, Sally and Jackie.

Shark's Siesta Key Triathlon

October 7, 2012

About a week and a half before this race, I was asked if I would like to do this race, for free. I couldn't pass up a free entry, so I said yes. I haven't really been training for a triathlon, even though I have the TriRock Clearwater race next month. I've been swimming, biking and running, but hadn't done any brick workouts in a while. So last Sunday, I met Gina and Dawn at the beach for a trial race. We swam half a mile in the gulf, rode 9 miles on the bike and then ran 2 miles. The workout went well, so I figured I was ready to do the race the following Sunday.

Race morning started early. I was on my way to the beach a little after 5 am, after a stop at Starbucks for a strong coffee. :) I got to the beach early enough to get a spot super close to the transition area. I decided to go get my number marked and timing chip before pulling my bike off of my car. I brought my envelope with my number on it and showed it to one of the girls doing the race marking. (Lots of volunteers from the Shark's swim team). I said #20, but for some reason she heard #22, so that's what I ended up with on my arm! She managed to turn the 2 into a 0, but it looked kind of wonky. Sigh. Then on my way to get my chip, I almost slipped and fell in the muddy grass area near the pickup spot. Thankfully there were not many people there yet to see my comical maneuverings that I did to catch myself from falling! After getting my chip, I headed back to the car, got my gear and bike and went to get a good spot in transition. I was the first one to rack my bike in our small area, so I got the spot right on the end! I went back to my car to hang out for a while before going to set up a table near the Sarasota Storm tent. I would be handing out flyers for the TriRock event after this race. I hung out with Melissa before the start. She held on to my key for me so I could get in my car right after the race if I want and not have to wait until they opened transition. Soon enough it was time to get into the start area. I was in the second wave and with only 3 minutes between waves, we were soon on our way!

I finished the half mile swim!

Swim: I started out in the back of the group, so that I wouldn't be in anyone's way. I realized right after we started running to the water that even though I had turned on my Garmin, I had forgot to switch it it swim mode. So I was trying to do that as I ran into the water. It was pretty shallow for a good distance, so I managed to fix the Garmin before getting all the way in for the swim. There were not to many women around me, since I started in the back, so I didn't have a lot of arms and legs near my face, which was good. I tried to get into a good swimming rythym and just calm my breathing down. We made it out to the first buoy and then turned left. There were a lot of bouys to swim past before we got to turn left and head back in! Just as we turned at the first bouy, I heard the horn letting the next wave go off. Those guys were going to catch up fast! The water was a little choppy from all the swimmers out there, but I managed to keep calm and swim on. :) I even managed to catch the attention of one swimmer before she swam into another swimmer (she was on her back) and then yelled out at another woman who was about to backstroke out into the gulf (she was going 90 degrees in the wrong direction.) The half mile didn't seem to difficult, I just had to look up every once in a while to make sure I was swimming in the right direction and that I wasn't going to run into anyone. Once I could touch the bottom, I started running through the water. The run across the beach to transition wasn't to hard. The sand was packed down pretty good, so there was only a small sections with loose, dry sand. Swim - 22:49. Transition - 1:53

About 1 mile left of the bike ride. Still feeling good.

Bike: I felt pretty good the first 4 miles of the bike ride. I was passing people and keeping a good, fast pace. We got to the turn around and all of a sudden, the ride felt much harder. I felt like I was riding right into the wind. I kept checking my tires because it was so tough, I thought I might be riding on a flat. :) So happy that I did NOT have a flat. Pretty good speed (18.4 mph) for me. There were only a couple of times that I got stuck behind someone for a brief period of time before I could pass them. It's frustrating to have to slow and and wait for the person on my side to get ahead before I can pass. I'm not a fan of the rules of riding. I had one guy pass me, but not a a very fast pace. According to the rules, I had to slow down once he passed me so that there would be 3 bike lengths between us! Bike - 42:21. Transition 2 - 0:58.

Just passed that guy in the red.
Finished strong!

Run: Transition went smoothly, though it felt like I was forgetting something. I ran over the timing mat and onto the beach before noticing I had forgot to attach my race belt with the bib! There was a volunteer to the side, so I asked him if I should go back and get it, he told me to just keep going. Yikes! I was worried I would get a penalty, but thankfully that didn't happen. The run went pretty well. Sky was overcast until the last mile, and then the sun was behind me, so It didn't feel to bad. The sand was still hard packed and flat, the best for running on. The right side of my upper chest was tight and hurting through half of the run, so I slowed the pace a bit and didn't push it. I was pretty sure I wasn't having a heart issue (since it was on the wrong side of my chest) but still, I was worried. I sleep on my right side and the area has been tight for a few days, I think that's all it was. :) I finished the race with a strong push to the finish line, passing a guy who had been just ahead of me for the last quarter of a mile! Run - 29:00.
Total time - 1:36:57

After drinking a bottle of water and cooling down a little bit with Melissa, I got changed into dry clothes and then hung out at my TriRock table. It was fun talking to people about the race and handing out little freebies like socks and race belts. I did wander over to check out the race results. I came in first (out of 5) in my Athena age group! That was pretty cool! My time isn't fast compared to the times in the regular age group, but that's why I go in the Athena group. These are my peeps! :) I got a very nice Tervis Tumbler and a medal.

After looking at my results from the triathlon I did here in May, I've improved a lot! The bike and run were the same and the swim this day was a quarter of a mile longer than the tri in May, yet it only took me 1.5 minutes longer for this one than the one in May! Awesome improvement. :) Looking forward to my last triathlon of the year next month at the TriRock Clearwater race! I may even be able to use my new wetsuit! :)

Water to Wine Half Marathon
Healdsburg, CA
August 12, 2012

The finishers medal.

Back in April, I decided to take a vacation to CA to visit with my mom. So of course I looked for a race that I could run while out here. I found this half marathon, about 3 hours from my mom's house. It looked to be a nice course with average low temps in the mid 50s. I figured the low temps would make up for the rolling hills I would encounter. It seemed like it would be a good course to try and PR on and I wanted to make my 40th half marathon a memorable one. :)

The ride up north was no fun. I made the mistake of driving up the 101 freeway. It drops you off in the middle of San Francisco. I figured I could stop on the other side of the Golden Gate bridge for some photos before continuing on. I missed my turn in the city. This mistake added on about 30 minutes. Once I managed to get back onto the main road that would lead me up and over the Bridge, I hit massive amounts of traffic. The bridge was covered in Fog, so I didn't even bother making a photo stop. The rest of the trip involved lots of stop and go traffic. In total, it took me 4.5 hours to make the trip, which should have been just over 3 hours. I got to the little expo at the Winery by 4:45, 15 minutes before it was over. I then headed over to my hotel, made a quick trip to the grocery store, found the Starbucks next store and then headed back for a quiet night.

Feeling pretty good! :)

I was up super early the next day and at the Starbucks when they opened at 5am. I got my coffee and then made the half hour drive to the race start. I was one of the first few cars there and I was able to get a spot right near the start line. They had lots of porta potties and a real bathroom, which was nice. I found a couple of half fanatics before the race started, so ran over to get a photo, then I put my phone back in the car and stood in the start area, waiting to go.

We got going right at 7 am. I could tell right way that this was a fast group. I was carried along with them, but the pace felt fine, so I thought I would try it out for a while. The road we were on for the first few miles was very slanted and hilly in parts. I tried to stay on the flattest sections, even if it might add time on to the total. I didn't want any issues with my ITB. We passed by a few different wineries, one had a beautiful, large building. I thought it would make a great photo with my medal. So I thought I would go back after the race. Just before mile 3 we hit the first water stop. I had brought one 10 ounce bottle with me, but decided to walk through this first stop and take a drink.
Miles 1 through 3 - 8:25/8:22/8:45

We were now off the main road and now running on a smaller, two lane road that we would be on for most of the rest of the race. I've got to say that even though it was beautiful countryside, it got kind of boring. I focused on my PR goal and powering up the hills. Every time I would look up from the road in front of me (the road was not in the best condition) I would look around to see yet another row of grape bushes or another small hill approaching or another curve in the road. It was still pretty cold out, the fog stayed with us for the entire race, so I pushed ahead, trying to get to the end faster so that I could get warm. I felt fine with my pace, which ended up staying pretty consistent. :)
Miles 4 through 10 - 8:44/8:40/8:41/8:43/8:42/8:47/9:06

Focused on the finish!

By mile 10, I knew I would get my PR. I had 32 minutes to finish the last 3.1 miles. Unless I totally fell apart, I would get my sub 2 hour half. It's something I've been wanting to do for a few years now. I put the possible fear of falling apart out of my mind, even though I could feel my pace slowing a little. The hills were getting harder to power up. Even the flat sections seemed to have a slight rise to them. I forced my self to not look at my garmin so much to see how much further I had. I thought about the book I had recently finished. It's called "Wild" and is about this woman who hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. Her story was so inspiring. Thinking of all the crazy things she encountered on her journey, helped to keep my mind off of my discomfort. Thankfully, just before mile 13, we turned on to a main road, which I knew would lead us to the finish. There were lots of people around now, cheering us on. My right calf was starting to tighten up, so I focused on keeping my form and getting to the finish. We turned to the right and then another sharp right onto the winery property. The finish was in sight! I kicked it in strong to the finish. I was so happy to see my sub 2 hour finish time!
Miles 11 through 13.26 - 9:01/9:11/9:05/2:07
Finish: 1:56:25

I brought some wine back with me. Couldn't drink
the sample I got, so I poured it into my water bottle
and brought it home. :)

I got my awesome finishers medal and headed over to get something to drink. I found the tent with our wine glasses, got that and then headed over to the local running store tent. They had foam rollers and the stick out for people to use. I got down on the grass and rolled out my calves as best I could. It hurt, but also felt good. :) I then went to check out the food tent. They had rice, black beans and bread. Um, not what I wanted at 9am! I had a Marathon Bar in my bag back in the car, so I just decided to head over to the buses and get back to my car. Our bus driver was speedy, getting us back to the start area in good time.

Overall, I would recommend this race. It was well run, the weather was perfect and the t-shirt, medal and wine glass goodies were great.

Top Gun Triathlon
July 28, 2012

Me and Gina before the race.

Top Gun Triathlon is the largest triathlon for me to date. There is only one distance (the sprint) for all athletes. They capped the entrants at 1200. The race sold out a few weeks ago.  Since we knew it was going to be crowded, Gina and I had an early start race morning. We got going at 4:30 am and arrived at Ft Desoto Park at 5:30, just as transition was opening. We walked over, got our body marking done, hit the porta potties and then went back to the car for our bikes. Since it was still so early, we had lots of time to kill. We got our bikes racked and our gear set up. Made another trip to the car and then waited in line for the porta potties again. By the time we were done with that, we had just a few minutes before the closing of the transition area. We headed down to the beach. It was a hot morning. Low 80s when I left the house. I was sweating just standing on the beach waiting for the start. I had a hard time getting my new Garmin to set to the multisport function. I asked Lauren’s dad for help, but he couldn’t figure it out either. So, I set it to bike mode and figured I would wait to turn it on then. Lauren and I were in the 4^th wave, which included the Athena and 20-29 age group. There were about 140 women in that group! Lauren was nervous, it was her first triathlon, but I kept telling her she would do great.

Swim, 440 yards: We got started about 7:15 (a little late). The water was pretty shallow for a long ways, so I ran it in for a bit. I had started at the back, but managed to get in the thick of it while running. This was just a waste of time, since I couldn’t swim with so many people around me! It was crazy packed! Every time I put my head in the water, I saw a foot coming towards my face. I slowed down and let people get around me. By the time we got to the first buoy and turned to the left (to swim parallel to the beach) I had moved over to the left. I finally got in a good swimming rhythm. I was swimming along and then looked up to see where I was at. I discovered that I was about to run into a guy sitting in his kayak. He was waving his hands at me and pointing to my right. Oops, I was a bit off course. I got back into another groove and continued on.  A little before the last buoy, I turned and saw a wave of silver capped guys coming on fast, they wave that started after us. I even saw a pinked cap swimming in there. She was in the wave before mine! As soon as I could touch the bottom and run, I did. I had a good run out of the water and up the beach toward transition. I grabbed a cup of water from the water stand and poured it on my feet. I grabbed a second one and tried to drink it. The water ended up half in my mouth and half up my nose. I am not good at running and drinking! The parking lot/transition area was not kind to my feet. I slowly made my way to my bike, toweled off, put on my socks and shoes (which took way to long!), put on my tank and helmet and headed out of transition. Swim: 8:46 (12^th out of 15). T1: 4:07(yikes! Very long)

Bike, 10miles: I had my garmin set to bike mode, so I started that once I got going. I wanted to work on keeping my speed up, so I needed to see that on my watch. I felt very good on the bike and kept my speed high (for me) at an 18.4 mph average! Just past mile 1, I grabbed my water bottle to get a drink. Lost my grip on it and it went flying behind me. I had to yell out for the riders behind me to watch out. Next time I don't bring one of my favorite bottles with me. :( I caught up to Lauren soon after that. She had a great swim, beating me out of the water. We had the roads to ourselves, which was great because there were a lot of riders out there! I was being passed and passing people constantly.  After the turnaround, I saw Melissa (speedy lady) and then Gina. I made it my goal to try and stay ahead of Melissa, but was thinking the whole rest of the ride, that she would catch up to me. The last mile, I changed gears, in an effort to loosen up my legs for the run. I came into transition, hopped off my bike and headed to my spot. I went to the wrong one first. The woman had the same, bright pink mat that I have. It took me a second to see that the stuff on it wasn’t mine! I wheeled the bike back out and found my stuff 3 rows down. J During this time, I reset my Garmin and switched it to “run” mode. I racked my bike, took off my helmet, put on my visor, grabbed my water bottle and wash cloth and headed out of transition. Bike (9.48m): 30:59 (8^th). T2: 1:36

Run, 5K: I felt strong heading out on the run. It was very hot, but my legs felt fine. I just needed to get my breathing under control. I looked at my watch after a while, thinking I must be getting to mile one, and I was only just over half a mile. Wow, this was going to be a long 5k! I’m very happy I had my water, though I could have used the water stops. They had 3 out there for us, which is alot for a 5K. About half way through the run, we left the sidewalk that we had been running on and started the beach run portion. Thankfully, it was hard packed sand. We did encounter a couple of wet spots, were we all ran single file, to stay on the higher sections of the path. I got stuck behind one guy who was going slow, but I wasn’t about to run through the mud and deal with heavy shoes. Around mile two, we were greeted with ice cold towels. Wonderful! I squeezed some over my head and then wrapped it over my shoulders and neck. It felt great. I kept that on for the next mile, dropping it on the grassy area of the park once we turned off the beach. I was so thankful to see the finish line up ahead. Though it seemed really far away! I ran it in strong to finish the race. Run (3.18m): 29:51 (1^st)

Total Time 1:15:20

Overall I am very happy with my race. Great improvement in the swim and bike portions. I wish I could have kept a better pace for the run. I ended up with 4^th place in my 40 and over Athena age group. They had awards 5 deep, so I came home with a nice plaque. J