Mermaid Sprint Triathlon

mermaid sprint triathlon in fremont was yesterday, and quite a day it was!! it's always quite a shock to the system to go fast when my main training objective is to go slooooooow and just get to the finish. it is also fun and exciting to push myself in a different way. i was lucky enough this weekend to be able to visit an old college buddy who lived near the race. i was treated like a queen, and got to re-hash my freshman year of college with my friend cherise. her family was so welcoming, they let me eat MOST of their dinner, let me take over their bedrooms with all my tri-gear, plus provided me with endless entertainment. cherise and her husband alex have a 1, 3, and 8 year old so providing entertainment was EASY!

i got up at 5:30am and headed out the door for 40 minute drive to fremont. first stop starbucks! luckily cherise and alex strategically bought their house so the starbucks is perfectly placed between her home and the freeway. NICE! i rocked out to my new michael jackson cd on the way to the race site. OOH! **high pitched m.j. style**.

i arrived at the race with PLENTY of time.....got registered, got myself set-up, and headed to the water to watch some of the other girls head out in the first wave. there were quite a few of the Just Us Girls triathlon club represented, we were all so cute in our pink and black dragonfly outfits! The first wave went off at 7:15ish.....i didn't start until 9! ho hum. i walked around checked, double checked, triple checked my gear, went for a jog, stretched...........cheered on racers. by 8:30 i was completely bored and decided to head down to the water. i'd been debating all morning wetsuit or no wetsuit. by the time 8:30 rolled around i felt so TIRED i was too lazy to put it on :). down to the water i was checking out the competition. there were some fit looking ladies in my age group. i got in the perfect water (glad i went w/o the wetsuit!) for a warm-up. i swam for about 5 minutes feeling great, but wishing i were napping instead. i had lost all motivation to race! finally, the gun fired and i tried to jump out into the lead. these girls were fast! usually i'm VERY close to the front swimmer, especially in a small group like this. by the time we reached the first bouy i was definately in the middle of the pack instead of near the front. dang! i hopped onto my bike and put the hammer down! the bike was only 11 miles and it was 3 loops. i felt like i was in a criterium race. i just put my head down and started powering away. by about mile 2 i realized this wasn't going to work. there were SO many beginners out on the course, i was almost constantly saying "on your left" wishing they would stay over. i started to get frustrated!!! by lap two i had almost crashed twice, narrowly missed a car once. by the third lap i decided i needed to chill out and just try to enjoy the day rather than be an asshole. i chilled out still pushing hard, but being more considerate of other racers. just as i approached mile 1 of my third loop. another girl on a tri-specific bike comes from behind....just HAMMERING! who does she think she is?! so i go with her. wow. we were pushing 23-24 mph at this time. just as she sneaks arount a sharp right corner, i see a group of 4 newbies in front of me panicking at cars just as they are hitting the corner......they start slamming their brakes on......i start yelling....."don't stop, don't stop, don't stop, don't stop!!" already slamming my breaks on (with no where to go around them!) if they stopped we'd all go down (as i'm headed at them at 23 mph! ). finally we all made it around the corner safely. but "tri girl was gone" i pushed hard to catch back up with her, (without getting in peoples way and being a poor sport) and just got close enough to keep her in my view. i entered T2 just as she was taking her helmet off. ok, i thought depending how she runs i can catch her. coming out of T2 i was about 100 yds behind her, but definately making up ground. then i had to squeeze my way between people in a crowded area. and i suddenly felt like i WAS not being respectful of these tri newbies, and i realized that's not how i wanted to race! this was obviously not a competitive race for MOST people out there that day. most were just trying to get thru it, and i am being a jerk! so i flipped the switch right there. i kept my competitor in sight, but started shouting "good jobs" to all the other girls out there and saying encouraging things to everyone (even my competitor at the turn around) i got no response! :) people were smiling, i was smiling....i suddenly really started to enjoy my day a whole LOT more! i didn't end up catching this girl. but i was proud of the way that i raced, it felt really good to go hard and to be encouraging at the same time. that's definately more "me" than the competitive jerk who was out there earlier! we waited around for the awards, and i hadn't seen anyone else in my age group moving like myself or the other girl, so i thought i could have placed. sure enough i was 5th place overall, and got 3rd place in my age group! nice. i won a cute pair of socks, some luna bars, and some ALCiS cream, yeah! thanks for checking in.

i had a great week this last week. i really did better with my training consisentency, even got into the water once! yeah! i have high hopes for this week even though i work three days, yuck! i'll try and post again this week to let you know how it's going and if not next week FOR SURE! thanks again, stay tuned! ;)