Texas TRI- EM

     So on March 14th I got up at 4 am, finished packing, loaded the bike, the car and the dog and headed 2 hours southeast to my sisters to leave my dog Kizzie for a week. Left Wilburton and headed to Fort Worth to meet my Sole sista Tammy,

     When I arrived, after hugs, and a bathroom break we loaded up in her jeep for packet pickup. We located the packets, received the ugliest Shirt/jacket, super cute St Paddy socks and bought us bib belt for the Sprint Triathlon

. Then it was next door for some Latino food. I say this because it offered, Peruvian, Brazilian and El Salvador specialties.

     After a late lunch it was back to Tammy's for utube videos of transition set up. Then practicing laying our stuff on a towel in a way that seemed logical. We visited over a healthy dinner of roasted chicken, broccoli and some of the best coffee I have had. I got to check into getting one of those cold presses!

     Early morning wake up at 4:30 am. Bathroom, coffee, breakfast of boiled eggs, English muffin with peanut butter. Packed our go bags, loaded the bikes and it was off to Keller Natatorium. We lined up for marking and to get into the transition area. Now I think it is just plain BS that they mark you in large numbers with a black marker; your bib number and your age at the end of the year! My birthday is not until December 29th which is when I will be 24! There is no reason to mark that number on my skin now, that is a long time from now. That is just plain hateful.

     Now I set up in the transition area, then I rearrange it, then arrange it another way and then back to the original way. It doesn't matter in hindsight because I really had no clue as to what the hell I was doing! Into the Natatorium for the bathroom and pre-race meeting instructions. No diving, a swimmer goes in the water every 5-7 seconds until all 600 participants are in. Oh hell we are going to be here a while might as well get comfortable, since I was #575. Before the race started Ben found me and we wished each other well. One of my friends asked him what he expected to finish in -- sub 58 minutes! Ben do you mean for all 3 events? Well yes. Hell you will be finished before I even get in the water! Probably!  Ugh!

    Now 2 hours later, I am about 30 people away from getting in the water, here comes Ben. He is all nice and dry, finished with his race and ready to head back to Oklahoma! His friend takes a pic of us. Let me tell you I do not rock a tri suit and a swim cap! Ben finished in 57:20 minutes and placed 3rd overall! I'm very happy and proud of him but I would be lying if I didn't admit to wanting to push him in the pool. js

     Now I am fighting with my new watch, I don't know if I should put it in Triathlon mode since it is a pool swim or just put it in pool swim mode. Unfortunately I didn't decide in time so no mode got chosen because the pool police was yelling at me to go! Splash into the water! Stroke,  kick, stroke, breathe and repeat. Look around am I at the wall yet? Hell no I'm not even 25 meters in to this 50 meter lane. I pass a few dog paddlers. Start to tire and revert to my old bad form. Reach the wall take a breather, regroup and start again. I did this at the end of every lane till I reached the ladder after 300 meters.

Swim 9:46.5

     Run to the bike, shit don't fall on the wet floor, damn I am cold! Shirt, food, socks, forget socks, shoes, helmet, bib belt, and bike. Let me say running in clip-in shoes pushing a bike to the mount line is stretching the definition of running. Mount up, clip in and take off!

T1 3:21:3

     Now on the bike, wet, COLD, hungry and thirsty. I'm performing a circus quality contortionist act to get a drink of water, eat a protein bar and ride the bike. The course is 2 six mile loops totaling 12.6 miles. The description said a couple of Texas Hill to keep it challenging. Surprise! They lied! It was all big rolling hills! I got through that first loop and some teenager is holding a sign that reads loop 2 and it was the same path I just did, I seriously thought about running him over! Somewhere on loop 2 I lost my garmin vivofit .

Bike 52:16:3

     Now dismount before the dismount line and run to other side of transition area to hang bike, change shoes, and leave helmet. Still no socks but I grabbed the sport beans!

T2 2:16:3

     Run to the train. I lost my legs they must still be on the bike. All I have are these 500 pound weights dragging behind me. My hip starts hurting, so I decide it will be a walk/run 5K. Damn it! I'm getting passed by people I know I can out run if it wasn't for my hip. I have to say every person I met on the trail had encouraging words. Every single one said something positive. I don't know if it was because no earbuds, phones or music devices were not allowed or what. It was very nice though. I pass on the water.  I make it to the turn around. After I go back through the water stop I meet some guys doing race support work and they tell me I should pick off the lady in front of me. I try to tell them I am rehabbing an injury but they are not listening. I really wanted to let go and pick off some people but the hip was screaming at me so I played nice. Nice sucks!

Run 41:23:8

Total time 1:49:04:3

     I didn't even place in the middle of the pack. More like the bottom of the pack. I wasn't last. So I will take this as a learning experience. Improve my swim, work on my saddle time and let the hip heal. Practice transition set up and transitions. I have a lot of work to do before Boulder in June!

     During the race I was thinking why am I doing this? It is like a competition for being a jack of all trades but a master of none. As the race continued my thinking changed, I may not master any one part but I endured all of it. The more I endured the more my confidence grew in my fitness level.. I felt pretty BADASS when I crossed that finish line.

     Oh yeah there are more tri's in my future!

Live Epic
Michelle