Great news...I made it with no injuries and I'm feelin' good!
I thought about you all during my race yesterday. This blog and it's readers...wheather I know you in real life or not, are such a motivation to me. I want to thank you for that. There were times during the race yesterday when I wanted to give up, but I thought to myself, "What would you say on the blog? I quit. I couldn't do it."
No. Not an option.
So here goes the long recap of my Sunday. There are lots of details and lots of pictures (for me at least, you know I am bad at posting pictures) so get ready....
Saturday afternoon I packed up all my clothes and gear. I spread everything out on the bed so I could see it all at once and make sure I didn't forget anything.
Race Outfit:
Alllllll the nutrition and gear:
Here is a list of everything I took:
- Sunglasses with croakies
- iPod nano with headphones
- swim cap
- 2 bottles of water...one for the transisiton area and one that attaches to the bike
- goggles
- LOTS of Emergen-C
- Garmin
- (3) GU Gels (Jet Blackberry, Tri Berry, and Orange)
- (1) pack of GU chomps (Orange)
- gum
- Luna bar in White Chocolate Macademia Nut
On Saturday Tom had to work in the afternoon (love that hard-workin' man!), so Dad, Louise, and I drove up to Millington to get checked in to the hotel and pick up my race packet. I had bought the official race technical T-shirt when I registered. You can't really see it in this picture, but it has the MIM Logo on it:
Every participant also got a cotton Tshirt with the race logo on it.
I also bought a cute running T and a koozie and sticker at the Expo:
You can't really see in this picture but this T says 'Runner Girl' on it. It's really cute. I had to take these pictures myself on the timer and Reba was wondering what was going on. ha ha.
And here I am with my number! 1123. So excited! (but what is up with my hair? I look like such a ragamuffin.)
The second one we took Louise said it looks like a mug shot. This picture makes me laugh:
The little Hampton Inn and Suites in Millington was so nice! We each got a King Studio Suite and it was beautiful and awesome! I was thrilled when I saw the room because I knew Tom and I would both sleep good for the Big Day.
We even had a swan made out of towels on our bed! Ahahahahahha!
At packet pick-up, we were able to walk around the start/finish line at the race site, and also see the swim course. It calmed my nerves a little to be there and get my barings. Just to be there on location and being able to visualize crossing the finish line made me feel a little more calm.
Tom arrived and we visited in the hotel with a glass of wine before dinner. Around 6pm my allergies started to flare up and it felt like there was concrete in my nose. Does any one else suffer from crazy bad allergies this time of year? Mine are bad, but can be controlled through over-the-counter stuff.
When I started to have sinking spell, I thought, 'Please no! Not this weekend! I need to be healthy and strong today and tomorrow.'
So I took some Advil Cold and Sinus and hoped for the best. By the time we got to the restaurant I was feeling better. Here we are waiting for dinner! This is the only 'pretty' picture of me I got all weekend. All the rest I look sweaty and tired. Ha!
I had my lucky pre-race dinner of: two glasses of red wine, pasta with fresh tomatoes and grilled chicken. It is a good mix of carbs and protein and has worked will for me in the past. After dinner we had to pop in Wal-Mart for some last minute items and picked up Skinny Cows for everyone! My fave.....
Saturday night we went to bed at about 10:30 with the alarm set for 5:20am. Despite our beautiful room, I DID NOT sleep well. I think my nerves were just on edge and my mind was racing, going over a million different scenarios. I woke up every other hour in a cold sweat.
When the alarm finally went off in the moring, I was outta bed quickly, getting everything ready to go. I was just ready to BE THERE. And my allergies were not an issue THANK GOD. They behaved for the entire race. Thank you Advil.
We got to the race site about 5:50am and there was a loooooooong line to get in the parking lot. This did not help my nerves at all, and Tom had to keep telling me to just calm down. I was so nervous I was almost itchy. My hands are shaking a little right now, just remembering the feeling of being stuck in the car on such a big morning.
Finally we made it to the lot, parked, and got my bike to the transisition area to get it racked. I had gone by my spot the day before, so I knew exactly where to go. As we entered the transition area, there were race volunteers yelling out 'Body marking! Get your body marked!' It was easy....I just walked up to one and showed them my race number and they wrote it on both arms and both legs.
As I walked to the transition area, I began to feel self-consious. It seemed like everyone around me had the fanciest bike, the most up to date outfits, and all these fancy schamcy triathlon things.
And there was little ole me, the first timer with my hybrid mountain bike. I expressed my fears to Tom and he said, "Well, you have a great bike and you have worked hard. You have practical equipment and you don't need all that fancy stuff. You just need those two Go Sticks (meaning my LEGS--ha!)" That made me feel a little better. He was right. I was not here to prove anything, just here to finish.
As I racked my bike and set up my area, I began talking to the girl next to me, Jasmine. She was a first-timer too! Talking to her made me feel better simply because she was a lot like me, and I knew I wasn't the only one who had not done a bazillion tris before. She was really nice and just chatting made me forget how nervous I was.
It turned out I didn't need my swim cap because we were required to wear the cap provided by the race. It was yellow, with our number on it. Here I am looking like a fierce competitor:
Ha ha!THE SWIM:
So we began lining up by number to start the swim. The great thing about this race is that they start in increments of 3 seconds PER PERSON. So, it's not just a free-for-all chaotic swim start. That is why they say this is a good race for first-timers.
The line moved quickly and by about 8:00am I was in the water.
Follow me here....the swim course is a big triangle. So you swim 1/3 of the way to a buoy, turn right. Swim another 1/3 of the way, turn right. Swim the last third, and you're back where you started.
I have to honest here, I struggled from the start with the swim (surprise, surprise). Into the water at the beginning, I began my free style stroke, and got into a good rhythm quickly. No one was grabbing me or running into me, and I thought, 'This isn't so bad! I can do this!'
Right about then I checked up to see where I was, and bad news....I had swam in a straight line TOTALLY OFF COURSE. No wonder it was so easy....I was out here swimming all by myself!
So I had to use extra time and energy to get back on course. This *really* flustered me and I just got so upset and almost in a panic. This made me need to breast stroke for a while to catch my breath.
Then the guy in front of me was doing the back stroke, so I thought, 'okay, good idea. That will calm me down a little.'
So I alternated the back stroke and breast stroke for a while. The breast stroke so hard because every time I would come up for air, it seemed like a wave of water would just go right into my mouth. So I was sputtering the coughing and gasping for air. No good.
As I did the back stroke, I just looked up and the sky and thought, "Calm down. This is your race and no one else's. It's just you and the water. Breathe."
And I just kept thinking, 'if I can make it to this first buoy, I can do it. At the first buoy, I'll free style and get my groove on.'
About half way to that first buoy, I saw two swimmers flagging down the canoes to come and get pulled out of the water. No matter how scared I got, I would. not. quit.
I won't bore you with all the crazy details of the swim, but let's just say it was scary and felt soooooo long. And for some reason I felt like every member of the Clydesdale division swam past me at one point, causing a title wave and lots of elbow-swinging. I definitely took a few blows.
*FINALLY* with one leg of the triangle to go, I got in a rhythm with my freestyle and was able to finish feeling just okay. I have to say I did a lot of praying and thanking God for giving me this healthy body, and providing me with strength and determination for the day.
Okay, see if you can follow me here...the timer at the swim start read about 53:00 minutes when it was my turn to go. So as I swam, I did some math and thought, "If that clock reads 1:38:00 when I get out of this water, I'll be thrilled. That would mean I would have completed the swim in 45 minutes.
As I ran up the ramp and took off my goggles, I could have sworn the clock read 1:28.
?!WHAT?!
That would mean 35 mintues for my swim. Surely not. Surely there was no way I finished that fast and I had miscalculated the time.
No time to worry about that right now....time to get on my bike....
I ran to my bike and looked everywhere for Tom, Dad, and Louise. They were no where in sight. WTF? Why weren't they at the transisiton area waiting to cheer me on the bike leg? I mean, what else were they doing? Their sole purpose was to be here and cheer me on.
Then it dawned on me....they were expecting me to finish the swim in 45 minutes and I had sure enough finished it in 35 minutes.
I would find out later that they had gone to the swim exit after I had been in the water for what they thought was about 40 minutes. They saw my rough start, and thought they would be fine by getting there after 40 minutes. As they waited, the last 2 or 3 swimmers got out of the water and my dad started going over every possible scenario in his mind. He thought for sure something bad had happend. He told me he almost started crying he was so nervous.
So just for good measure he went over the transistion and saw that my bike and shoes were gone and my towel was wet. Tom said he came running back over to them and said, "She's Gone! She made it out! Her bike is gone! We must have missed her!"
They were all so relieved I hadn't drowned on the swim course. ha!
Swim time: a miraculous-only-by-the-amazing-grace-of-God 34:48
THE BIKE:
Before the bike, I took a few huge gulps of water and was on my way. The bike course was lovely and easy. I loved it. It was flat and sunny, and all-around great. We were in the farmlands of Millington, so as you can imagine I felt very at home!
Pretty much everyone passed me, but I didn't care. I had my own goals and those goals didn't have anything to do with the other racers. My goal was to finish the bike in 1:40.
I really don't have a lot of details for the bike really because it was just such a great ride, and I never felt too fatigued and tired.
At mile 10, I ate a GU gel in Jet Blackberry which I HIGHLY recommend. It has 2x the caffeine for extra energy and boy did it make a difference. Then I ate another one at about mile 18 in Tri-Berry. I also drank my entire bottle of water while on the bike.
As I pulled into transistion area my watch read 1:28. Awesome. 12 whole minutes ahead of pace. By then my cheering section had made it and they were there waiting for me.
The first thing my dad said was, "How'd you finish that swim so fast? We missed you!!" My response was "Only by the grace of God!! It was AWFUL!" I really do have to give so much glory to Him because He provided me with so much strength....both physical and mental....all day long.
After a few swigs of water, 2 GU chomps, and of course posing for a picture....I was off for the run!
Bike Time: 1:28:26
THE RUN
Even though the swim was brutal, this run was by far the hardest leg.
Everyone on the run course was commenting on how hard it was, and how hot it was. Even the ligit triathletes where taking long walk breaks and I heard a few of them say, "This run is BULLSH*$"
People were not happy and many were dehydrated and dropping like flies. I had decided to walk every water station and overdose on water and Gatorade. I also dumped ice down my bra at each station...both front and back. This helped a little to keep my body temp down and it felt soooooo good.
By now it was about 10:15 and the sun was high in the sky with no clouds to speak of. And it was like 91 degrees. Bananas.
The run was not only hot, it was HILLY. And we all know how I respond to hills. Not well. I was able to run most of the course, but not as much as I would have liked. For a while, I kept up with two guys whom I overheard say they had been doing tris for three years. So keeping up with them for a mile or so helped my confidence.
I ate a GU at the turn-around and it did help some.
Just before mile four, I met up with a girl and we ran together for a while, and talked some. That helped to keep my mind off of how hard the task at hand was. She was nice, and chatting with her helped the mile go by quickly.
The last hill was leading up to the 6 mile mark, so I walked it (along with everyone else! ha!) and then at the 6 mile mark took off for the finish.
I kept thinking in my mind, "Only 2 mintues until TRIATHLETE. Only 1 minute to TRIATHLETE."
I could hear the annoucer only yards away from the finish saying the finishers names and hometowns.
I could see the spectators at the finish waiting with cameras and victory signs.
I could hear the music of the live band at the after-party.
And then....I felt the mat under my feet and heard the beep signaling that I. Was. Done.
Amazing is the only way I can think to describe it.
I looked straight head and heard voices yelling my name and Tom saying "BABE! OVER HERE HUN!!!!! YOU DID IT. YOU DID IT!!!!!"
I felt tears welling up and just had to let my emotions go. I was so happy it was over.
All those early mornings, all those hours in the gym, all those nights when I went to bed early. All the sore legs and the lost toenails and aching arms.
ALL SO WORTH IT FOR THIS VERY MOMENT.
Run time: 1:13:16
I actually felt *good.* I wasn't hurting, I wasn't tired, I was just thrilled and content. I had accomplished this goal and I was a finisher.
Afterwards we had champagne with Aunt Mary Lou and Uncle Jerry. They were soooooo sweet come out and support me. It meant a lot to me to have them there.
Tom just kept saying, "So proud of you hun. You did great." And all that good stuff. It is wonderful to hear those words coming from someone I have a lot or respect and love for. He has been such a cheerleader not only all weekend, but throughout my training.
Total Time: 3:23:52
After loading up all my gear we went back to the hotel for a shower (a.k.a. HEAVEN). Then Tom took me to lunch at Chili's where I proceeded to embarrass myself I ate so much. I had a huge hamburger and fries, and three beers. DELISH.
Such a sweetie this one it....all you girls should go out and get yourself one of these:
And here I am, the happiest person on the planet at this point:
After lunch we went home and I did this for the rest of the day:
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