Easier said than done sometimes, but this weekend I was able to just roll with everything. I had planned to race Tri Shark Triathlon and Leon's. I had signed up for those by the start of April. At the end of April a co-worker invited me to her wedding. So add that to the two races for this weekend.
Well, lets start with Tri Shark. On Friday I was at school helping out with a leadership conference. During our lunch I checked my email on the phone. I had two messages from the race directors at Tri Shark. The first one stated that they did not want to cancel the race and they would post pone as long as they could considering the weather conditions. The next one was canceling the swim due to ecoli levels being really high in the lake we were suppose to swim in. Okay, not happy, but a duathlon, sure why not. This was the second time I had signed up for a triathlon and it became a duathlon. The first was Steelhead in 2008 before it was Ironman branded.
I woke up early Saturday and meet BFF (Jim Quirk) and Amber to head down to the race. We had an awesome showing by Tri Smart there. We get there set up, take a team picture and then get ready for the race. I was in wave 5 and I lined myself in the front as running is my strongest of the three, well two areas yesterday. We take off and there were some fast girls out there. My wave consisted off all females 39 and below. I was happy with the first run, two miles, I averaged 7:32s. Great. Got on my bike and off I went. OH DEAR LORD!!!!!!!!! It was so windy out there. I of course didn't mind when it was at my back pushing me along. There was one point I went to pass a girl and I told her I was coming on her left. She apologized and I said why because the cross wind is pushing you to the left. She laughed and we went back and forth the rest of the race. The tailwind was so strong that when we had it, I ran out of gears. Then on to run number 2. I started off strong, but when I went to make the turnaround I could feel the first run in my legs. None the less I pushed through the finish and maintained 8:13 pace. It was great to see all the Tri Smart people on the turnaround and at the finish. In the end I took 4th in my age group and got a nice trophy from the race. From there I left with BFF to go pick up my packet at Leon's.
Due to security everyone had to pick up their packets in person. So we got there and I was feeling miserable. I started with a small headache at the end of Tri Shark and it just got massive by the time we got to Leon's. I decided to get my packet and head back home since I was going to a wedding. When I got home I took some Tylenol and laid down for just a few minutes. Then I got ready and off I went. The wedding was beautiful, loved the colors they chose. I danced for a few songs, namely Gangdam Style, yes I know it is lost its luster, but it is still fun and anyone who saw my Facebook post from Quarryman knows how well I dance. Slow songs came on and that is always my cue to exit the dance floor. All good. Time came for the bouquet toss and I caught it again. This is my 5th time catching a bouquet. I kind of had an advantage, everyone else was wearing stilettos. I wore slippers, needless to say I could run back and forth, which I did. Danced for a few more songs, then decided I was tired, time to go home and get rested
Woke up early again, got gas in my car and picked up Maxine. I was glad to have someone to ride along with. We got to the race sight and Maxine helped me put my rear wheel on my bike ( I suck at that stuff). We walked into transition after I got body marked and found a spot for my bike. We also got to chat with our old master swim coach, Steve. People from Tri Smart started to make their way into the transition area and we chatted, then all the sudden the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. I was like are you kidding me. Normally people wait to put their wetsuits on, nope we put them on to stay warm. We made out way off transition and took a team picture. Leon's does a great job paying honor to our country and service men and women. The girl that sang the Star Spangled Banner was awesome, then we had a fly over from the Lima Lima planes. Most of the guys from Tri Smart were in the same wave as me, so we hung out and talked until we got into the water. Now you know there is a problem when the water is the warmest part of your race. Today was that case and it was not because we were all peeing in it, that just helped. I jumped in and got myself positioned for the swim start and off we went. All the sudden I was like where the hell am I, the bouys are way to my left. So I swam that direction and got on course. I had talked to Maxine before the race because she had just been in the water and asked how it was. CHOPPY and she wasn't kidding. I felt like I drank half the lake. We made our first left turn and I could smell and taste the gas from the boats. I was like great, I am going to puke at some point in this race. As we made the last turn, Leon's has a huge American Flag at the finish, perfect for sighting. Got out of the water and made my way to transition with BFF, MJ, Maxine, and other cheering all the Tri Smart people on. I start to take my wetsuit off and I said to two other Tri Smart teammates, "umm you know it is cold when there is steam coming off your wetsuit and you after the swim. This is going to be an interesting bike ride." AND IT WAS. I didn't bring anything for my arms and to be honest I don't think it would have made a different because I am Captain Wimpy when it comes to the cold. CAN'T STAND IT. So I'm on my way and I see BFF and I was like hey by the way it is cold, he told me to speed up. The bike is a two loop course( although,it was long again this year, not by too much). Part of the bike course is on the closed down part of Cline Ave. It was brutal on that part, no other way to describe it. Just cold and rainy, it got to the point on the second loop that I was watching people because I could hardly see out of my sunglasses (I know it was not sunny, but they are protection too again flying debris, there was plenty). As I started the second loop BFF asked if I was warm yet, umm no, so I was told to go faster. I saw MJ and Michelle and they were funny because they were like oh go Lisa. Second loop was similar to the first. I think I managed to find and hit every pothole out there on both loops. As I was coming into the finish, there was Brax from Urban Tri Gear cheering me. He just makes me laugh because he is so into the sport. Got done and thought yay, time to run. Yeah, not so much. My legs were trashed. So I decided to just take it one mile at at time on the run. That ended up being a good plan. Again I got to cheer on teammates on the out and backs. The last stretch was the toughest because it is just over a mile and a half long and for a little bit of time I felt like the finish was not getting closer, but it did. Coming in were all my Tri Smart friends to cheer me into the finish. I got done and Leon was there to personally thank and congratulate everyone that finished. Yes, this race cost me a lot of money for an Olympic distance, but the personal touch that Leon has, makes up for the cost. I for whatever reason walked past where they gave the finisher medals. Oh well.
All and all despite that today was brutal, I am glad I raced. I feel that I have become stronger in some sense and it was fun no matter. I am going to sleep well. As a matter of fact, after I teach yoga in the morning, I am coming home and going back to bed. At least for one day I will do that, back to training on Tuesday. :)
