There is No Tri, Only Du

Sunday was the big day! I met Flynn near my house and we rode out to the race together. We arrived early to get our race numbers marked on our bodies and setup our gear in the transition area. On Saturday there were downpours all day long and there was speculation the swim would be canceled. Shortly after arriving an official announcement was made canceling the tri and making it into a du. I was a bit disappointed the swim was canceled since I had mentally prepared for it and was ready for the struggle, but then again, not going into the water was a relief. The reason for the cancellation was high bacteria count in the water. Gross! I was told the same thing happened last year so some women will have to wait until next year to attempt their tri. Bummer!

We easily setup our gear at our appointed locations and just chatted a bit with others until it was race time. 8am approached so we hit up the insanely long bathroom line and started milling around the start line and waited to hear our wave called. Finally our wave was announced and me, Travis and Flynn strolled up the start and waited for the start. I could see my family on the start line and Trav leaned over and said, "It's looks like your Mom is about to burst" she was smiling and waving so hard. It was funny and encouraging at the same time. My adrenaline was getting a bit out of control at this point and then finally, 3-2-1...GO!

The first 2 miles Trav and I stuck together and ran 8 minute miles which aren't too bad for two ladies who don't really run a lot (or at all). Flynn flew ahead of us. I hated my life and as we came back around towards the start/transition area I cringed knowing I had to do it again, even further. Good news!!! I was done running and ready to get on my bike! Got my shoes on, strapped my helmet on and jogged it up to the road and started to pedal. I proceeded to let it out on the bike. I used this as a chance to race against myself and had a goal of completing the 17 mile leg with a 20 mph average. I felt amazingly good during this leg and kept pace well the entire time. The only people who really passed me were people on tri bikes with aero bars who probably do a hell of a lot more training that me so that wasn't too bad. I was getting fatigued by the end and riding into some wind so I practiced my sprinting and got up and sprinted to the finish line. I was NOT going to coast into the transition area and I got a few cheers for the effort! In transition, I had to sit down to put on my running sneaks since I was so wobbly after the ride, not terribly efficient, but it was better than fumbling with my shoes for minutes. Once I got to the 5k, my legs were done and in denial of running again. I was dogging it but just kept going (maybe I should have saved my legs a bit on the bike?). I was so tired that when I tried to drink water I put it down the wrong hatch and started choking, gahhhh. Once I had 400m to go I got excited and picked it up and then sprinted the last 100m to the finish line and was so relieved to be done! You have no idea! Everyone who came across the finish line got medals (woot!) and some much needed water.

End result? I placed 147 out of about 700 participants!!! (I posted on Facebook that there were 1150, but that included the original du participants and tri participants. 700 were the tri peeps only as they didn't combine the groups). I placed 102 on the bike and averaged 20.1 mph! If I knew how well I was doing I might have been able to spur myself on a bit harder to try to break the top 100. The bike totally saved me and kept me in the game as I realized my running skills were sub par and I needed to get ahead of as many people as possible. I really didn't expect to do so well and yes, I am quite please with myself right now! I thought I would end up in the middle of the standings and had no idea I was doing so well while I was racing. Who knew? Flynn demolished Trav and I by placing 104 and Trav finished at 312. Not bad for a bunch of beginners!

Overall, this was a solid event put on by CGI Racing and I would definitely do another one of their events again. Everything was clearly marked on the course, plenty of volunteers telling you where to go, plenty of race amenities (water, gels, cold towels, encouragement). The race atmosphere was unbelievably positive. Strangers were cheering me on, referring to me by my number and the race participants themselves were really supportive of everyone, not cut throat at all. I had a few women cheer me on as I passed them on the bike and an equal number offer encouragement to me while I struggled to keep running. By looking around you could tell there was a very wide range of athletes and everyone was smiling and happy - I can see why so many woman do it as their first tri/du.

Afterwards I enjoyed a cold beer with my comrades and then moved to Sidecar for some brunch with my parents Tom and Cheryl, sister Tara, niece Katie, Angie and Eileen. I demolished an omelet of bacon, mushrooms and blue cheese - it had no chance. The food runner commented on my sweet tats and brought my leftovers out in a box with my race number on it :) How awesome is that? I then proceeded to submit to the exhaustion/coma for the rest of what was a truly and madly decent day.