Do These Goggles Make my Butt Look Fast.....

Today was my first triathlon of the season, the Blalock Lakes Intermediate. Before I forget, if you hear me talking about doing this race next year, remind I said I'd only do the Aqua-Bike.

I met up with Elizabeth and a friend of hers so early that Starbucks wasn't even open yet. We chatted our way down and arrived with plenty of time to do the usual: get marked, pick premium rack space, socialize, use the bathroom 4 times, and warm up in the lake. Elizabeth and I were even able to set up next to each other.

Plenty of time to hang out with North Georgia Tri Club friends

There is nothing flattering about tri kits unless you are given the chance to strike your pose and suck it in.

Representing NGTC

I was very pleased with my swim. I didn't panic before getting in. I didn't let other swimmers bumping into me freak me out and I kept my stroke steady the whole time.


Ben got this great picture of my coming out of the water, but no time to pose and suck it in.

Next came the ride. It was my tri bike's first race! I have finally decided that I can climb. This was very useful today as the bike course had a couple hills that had me exclaiming WTF as I approached them. I think the real reason I like to climb is I like the descent!

Baby boy needs a name!

I caught up to Elizabeth at the very end of the ride and was able to wish her well on the run. She's crazy fast and I knew this was where she would definitively kick my butt. She did! Because of the course, we were able to cheer each other on multiple times throughout.

I felt great about my swim, great about T1, great about my ride, great about T2.... but I still had to run. About the run....There was a women on a bike with a vuvuzela blowing it and cheering everyone on. She found out my name and rode with me in to the finish line. The volunteers were great. They were happy, supportive, friendly. That is about the only think I can say about the run that's positive. By mile two I was thinking I needed to go to the bathroom. I had talked to Coach last night about aiming for a 10mm. He told me by the time I got to the run, he didn't care what I ran. Good thing. I ended up averaging an 11 minute mile. I don't remember the last time I ran a race that slow. I was telling someone my run sucked and he replied, "No, the course did." I said my splits got progressively slower and Elizabeth reminded me the course got progressively harder. Positive takeaways from the run: I NEVER felt like quitting. I didn't get over heated. I smiled almost the whole time and I encouraged others not to waste the downhill by walking.

My absolute favorite part of the race was getting back in the lake afterwards. It felt sooooo good.

I got to really spend some time with Karen today....she's freakin' awesome!

Results have been posted and I finished 8/11 in my age group and 196/237. I almost didn't share this data because it doesn't make me feel very awesome. But I am awesome. I finished 3-5 minutes faster than a similar distance tri last season (run was MUCH easier on the one last year) and I finished.

Yes, I did run in my pink tiara hat. If you can't run fast, you can run cute.

Tri the Parks put on a great event. I have no complaints and would recommend this race to anyone who enjoys running hills. It had a great small town feel. Every time I turned around, there was someone I knew who was either cheering me on or I was able to cheer them on.

Other news of the week: I got chunk dunked again. I am down 2% body fat from March and up 2 pounds of lean mass. Slow and steady will get me to the finish line of IMFL!

I also said good my to my Mazda 3. He was good to me. I had him for over 8 years and 145k miles. I know he had more life in him, but my hobbies need more space. Maybe I'm having a delayed reaction to 40, but I finally wanted more car. The Mazda CX5 behind it is my new ride.