I just spent $40 on two Holly Hobby and Heather plates at the Pro Choice Resources annual Garden party.

And I think I got ripped off.

Okay. I’m sort of kidding. The plates are super cool and they totally remind me of my youth. I also know the money went to a good cause and I was a total hawk at the silent auction watching so that no one would outbid me for these two pieces of childhood memorabila. Then, when I realized I’d won the two plates at a killer $30, I started to feel guilty about the “value price” of the plates at $50 — so I put in an extra $10.

Of course, here I am now on eBay realizing I could have snagged these things for a couple of bucks. What a chump?!

Oh well, who can be mad? I have two very sweet plates that have very sweet messages. One says “Start each day in a happy way” — the other says “Count your blessings not your troubles” — so cheesy, yet so perfect and they both beat the shit out of any of those Successories posters at the mall.

One of these days I’m going to tell you all about my “secret friend” growing up and how he/she made Holly Hobbie and Heather such an important part of my childhood.

[side note: my boy has been a board member at PCR for a few years now and just elected Vice Prez of the board. I'm so proud of him.]

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Book Club tonight was fantastic.

And I didn’t even read the book.

It’s the same excuse — the one you all are sick of, I’m sure. “I’m too busy, blah, blah, blah.” The summary is: I didn’t have time — or didn’t MAKE time for this month’s read. But it didn’t matter. The conversation was still awesome and I’m glad I went. I laughed hard. I drank white wine. It was a splendid, healing evening even if I wasn’t versed in the subject matter.

Yesterday was just as enjoyable. James and I rode 58 miles to the St. Croix Valley, along it and back. Afterwards, I followed it with a 5.13 mile run off. It was 4.5 hours of exercise, outdoors, sun and life. I felt strong and alive and slightly reassured that, yes, maybe I can pull off this half ironman thing.

We capped the evening sitting on the deck with neighbors (good friends) sharing food and conversation and drinking yet more wine.

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Oh, lordy. What I have done in accepting this new job?

Hah. I’m only kidding.

Sort of.

No, really. The job? It’s going well. I’m feeling more and more comfortable in my new environment and I’m making some sort of path for myself. Not sure exactly where it’s leading, but I’m whacking weeds and doing what it takes to get through the day.

That said, my god… has the combination of the new commute and evening busy-ness and the energy that a new position requires been taking its toll. So many little aspects of my life are being neglected. Things like sorting mail and making sure there is always lettuce in the fridge and bananas on the counter. I only folded laundry last night because my husband started it and I only put away dishes because, thank the lord, my husband did them. I’m not doing my part around the house and it sucks. I feel bad. The house doesn’t have it’s great mojo going on. Relations with the man are strained.

Transition is hard, ya’ll.

I suppose it hasn’t helped much that I did have races these past two weekends. In fact, in the past month I did complete three races INCLUDING than damn marathon. That event feels like it was ages ago when, in fact, no more than a month. That’s how crazy my life has been — when one of the biggest athletic events of my life has been overshadowed by long commutes to the job and finding new places to eat lunch.

Have I mentioned how fat I feel from all the food in the office and the meals out?

Ugh.

Oh, what a whiner I am. Where are the violins?

I can’t help myself. It’s the place I’m in right now and it’s what you get. Besides, technically it’s still my birthday week — I can say what I want.

[BTW -- the bday was good. Not my best, but good. ]

The thing is and what is bothering me is that my adherence to my training schedule has sucked. I totally haven’t been following the plan. Other things in my life are more important right now. But I’m also scared shitless about this damn half ironman and am afraid that my lack of dedication are going to show up on race day. I’m a month away and I feel like I’ve done jack shit. My only bricks have been two sprint races. I’ve had a handful of long rides. How on earth do I think I can accomplish a freakin’ 70.3 mile race? I feel like it is the stupidest thing on earth that I could have signed up for. Yet, I’m too stubborn to surrender. I’m going to toe that line. But, dammit, I don’t feel like I’ll be prepared…

Stress. Nerves. Today was a tough day. Luckily, when I came home, I headed out on a 5 mile run even though I instantly wanted to break into the wine.

It’s the little things.

I do have training plans for this weekend. Tomorrow: a long swim after I volunteer at the State Road Race for my bike team. Then, on Sunday, a 50 mile ride followed by a 6 mile run.

I can only hope that after those workouts, I can find the time to sit down, determine what workouts need to happen and carve out the time in my schedule. I have a month left. Instead of thinking of it as only 30 days, I have ALL OF 30 days. I can change the tide. I can change the attitude. I can make this 70.3 race a success.

The power is here. I just need to find a vein where I can tap in.

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I placed third in my age group for the bike! How cool is that? And I was 14th in the bike out of all 157 women.

Obviously, the official stats are up for the 2006 Lake Minnetonka Triathlon The Holiday movie

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(1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 3 mile run) and here’s me:

Ranked 187 out of 369 total competitors
Ranked 58 out of 157 total women
Ranked 13 out of 36 women in the 30-34 age category

Swim: 18:49 (2:09/100 yds)
T1: 2:31
Bike: 44:39 (20.2 mph)
T2: 1:50
Run: 26:13 (8:45/mile)
Total time: 1:33:45

[see race report below]The Secret of the Magic Gourd

I just got back from my race today and I’m happy to report that it was a good one. Going into this weekend, I felt pretty good. Unfortunately, we stayed up way later than planned which yielded me only five hours of sleep. In the morning, I was nervous about the lack of sleep because I was groggy and I didn’t feel nearly as good as I normally do the morning of a race. I was dragging. Therefore, as we approached the town of Excelsior, I told myself that this was just a training race. I did awesome here last year and I didn’t have to measure up to that. My ultimate goal this year is Racine on July 23rd. Today is just part of that The Twilight Saga: New Moon movie download

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journey.

That said, beating last year’s time is

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always fun. But I didn’t want to consider today a failure if that didn’t happen.

We got to the transition area a little before 6am. It opened at 5:30. Normally, plan on arriving right away to assure a good rack spot. Today, however, my buddy and I decided on getting that extra half hour of sleep and it turned out to be a good decision. We found a place to rack our bikes near the bike in-and-out and were comfortable with our spot. We didn’t have nearly the time pre-race that I had last week, so I wasn’t able to warm-up with a run. I did have to walk a couple of blocks to get my sunglasses from the car, does that count?

Getting into the water before the start was probably the toughest part of the morning. The water was much colder than I’d expected it to be. Kristy and I swam in the lake two weeks ago and it was much warmer then. So, the temperature this morning was a bit of a shocker and probably due to the dumping of rain last night. Luckily, I had a wetsuit. Unfortunately, my buddy did not. She did say said she warmed up okay once she was in the water, so that was good.

It was fun to actually be in the same wave with my friend. Seconds before we were set off, we wished each other good luck. Then we were racing.

This swim started out better than any other swim I’ve done. I didn’t have any near-panics. I felt pretty calm and collected. My stroke wasn’t all that good — I knew it was choppy. I just plodded along. I think I stayed within the middle of my wave and there is nothing to serious to report. There was a bit of a wake and that made breathing difficult at some points. I also had a hard time swimming straight on the final leg, but I forced myself to sight more often which helped. The swim was a half mile. It seemed longer than that. But it was over in just 20 minutes. A good clean swim, something of which to be proud.

My transition to the bike probably could have been quicker. I had to sit down to remove my wetsuit (I later learned a new approach which will hopefully save time — more on that later). I also took a few seconds to down a Gu because I knew I wouldn’t want to take the time to do it on the bike.

As cocky as it sounds, my bike rocked. I went hard and I passed a ton of people. The temperature was perfect. The course was rolling with no real winds to contend with. It was an ideal set-up and I just cranked. I also coached myself through the hills. I remembered to not be afraid of shifting down into my small ring and that approach paid off on several of the hills. So many people were cranking through, wasting energy on those hills in their big rings. I geared down and passed them while not expending nearly as much effort. It was really cool. So many times when I looked down on my speedometer, I read 20, 24, 27 mph. I felt fast.

One woman on a yellow Felt kept leapfrogging with me. I’d pass her on the downhills and climbs, she’d soar past on the straight-aways. At about the fifth pass, she commented to me, “Too bad we can’t draft!”

I totally agreed. “I know,” I responded. “I could take you down the hills and you could pull me on these straights.” That time, however, when she did pull ahead, she stayed there. Oh well. I think she was only one of a handful of people who passed me. When I was about 3/4 of the way through the course, I saw my buddy on the other side. We cheered for each other and continued on.

T2 was pretty uneventful except for the fact that I sort of lost my racking spot. I couldn’t remember what my stuff looked like. Luckily, the woman on the yellow Felt was racked near us and I spotted her. Bonus! I wished her luck as she hit the run. Soon, I was following behind. I knew I couldn’t catch her, though. Rats.

The run was good. I felt a little tired from the bike and kept getting glimmers of a side stitch that never truly appeared. I tried to go as fast as I could, but I was fatigued and my body would only go so fast. That said, at the 2 mile make, I knew I was on pace for 8:30-8:45/miles. Only one mile was left and I nailed it with as much energy as I had remaining. I felt pretty fast at the end. I sprinted to the finish. When I crossed the line, I knew I was in the area of 1 hour and 33 minutes — which was my time last year. And last year the bike was 1.5 miles shorter! Sweet. Another race improvement — you gotta love that.

After finishing, I grabbed a water and waited for my buddy to finish. She was shortly behind me and had a rockstar finish sprinting by another woman to the line. It was very cool. It was also special to share this race with her. After years of chatting triathlon and training together, this was our first race competed together and it was so very, very fun. It was also especially amazing to share the time afterwards swapping stories and comparing experiences. Kristy would have also finished faster had it not been for a couple of technical difficulties out on the course including (1) her chain falling off and (2) taking a wrong turn. With that in mind, she still averaged 17.6 mph on the bike. Then she ran a rocking 8 min/mile. (I am a little jealous of the run.)

We stuck around for postings and, from what I recall, I placed 13th out of 33 women in our age group (sweet). My swim was 18:43 (?), my best 1/2 mile swim to date. My bike pace was a speedy 20.2 mph! – SOO proud of that! – and my run was a 8:45/mile. The run performance slightly bummed me out because last year I ran a 8:30/mile and last weekend I ran an 8:19 mile. But beggers can’t be chosers and this year’s bike was 1.5 mile longer (like I said). I also finished IN THE SAME TIME as I did last year: 1:33-something. And considering it was a longer course, that rocks. Totally. Even if it wasn’t a PR on the run.

All in all, good race. I enjoyed it immensely, especially after being a little worried this morning. That said, it wasn’t as euphoric as last year just because last year this race was on my birthday and I swam my first complete, clean swim. I think 2005 at Lake Minnetonka will just be one of those experiences that remains unmatched because it was such a stepping stone.

Every race can’t be the “most fun ever.” But given it’s my birthday weekend and I spent it doing something I truly adore, I’m pleased and thankful. It was a beautiful day spent with a beautiful friend enjoying a passion that has yet to grow tired. Finding triathlon was a gift that I continue to be thankful for daily.

[update later]

I placed third in my age group for the bike!

How cool is that? And I was 14th in the bike out of all 157 women.

Obviously, the official stats are up for the 2006 Lake Minnetonka Triathlon

(1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 3 mile run) and here’s me:

Ranked 187 out of 369 total competitors
Ranked 58 out of 157 total women
Ranked 13 out of 36 women in the 30-34 age category

Swim: 18:49 (2:09/100 yds)
T1: 2:31
Bike: 44:39 (20.2 mph)
T2: 1:50
Run: 26:13 (8:45/mile)
Total time: 1:33:45

Oh, lord. I just turned on the television and was absolutely assaulted by Britney Spears’ knockers.

Holy Crap. THAT’S what kids do to you?

And THAT’S what one wears when pregnant?

I just don’t know what to say. But I had to blog it anyway…

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Tonight is CSA (community supported agriculture) pick-up night. We started picking up our produce over a month or so ago. It’s been nice. Unfortunately, it’s actually been less food that I was originally expecting. However, tonight the fruit shares started and I’m more than thrilled with what we got. I’m not even bitter than the salad share we’d paid extra for was gone (what kind of people steal other people’s food from CSAs???).

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At any rate, in our fruit delivery was:
- apricots
- grapes
- strawberries
- oranges
- plums
- AVOCADOS!
- pears

Now, before you get all perplexed thinking this is midwest grown, all of that fruit (minus the strawberries) was not grown by the local farm. They actually make an agreement with organic fruit farms throughout the country to distribute. So while we may not get fresh grapes and avocados from farms here, we can still get them organic with our delivery. I think that’s really cool and, so far, the peaches are awesome and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into those apricots.

We also got some fun stuff with the veggie delivery including an nice big bunch of asparagus, fresh spinich, saute mix, red lettuce, spring mix, cilantro, green garlic and something called potato onions. Nummy, nummy stuff.

And all from Harmony Valley Farm. I love them.

In other news, I think the Artist’s Quarter hates me. They sent me an email advertising that Mose Alison will be at the club both tomorrow and Saturday night. I want to go like nobody’s business. Yet the husband is busy all weekend with the Great River Energy Bicycle Festival Facing the Giants divx

. He has to write all the race stories and I’m basically a widow for this entire week each year. Gah, I just can’t bring myself to go alone. Not only that, I *do* have another triathlon on Saturday — which takes Friday night out of the picture. Still, listening to Mr. Alison play on Saturday night would be such a supreme way to spent the eve of my birthday. Especially since I’m actually volunteering at the race on my birthday. But, alas, what’s a girl to do? Mr. Alison will just have to go ahead without me. And the AQ will just taunt me like they always do.

(was that melodramic?)

I am going riding tomorrow evening with my buddy. We’re going to preview Saturday’s tri course. She’s also going to let me crash at her pad since she’s a lot closer to the race site. It’ll be fun racing together. We chat triathlon all the time — it’s about time we put those words into action. Saturday’s going to be a good race. I can feel it.

I completed 30 miles on my bike this morning before work and it made me feel like a rockstar. Originally, I was going to bike when I got home last night. But after getting up at 4:30am for a swim and run and then working all day, the last thing I really wanted to do was ride — especially since I didn’t get home until close to 7pm thanks to my wonderful new commute. Instead, I opted for beer and pizza. And we wonder why I have yet to get back to my WW goal weight.

Ahem. Anway…

So, I got up at 4:30 again this morning and I was on the road by 5am. The sun was just starting to rise and it was absolutely beautiful. The plan was to do my usual 27 mile loop around White Bear Lake. But then I got worried about time. So, when I got 10 miles into the ride, I decided to take what I thought would be a shortcut. Dumb me thought the Gateway trail hooked up to Highway 96 right outside of White Bear Lake township. Therefore, I headed down that way to find it. Only, I kept riding and riding and riding and soon it was very apparent that the Gateway was further off than I’d expected. And when I reached the 15 mile mark away-from-home, I had no other choice but to turn around. I knew the Gateway would no longer be a shortcut and I risked making my ride even longer. By turning around, I assured myself that at least I’d go no more than 30 miles. But after trying to shorten the original 27-mile loop, this was all quite comical.

That said, I’m glad I got in the mileage and the countryside was stunning at that hour of the day. In fact, I got to pass a deer on the side of the road. He/she was a mere 10 feet from me and lovely. And

I got to see him/her again on the ride back. Priceless, that.

The entire ride took me 1 hour and 47 minutes. I averaged 16.8 mph. And I felt great. Getting up at 4:30 was so worth the initial pain.

That said, I’m ready to crash now. Unfortunately, I have a swim lesson tonight at 8:30. Bah.

We’ll see how it goes…

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from the Manitou Sprint Tri 2006:

Ranked 322 out of 535 total competitors
Ranked 63 out of 175 total women
Ranked 14 out of 38 women in the 30-34 age category

Swim: 19:07 (2:11/100 yds)
T1: 2:46
Bike: 41:57 (19.3mph)
T2: 1:50
Run: 25:45 (8:19/mile)
Total time: 1:31:23

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…

[see below for recap]

PS: I am a little sore today — that must have meant I did something. ;)

Last night before bed, I went online to review my thoughts on last year’s race at Manitou. I also wanted to know what last year’s times were in order to help crystalize some goals for today. I knew last year’s performance was poor. I freaked out on the swim and it threw off the entire day. Reading back on it, it was a bad day.

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In fact, I’d say my worst race ever (which I did say in that entry). My finish time was 1:47. The swim took me 28 minutes to complete. It was not the race I was training for and it was a dissappointment.

So, looking over my review of last year and my times, I decided my plan was to concentrate on a clean and improved swim. I wasn’t looking to shatter any records, I just wanted to remain calm. I wanted to make sure I didn’t let panic get the best of me. Then, once the swim was over, I could go however hard I felt on the bike and run. I knew this was a training race. Like I said before, I wasn’t out there to shatter any PRs. I wasn’t even trying to hit previous times. I just wanted a clean, calm swim and a bike and run that felt good. I also wanted to finish in under last year’s time, but I knew that wouldn’t be a problem if the swim went okay. I went to bed visualizing the swim, visualizing being calm, visualizing how I’d react to waves and people on top of me.

I also looked up the meaning of Manitou. I mean, the triathlon is in White Bear Lake, MN — why on earth is it called Manitou? (Silly me didn’t know there was a Manitou Island jutting out in the lake.) After some Googling, I found this:

An Algonquian word meaning “mysterious being,” or simply “mystery,” that represents the unknown power of life and the universe. The notion is connected to the veneration of the sun and is related to the concept of mana, a personal supernatural force, common among native peoples of North America.

Unknown power of life. Personal supernatural force. Suddenly, I was inspired. What a perfect name for a race? What a perfect name for an event to which I was returning to conquer. As hokey as it sounds, the meaning of Manitou suddenly filled me with calm and strength.

I got up at 5am this morning. I got my gear together, filled my bottles with water, sports drink, recovery drink. I ate breakfast and checked my email. I love that I live so close to this race. I left the house at 6:05 am. I was at the transition area at 6:15am. When I arrived, half of the end spots on the racks were already taken — and, of course, they were the good ones by the bike out. “Damn, these triathlete’s get up early,” I thought. I found my own end spot and reserved a spot for my teammate who, I knew, would be arriving a bit later. I also hung a Birchwood jersey on the end of our rack. No one else seemed to be putting up markers and I felt like a bit of a dork for doing it. But, dammit, I always lose my bike in transition and I knew this would help me. (A couple of people did ask me if I was going to leave it there and then said “great” when I said yes — so it helped them, too.)

After setting up, I got my body marked. I took in all the fancy bikes and the super-fit people. I really didn’t know what to do with myself since I had an hour and a half until race time. Luckily, my teammate arrived soon and we chatted. We also did a warm-up run, which was nice. I’ve never done that before and I think I should from now on. (At least for the sprints).

The thing I dig about my teammate is she will talk to anyone and is super friendly. Soon, we were chatting with a Velo Bella who, it turns out, was looking to conquer Manitou as well. She’d had a bad swim a few years ago and was here to redeem herself. We had something in common! :) The rest of the time went by pretty quickly. The elites swam off. I jumped in the water to warm up (damn! it was really cold putting my face into the 62 degree water). The first elites were back and I was in line to start.

The gun went off and there we went. It seemed like forever before the women in front of me started swimming and I kind of waited for them so that I wouldn’t swim into them if I started earlier. My first few strokes were okay and, then, there it was again. The panic. The anxiety. I felt my heart rate soar and my mind went into action. “Calm, calm, calm,” I kept telling myself. I was coughing a bit on the water. People were splashing and hitting me. “Calm, calm, calm,” I continued. “Just find a rhythm.” I couldn’t really start bilateral breathing. I was still too panicked. But I did manage a single stroke with breath and this finally got me out of the red zone. I wasn’t swimming great. In fact, I don’t think I was even kicking at all. But I was swimming. I was calming down. I was going to do this damn swim!

For the first 8 minutes, I really went between calm and slight panic. A mouthful of water or a sighting of a fish would throw me off, but then I’d concentrate on counting strokes and swimming calm. This seemed to do the trick. I was finally to the halfway point and I knew that I would make it. I was still among the same colored caps in my wave and I knew I wasn’t the only one having a rough time of it. In fact, there was a girl going just about my speed and we kept swimming into one another. It wasn’t pleasant — but it was what it was. Soon we were going around the buoy. “Halfway done,” I told myself. “Just keep swimming…”

Right after the turn around, I got into a bit of a swimming traffic jam. There were two pink caps who were in my way in addition to a male. I did my best to swim around. I think I may have hit one of them. I did apologize. But it’s normal, right?

The way back was tough for me in that I just couldn’t seem to swim straight so I was constantly sighting and getting myself back on track. I tried not to let this rile me too much. “Calm, calm, calm,” I continued to coach myself.

The swim seemed long so I can’t say, “before I knew it, I was done.” It was the opposite. It seemed like forever until I reached the finish of the course. I forced myself to swim until my hands hit sand. Once they did, I got up and ran the best I could out of the water. I unzipped my wet suit. I ran to transition. But I felt tired. I knew my heart rate was soaring. “You can recover on the bike, just run strong to T1,” my mind bargained.

Until now, I haven’t mentioned the weather. It was cold. The water was 62 degrees and the air temperature was probably cooler. In addition, there was no sun so getting out of the water was a pretty chilly affair. I have a long sleeved wet suit, so the swim wasn’t so bad. Getting out of the water and taking it off? Now, that was bad.

I sat on the pavement by my bike to take off my wet suit. I knew this would take more time but I also knew how anxious I was and this was probably my safest bet. It felt like this transition took forever because, first, I struggled to get the wet suit off and, then, I struggled to get my long sleeved jersey on (something I debated but glad I decided upon in the end). Putting on my socks was rough, too. But I wasn’t about to go sockless on the bike considering the temp. I have a hard enough time keeping my feet warm with socks — I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t wear them.

After that, I was out on the bike. I grabbed a Gu (but never did eat it on the bike). I tried to force myself to drink my sports drink (which, again, I wasn’t good at — I probably only drank half). I felt great on the bike. Strong. Immediately, I was passing people and this just added fuel to the fire. I didn’t want to slow down for nutrition. I didn’t want to save anything for the run. I just wanted to bike as fast as I could and that I did. I passed a lot of people. I really did. And it felt good.

The rolling hills and cross wind made the course slightly difficult. I’ve ridden this course a number of times and the hills aren’t big, there are just a lot of inclines that don’t make it easy. A few times I did actually go down into my small ring — something I don’t regret because they allowed me to power up the hills at a higher cadence with less stress on the glutes.

Passing the fancy tri-bikes on my road bike always makes me smile. I don’t know why, but I just feel like, “Ha! My engine has to work harder than yours — and I’m passing you!” I hope that doesn’t come off as sounding bad, but it does give me a bit of satisfaction. Only a few people passed me on the bike and I continued at my pace. There was one point where I passed a woman on a nice Kestrel Tri bike. She looked tough and fit and, honestly, I was surprised I was passing her. Then we hit the turn around, I slowed down to corner and coming out of it, the Kestrel woman passed me. I was okay with this. But upon passing me, she immediately took the line in front of me and SLOWED DOWN. I was pretty much on her wheel so I looked to my left because I needed to pass her, only there were a couple of cyclists already there. I think I grumbled or something because I had to hit my brake to slow down and then one of the guys to my left (such a nice guy!) told me to go ahead. I took his line and immediately passed Kestrel woman. I never did see her again on the bike and, honestly, that pissed me off. She made such a point of passing and getting in front of me that I thought it was pissy of her to slow down and trap me. Oh well.

The rest of the bike was pretty uneventful. I just felt fast. A few times I thought I had a flat, but that was just the incline talking to my legs. The 13 miles did fly by and I was at the finish of the bike and running through T2.

T2 took me a long time as well. I felt so clumsy trying to remove my shoes and helmet. My running shoes didn’t just slide on. I didn’t want to forget my race belt. I needed a Gu for the run. I removed my long sleeved jersey. I grabbed my hat and put it on as I ran out of the area. I felt slow, but what else could I do? It was what it was. Just the run left.

Starting the run, I was immediately questioning my ability. After 4 months of marathon training, could I really run fast for a 5k? I knew last year’s time was a 9:30/mile and I just wanted to hit that. I wasn’t wear a heart rate monitor so I concentrated on my breathing. I also forced myself to keep the pace as fast as was possible. It was only three miles. I could run fast for three miles.

I took a Gu at the start of the run and walked through the water stop to wash it down. I then picked up my pace and just concentrated on the 3 miles ahead of me. “Just run as fast as you can,” I said.

Women started passing me. I know I’m not a fast runner and it’s inevitable, but I still hate being passed. Kestrel woman soon passed me. She was booking it. I knew there was no way to match her pace. So, I ran what I could. Passing the first mile marker, my watch looked like I ran a 9:30/mile (but I wasn’t sure). The pace wasn’t great, but still better than a 10 min/mile. I knew I hadn’t rested on the bike, so my run might suffer. I tried to pick up the pace, though.

The halfway point came quickly after that and I was at about 14 minutes. “Awesome,” I thought. Just 14 minutes more… I ran and ran and ran. I began to pass people. On the way back, I got to see all the people behind me. I knew was in the middle of the pack which felt good. Last year, I was at the back and it sucked. At one mile left, I picked up my pace again. My heart rate was soaring. I felt tired. I wasn’t sure how much was left inside but I wouldn’t let myself slow down. The last .2 seemed like forever but eventually the Finish was in sight and I sprinted with everything I had. I crossed the line seeing 1:50-something on the clock and, considering our wave took off at 8:24 or 8:26, I knew I had beat last year’s time… by a long shot.

I found my teammate after the race. We hung out, tried to keep warm. I eventually made it to where results were posted and I was shocked to see I had finished around 1:31:something. That was great — almost a full 16 minutes better than last year. But what killed me was my swim which was 19 minutes and something — almost ten minutes better than last year! Even better than that, my run paced at a 8:13 or 8:16 mile! I had no idea I was running that fast! The icing on the cake was my bike average of 19.3 mph. Last year, I averaged 17.6.

These numbers are based on my memory. I could have them wrong. But I think they’re pretty accurate and, when I looked, I was 14th in my division. At the time that was posted, that was out of 29 women — not bad considering I was at the bottom of my division last year.

So, there you go. I’d say you could call that redemption. Manitou is no longer my sucky race. In fact, it now a source of inner strength and I dig that.

Favorite moments of the race today?
- People saying, “Hey, I love the Birchwood Cafe!” as I ran by out of the swim
- My teammate asking a bulky male to “lift her up into her wet suit”
- Not being the last purple cap out of the water
- Passing fancy tri bikes
- Spectators telling me I looked strong and giving them the thumbs up

And now? It’s time for a nap. I’m a little tired.

[later update]

from the Manitou Sprint Tri 2006:

Ranked 322 out of 535 total competitors
Ranked 63 out of 175 total women
Ranked 14 out of 38 women in the 30-34 age category

Swim: 19:07 (2:11/100 yds)
T1: 2:46
Bike: 41:57 (19.3mph)
T2: 1:50
Run: 25:45 (8:19/mile)
Total time: 1:31:23

WAY better than last year…The Killing Fields download