Sometimes I get way ahead of myself and sign up for events I intend to train for. Early this year I was all (cracked out) excited about exercise and I signed up for the Marquee Triathlon. The course was a typical sprint (750 meter swim/12.4 mile bike/5K run). As always, the swim is my nemesis. I had grand ideas of actually going for a few open water swims before and of being able to swim 750 meters straight. Then reality set in. And laziness, but that's not really the point. I was just focused on running (and eating) so I decided to flake out. But I never really got around to canceling my registration despite Red Rock's nifty new cancellation policy. And I was increasingly sick to my stomach about losing the registration fee. All of the email reminders didn't help either. And then Saturday morning I had a sign from above (or something like that). I received an email saying the swim was canceled due to the recent rainfall. At that point what excuse did I have? So I hyperventilated a little (lot) and called my friend Sara to ask her advice. She, of course, encouraged me to do it. I also assaulted my husband with my anxiousness and he told me to do it too. Two against one (me).
Luckily the sprint started at 9:00 so I didn't have to wake up at ungodly hour o'clock. I begged my friend Sara to come with me (for emotional support). I had to check my bike Saturday night so at least that was done, though I covered my Ruby with a tarp that would have easily covered the whole bike rack. Lucky I was on a mostly deserted rack. After we arrived and unpacked and were able to find the start I was a little calmer. Not much, but a little. I stood in front of the big START and thought about just walking off. Why was I here again? Can I really run 1.5, ride 12.4 and run 3.1? I kind of devised a race strategy in which I would run like "a bat out of hell" until I finished or collapsed. As we started I was in the back but thanks to the older ladies behind me I didn't have to be last. I finished the first 1.5 in 16:06 (including run in), which is the fastest I've ever done. So go me.
The bike was the big unknown because I have not really been on my bike in...a good long while. I've been riding a little with my daughter but that tops out around 9 mph. So maybe my goal of maintaining 16 mph was a stretch. I really like the bike though and the course was beautiful. During the middle section I decided to ride as fast as my body could and just enjoy the scenery and spectacular day. I ended up finishing in 50:24, which was about 14:76 mph average. And this included my pit stop to fix my stupid race belt. I think it is cursed and I have yet to successfully wear it through an entire race.
Exiting transition for the 5K was extremely difficult. I spent like 3 minutes in transition because I was dragging my feet to delay starting the run. I didn't want to go but my self forced me to. As I exited the safety of transition, and any hope I had of curling up on my towel and taking a nap, I decided to just run as fast or slow as my body allowed but to not walk. I took a Gu at the first water stop and the resultant sugar rush shut my brain up for awhile, as did my constant repetition of, "Baby you're a firework..." I honestly could not think of another song. But thank you Katy Perry. I just kept moving on and I was pleasantly surprised, and quite shocked, to see my pace was an average of about 11:38. For me this is epic. I ended up finishing in 36:05, which is my second fastest 5K.
After I finished I felt like Superwoman. Or She Ra. Or someone really, really awesome. I'm so glad I was talked into it. Then I looked at the race results, where I finished a solid last in my age group. Damn those fast biotches. In ALL of the other age groups I would have had from 3-5 people behind me (and that includes 20-25 year olds). I might as well have been standing still on my runs because those ladies were robots. I mean I really believe they were robots. Who runs a 24 minute 5K in real life, not to mention after a 1.5 mile run and 12.4 mile bike. I will bide my time until I reach the 70-80 year old age group and hopefully they'll all flame out!
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