Tri Number Two

Well, we did one more sprint triathlon today. My sister, Hilary, a neighbor, Mali, Mali's husband, and Mali's brother, and I registered a few weeks ago to compete in a co-ed event. Frankly, it scared the three girls to compete with boys after doing an all women's event, but it actually turned out just fine.

We were much more relaxed, for the most part, this time. Although the pre-race jitters hit us pretty hard this morning. While on one hand we knew what to expect, we also knew what to be scared about. Once we got started though, it was so fun. I'm really looking forward to doing another one!

Here's how it went down today...

Mali, me and Hilary shortly before our start.
Once again, we got to start together in the same wave because of our age.
Fortunately, all the male waves start first so all the hard core guys were long gone by the time we were out of the water.
I think the lady standing back to back with Hilary was just checking to see who was taller.

Our wave in the water.

We had to swim the shape of a long narrow rectangle. You can see the big orange buoys that we had to swim around.

Me racing out of the water.

While I didn't do the whole race with my eyes closed, apparently, I ran up the hill that way.

I felt so much more comfortable this time after my body getting used to some initial temperature shock. The morning air temp was quite cool at the start of the race...about 58 degrees cool. While the water was probably low 70's, it was still darn chilly. I was gasping from the chill for about the first 75 yards before getting into my groove. But after the last tri, I ramped up my swimming time and was happy to have a better performance this time and feel ready to zip up the hill out of the water.

My 1/3 mile swim = 12:39 (MUCH better swim than last time - phew!), just 8 seconds behind Hilary!

Transition 1 = 2:08

We didn't get good pictures from the bike ride. We kind of snuck up on J (it's hard to tell who's who). The first five miles of the bike was a long, windy, mostly uphill climb. The second five miles was mostly downhill, windy, with a few small climbs. It felt great. I squeaked out a 24 second lead on Hilary on the bike. We literally dismounted at the same time.

My 10 mile bike = 35:00 minutes

Transition 2 = 0:55

Hilary starting the run.

If you look closely, you'll see me right at the bend in all black and an orange cap. That's how close we were on the start. How close we were, I say.

Hilary finishing the run with her B/F/F.

Once again, smiling the entire time.
She ran an 8:35 pace. Darn you, Hil, but way to go!

Me finishing the run.

And, no I'm not walking.

See?

The run felt pretty good - certainly better than last time.

My 4 mile run = 36:31 (9:08 pace)

Final time = 1:27:10

Overall Finish = 233/504

Female Finish = 49/224

Division (Women age 35-39) Finish = 9/42

280 Males

224 Females

You may recall that my sister and I have a friendly rivalry and she beat me by over two minutes last time. Well, I gave her another minute this time and she beat me again by over three minutes with a final time of 1:24:49. Congrats, Hil. You rocked.

Our group.

L to R: Josh (Mali's brother), Chad (Mali's husband), Mali, Hilary, Me

Granted, this was the competition.
Ok, I was actually relieved to see a few people without rock hard bodies.

My twin, Kid Rock, getting pumped beforehand.

No offense, dude, but I'm so glad I beat you.

P.S. That's the women's bathroom you just came out of.