Monday, June 27, 2011

Like the Muddy Buddy Without the Buddy

Morton plant triathlon

What do they call a triathlon where the bike part is canceled? I think it's an Aquathlon, (what did we do without Google? Honestly.)
Morton plant tri rain
So I did the Morton Plant Mease Triathlon on Sunday but because of the torrential downpouring and the lightning, they canceled the bike portion, which is a good call I say because there are 3 bridges in this race and speeding 30 miles+ down a bridge, trying to brake and make a sharp turn at the bottom on the wet roads gives me (and all of us really) visions of pileups, skidding and crashing and death.

And I don't want anyone having to say, "She died doing what she loved," about me any time soon. (I'm picturing things going downhill for me at least in my late 90's or so while getting a massage after my facial and pedicure, or perhaps while eating a donut and virtual hologram blogging or whatever we'll be doing by then. Yes, I also picture myself as a hip old lady completely up on the latest technology.)

Anyway.

So while I was a little bummed about that, (biking is my forte and usually where I catch up with the people who passed me in the swim), I was happy there was no dying on the bike for me on Sunday.

I didn't think it was actually going to rain when I got up in the morning though. I walked out of the house and it was muggy with a chance of rain. The kind of muggy that feels like the inside of an oven and that drenches you at the same time, the really gross kind of muggy. That was at 5 in the morning.

After I got to the race and set up my transition area, the deluge began. I left my stuff but took my bag and went and sat in the car for about 20 minutes until it let up and I tweeted.
So the sun started to come up and the rain started to fade and I found my friends and walked down to the beach. It looked like this thing was going to happen after all.

And while we were all walking out to the beach, the lightning was still out and about very vividly and we were like hundreds of little lightning rods on the beach.

Which I didn't like very much. Not at all.

I come from a long line of lightning-phobics. The problem has thankfully gotten a little better for me since kids because now I find myself calming them down about storms which calms me down with storms and I find that I no longer hide in the closet during the storms so as to not panic the children (like my mom did. Thanks a lot.)

The lightning started to go the other direction so they set us up to get ready to swim and we got about 5 minutes to warm up before the race and the water was 89 degrees. It was like a warm bath. I sound like I'm complaining a lot but besides the lightning, I wasn't nervous at all and was actually having a pretty good time!

And before I knew it, we were off and racing! I felt strong in the swim, I am still pretty slow (dammit!) but I don't stop at all anymore like I used to and I am actually learning to love it! I rounded the buoy, came out of the water, dashed toward transition trying to beat an age grouper, (this part seemed to take forever!) then we got our sneakers on and headed out on the run.

I had a hard time getting my breathing under control right off the bat for like the first mile, but then the lightning was upon us again and that sure lit a fire under my behind. Aside from cowering sometimes when the lightning would strike, I LOVED RUNNING IN THE RAIN! Splashing in the puddles in the off-road parts, it felt like a Muddy Buddy without the buddy part. Or maybe perhaps with a couple dozen buddies running with you. And then there was some sideways rain (more lightning and some cowering) and I thought I kicked that run's ass!

I didn't really, I did the 5k part in 30 minutes, but it felt faster, does that count?

I think the best part of this race and the last, the Dunedin Triathlon, is that no matter how the race itself is organized or moving along (despite or in spite of the weather), I AM HAVING THE BEST TIME EVER! If it weren't for these races, I'd forget why I was training in the first place, and honestly it's hard to continue that motivation month after month with nothing to look forward to in between.

It's all a big chain reaction actually; I am trying to lose a couple pounds/slash/maintain a healthy weight, which means racing because if I'm racing that means I'm training, which means in essence, exercising, which is necessary for me to lose/slash/maintain weight. It just helps that racing is fun. I don't want to forget that feeling when I train. I don't want to forget all this when I race, either, because I tend to get all "I wish I was an elite athlete"-ey on myself and really, I'm not. I'm just trying to have some fun and not be large and unhappy like I used to be.

So that's my story about Sunday's race (in short, of course. Because all my stories are short. *sarcasm*)

So. How was your weekend?
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Hey, before you go, I posted about a poll yesterday, tell me which slogan you like best for these t-shirts at Girlz N Gear (my favorite t-shirt place), mkay?? (You could win something for voting, too!) Thanks!!

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I tri because one day I didn't believe in myself. And then one day I did.



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