Now What?

My 2008 racing season has come to an end, and I can't think of a better way then to finish 4th in my age group!! It was only a sprint distance, but I actually "raced" this one..went all out, and left everything I had out on the course. It pays off with that #4 spot.

This race was a bit of an afterthought, and I had somehow forgot that I had promised a friend that I would do it with her. AHHHH, my life. Now I was completely torn...my husband was invited to run the meditation at the Buddhist temple that he belongs to, and I signed up for a race. Promised 2 people. Brent always comes first with me, but Brent always comes up with the short straw too. How is that possible you ask? He has no ego, and not a selfish bone in his body...and says,"I'll be running the service again, you'll be able to come another time." Reason #1001 why I married the guy.

So off to the race I went. Jim and Shannon picked me up early so Shannon and I could do the obligatory pacing and getting nervous before the start. This was her first race of the year and she was pretty relaxed considering. The finish line was her goal. She told me as long as I didn't lap her, then she was fine. She was in the younger age group (argh!!) and started 5 min. before me.

I have to mention that all the woman in my wave are 40 and over...it's foggy...the buoys are pretty far out...and we all have goggles on. Like any of us can see without the fog and goggles to begin with! We all had a good laugh about that.
I decided to start in the front this time. I'm feeling good, and the blood sugars are great, so I'm going to hammer away at this race. Last year I started to gain on the woman ahead of me, and I have had a hard time getting past some of the slower swimmers. Decision made...I'm goin to the front, and no looking back!! Every time I looked up to sight a buoy, I noticed that there were orange swim caps in front of me. Then I started to notice white caps in front of me. I was in blue, and I saw blue on either side of me, but not in front. Now this makes me want to go faster!! ( How many times do I have to say it...I'm not competitive at all!!) By the way...ranked #2 on the swim....which means I was the 2nd woman out of the water in my age group.

Out of the swim to my bike and that damned wetsuit. That love hate relationship is coming to it's ugly head. Anyone ever see Plane, Trains, and Automobiles??? Remember when John Candy gets his sleeves caught in the car seat...need I say more? Except that his arms are my legs, especially ankles. Crap, and I still have to check my blood. 3:38 min. later I'm finally headed out on the bike. I'm now, more then ever, convinced that I need to work on getting those transition times down. I never use to care, and used the diabetes as an excuse for it....but now when I see those are precious minutes. But the sweet legs on the bike are present and accounted for, so I passed the women that could actually get out of their wetsuits in a timely fashion. Rank #4 on the bike! And I even saw Shannon out there!

The runner in me has somehow disappeared since I started racing triathlons. I know that's only due to swimming and cycling before, but I just can't seem to get it together time wise. Average pace per mile was 9:44....but I know I can do 9's. I saw Shannon again on the run, and caught up to her 1 minute back. So, to her success, I didn't lap her!:)

Beautiful day, great friend to race with, and a #4!
Brent had a beautiful day also, and I'm looking forward to being there for him next time!

Fall is around the corner...so now what? Two words...mountain bike. To be continued.....