This weekend was a fun one - we headed down to Waterloo, IA and I raced in the inaugural Peregrine Charities Triathlon Since this race was in Iowa, there were a lot of athletes that I had never raced with before. Some of the other women were from Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska, but I was the only one from Minnesota! The race was held at George Wyth State Park and due to the flooding that occurred this summer in Iowa, the swim had to enter and exit from a boat ramp. I had a good swim, but I know I can get faster. I will definitely be working hard to improve my swim time in the off-season. I will also be working on my transitions due to the difficulty I had in T1 this weekend and others in the past. I would like to say I was flustered by the photographer from a local newspaper taking pictures of me while I struggled to get my wetsuit off, but that is just not the case and I need to practice, practice, practice this important piece. The bike was great- mostly due to being able to use race wheels for the first time - it was fun catching people and hearing the whoosh sound off my new Zipp Sub 9 disc wheel. Unfortunately, there was a part of the bike that wasn't so much fun - hitting a race volunteer!! I think the guy was preparing to stop traffic for bikers and didn't see me coming. I was making a left hand turn going pretty fast when he ran right out in front me. I yelled - "look out" but we hit shoulders with each other and I quickly tried to recover by going up onto the sidewalk and then getting back on the road. I was a little shaken up after that, but knew I had about 8 more miles to go and had to shrug it off and get moving. T2 went much better and I was off on the run. Derek told me there were three girls ahead of me and I could see them about 90 seconds ahead of me. When I'm able to see people ahead of me in a race, I get fired up and I'm able to push myself to run faster. I caught one of the girls pretty early at mile 2 and then at the turn around point I saw the other two girls. I knew there were some good runners behind me so I just kept my legs turning. I could still see the other two girls in front of me and knew they were not ahead by much. I caught the second place female just as we were getting back onto the road, at about mile 5. Most of the run was on the trail and then the last mile was on a road back to the finish line. I didn't have enough speed to catch the first place female and finished in 2nd place by about 45 seconds. It just goes to show that transitions can make or break a race. If I would have had a better transition in T1 - I like to think the race could have gone differently. Afterwards, I was talking to another racer and she asked why I was riding on the sidewalk? We laughed about the situation with the volunteer but thank goodness I didn't crash, as I've had my share of bike accidents (fractured elbow and broken collarbone)! In all, it was a great weekend and I am super excited that my husband and I are leaving soon for San Francisco for a good friend's wedding.
Some other great weekend highlights:
Seeing my mom, dad, step dad and my dad's significant other. They all came to Iowa to watch the race but I think there were hidden agenda's there too (to see Owen - of course)!
Owen being able to swim in the hotel with his favorite person right now - Daddy!
Derek and I being able to re-live our college days by walking around the campus and going to lunch at our favorite hangout - the O.P.
I had a great first year of racing, but I know I can get faster. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am a newcomer, but my competitive nature comes out and I'll continue to drive to get better.
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