The Great Snake River Tri! What a race...it was beautiful! I decided to do the race on Thursday, the event being on Saturday. It was actually kind of nice to not have to worry about it so much beforehand! I wasn't nearly as nervous for this one as I was for my Rigby Tri even with it being in the river.
It was quite a different feel for this event for me. I was doing it 'by myself', only my son Nene came. I am grateful I know so many people in the actual tri community so I had a few people there to cheer me on. It is amazing what a little cheer can do for you!
That morning, I went and set up my T1 spot first. It was in a different location than T2, which was different than at Rigby. I put everything at T1 because I don't have to change my shoes. So T2 was empty for me. After T1 was set up, went over to T2 to await the athlete's meeting and socialize with everyone. Got my fuel in me, went to the bathroom and then walked over to the swim entrance. Oh how the jitters start when you are standing there. At least I didn't start crying this time! Progress! I was hoping to get my swim time down quite a bit because of the current in the river, but that didn't happen much. The current was swift when you first started but after that it was only slightly there. I was kind of hoping it would have been more :). Beautiful swim though, the river wasn't very clear, but the trees were beautiful, the sky was pretty and there were lots of people around me the whole time, not close enough to hit me, but enough I could see them when I was swimming!
I didn't hate every minute of the swim this time, which to me is progress! It was still super hard and I was super excited to get to the end...except the moss that tried to eat me when getting out :). It was scratchy and frustrating to be in moss right at the end, but it made me even happier to be out of the water. I was exhausted so I kind of took my time walking up to the strippers and getting into T1.
Once I got on Daisy, the world was happy again! I loved the ride. The way out there were quite a few hills, but if you go up them, you get to come down them, which is great. The back side of the course was really bumpy, but it was less than a mile so it wasn't awful. Just felt like I might get bumped off my bike was all! I pushed it pretty hard on the bike hoping for a good time. I did okay on time. I averaged 16.2 according to my chip so I'll take it. Hopefully next year will be faster.
T2 was a quick, rack my bike, take a drink and off for the run. The run was pretty simple for the first mile or so, just street stuff. Once we went onto the paved path behind the houses and around a man made lake it was beautiful. I felt strong on the run, but could tell my body was running out of fuel. It was aching and just tired in areas it has never been tired. But I never walked and finished strong.
Nene was there to capture some fun photos of me! It was nice to have a few at least to remember the awesome accomplishment. I love how mentally strong I have become in overcoming pain and keeping my body going.
I ended up 2nd in my age group, 1:40:52 was my chip time. Pretty good for only my 2nd triathlon! Can't wait to do it again next year and improve my time!
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