Mudwater

On Sunday I got to race in the Mudwater Triathlon, aptly named because the lake water is so brown you can't see your own hands in the water - which is pretty much how all the water is here in Kansas...  I have done one other triathlon in Seattle about 8 years ago and after wards, I swore I'd never do another without someone actually teaching me how to swim and without a road bike (I rode my mountain bike).  So, fast forward to this summer...I joined a triathlon training group through Mommy Movement Fitness with the hopes of maybe getting interested in a different competitive sport that might not ruin my knees, like running has done.  AND Royal had bought me a road bike a couple years ago because he loves me so much, and because he owed me a new bike after making a sad choice one weekend, so now all I needed to do was learn how to swim far more efficiently.

For the past 7 weeks, I've been getting up pretty much around 5-5:30am,  5-6 days a week, to squeeze in bike rides, and swims, and runs before the kids and Royal get up, and before the heat has set in for the day.  When I started this, I wasn't planning on doing the triathlon this past weekend, I was planning on just doing one in August, especially since I knew my swimming was so weak, but Emily (our tri coach/trainer) convinced me to just do it, and do the best I could in the swim.  So, I signed up for the Mudwater Tri 3 weeks ago, and had nightmares from then on about it.  I have never really been very nervous or worried about any of the races I've entered, so I have no idea why this one was freaking me out so much.  My guess is because I felt totally prepared for all the others.  Even the tri I did 8 years ago, I knew my swimming sucked, but I had at least trained and trained at my sucky swimming so I knew my arms were strong enough to pull me through the water the entire distance.  I guess I just felt like 4 weeks of actual swimming and building endurance (we had just done drills prior to that) just wasn't going to cut it.  The funny thing is, my nightmares were never about swimming.  In my dreams, the swim would be going awesome, I would be totally rockin' it, then I'd get out of the water and get to the transition area and realize I forgot to take my bike out of the car, or my shoes would be missing, that kind of stuff.  I pretty much just laughed the dreams off and kept training.

Then on the Monday before the race, I came down with a nasty head cold, and I was pretty much laid up all week, so then I started feeling like I really wasn't going to be ready.  I'd only swam the race distance once, and I knew how hard it was for me, and I was suppose to swim it one more time before race day.  Totally didn't happen.  Nothing happened.  I didn't work out all week, instead I downed Emergen-Cs, Arbonne's Get Well Soons, and Advil.  Thursday evening, I went for a quick bike ride just to move my muscles and test out my theory that my head might actually explode if my heart rate went up.  Luckily, that didn't happen. :)  Friday morning, I got up and ran 3 miles and swam with Emily and Kerri (the other tri trainee) and it went alright, but I had no energy and I had a big amount of green stuff coming out of my nose and lungs (tmi???).  Saturday I rested and started to work myself into a panic - Royal can attest to this - he probably wanted to start counting how many times I asked him if he thought I might actually come in last place on Sunday.  I mean, seriously, the tri I did 8 years ago had literally 3000 women in it, the chances of me getting last place was very slim, out of the 3000 there had to be somebody on a slow cruiser bike and/or walking during the run, there had to be at least a handful of people I knew I could chase down and beat.  But the Mudwater had a total of 118 participants, 41 of which were women.  I could very feasibly come in last place.  Out of 41?  Oh yeah, for sure.  Then I'd calm myself down and be all, 'Who cares?  Who cares if I come in last?  I can smile and just be happy I finished!'  Then I'd feel better for awhile and then I'd start feeling like coming in last was going to be so embarrassing and I'd start talking to Royal about not wanting to be last.  It was a vicious cycle!  A cycle that lasted on through the evening and then I couldn't go to sleep Saturday night because I couldn't stop thinking about actually getting last place.  I know you are all thinking, 'sheesh!  what's the big deal?'  I know!  I have issues!  Obviously!!!!

So, I get up Sunday morning at 4, after getting like maybe 4 hours of sleep, get ready, grab my stuff and head off to the race.  I get there and rack up my bike (no way I was letting that part of my dream come true!) and I look around at the people around me.  They have these speed suits on and super fancy bikes with fancy wheels and aero bars and those fancy cone shaped aero helmets and they mount their bikes with their shoes already clipped into their pedals and I start thinking I REALLY might come in last.  Emily shows up and we go for a quick warm up jog and I feel a little better about coming in last and that I really don't care and that I was just going to do the best I could.  Then it was time to line up to race.  As I'm waiting for my heat in the swim to start, a woman comes up and starts talking to me.  I immediately think, I think I could beat her!  She's a bit over weight and this is her first tri and she's talking to me about being worried about coming in last.  Fantastic!  I'll come in 2nd to last and I'll be alright with that.  Then the swim starts and we're in the same wave.  We start swimming and I watch as she flies right past me and I once again know I will probably be last unless I can catch her in the bike and run.  I get run over multiple times by other people, but I just keep swimming.  I can't seem to swim in a straight line and I just start thinking this was the worst mistake ever!  What in the world was I thinking???  As I round the final buoy and am headed for shore, I look behind me and I swear there are only a handful of people, I am like one of the last out of the water.  I talked to Kerri after the race, because she was just watching, and she swore to me there were lots of people after me, but after I looked at my times and stats later, and I'm pretty sure she was lying because I came out of the water in 37th place.  That's right, 37 out of 41.  Why am I such a sucky swimmer???  I don't know, I just am...but at least I wasn't last!!!

So, I get to the transition area, throw on my bike shoes, helmet and sunglasses, and grab my bike.  I start pedaling as fast as I can, my plan for the bike was to just keep catching the person in front of me and passing them, I tend to do a little better when I have a rabbit to catch.  Shocking, I know...  And I pretend I am Lance Armstrong and that hills are my bitch, because for as flat as Kansas is, I swear the entire bike portion was uphill!  We even rode a down and back, so when we turned around I was kinda pumped because I was excited to go downhill because I was going to go so fast! But the back portioned seemed like it was uphill too and half the time I felt like I was pedaling and hardly going anywhere!  Stupid.  However, when they marked our bodies in the morning, they put our race number on our shoulders and our ages on our calves, so I started chasing down every bike I could and when I passed someone I tried to take a mental note of their age to make myself feel better.  47 yr old man?  I'm totally passing you.  36 year old lady?  Later!  13 year old boy?  Peace out brother!

I get done with the bike, catch a quick glance of Royal and the kiddos and run back into the transition area and put on my running shoes.  I had made it through the swim without drowning (YES!) and I made it through the bike without crashing (Woo Hoo).  Now it was time to cruise on my favorite of the 3 sports, running!  Too bad my legs felt like lead, and it was like 90 degrees and super humid, and I couldn't seem to regulate my legs and breathing for like over a mile.  That was a bummer, but the best part was, people were walking!  Walking!!! Yes!!!!  So, I just kept chasing down the person in front of me and passing them.  (don't worry I was getting passed by plenty of other people, on the bike too, but I'd rather not focus on that)  Thankfully they had lots of water and ice water soaked towels on the run, but my legs and body were pretty much toast and kept telling me to just flop over on the grass on the side of the path, but I kept going and finished as fast as I could.  I grabbed a water and found Royal and the kids.  I had no idea what my time was because my watch died like 2 weeks ago and they didn't have any timing clocks up at the finish line, but I was glad that I finished and glad to I know I didn't come in last, there were still lots of other people out on the course (granted some of them were in the olympic distance tri and were going twice as far as me, but whatever!)

I wanted to stay for the awards ceremony and see if Emily had won the whole thing - because that's just how good she is - but Royal had already left with Willow and I had Jayden and he just didn't want to be there anymore, so we left.  As we are leaving, I get a phone call from Emily, she says I won a door prize and that she picked it up for me.  Awesome!  I never win anything!  Then I get home and Emily calls again, I ask if she won and turns out she did!  But then she says, she saw my finishing time and not only was she impressed with my time, she says I came in 2nd for my age group and that I won a medal and she picked it up for me!  Are you kidding me????  I get a medal????  After I thought I was going to come in last??  I couldn't believe it!  I never win anything!  Sweeeeeeeeet!  So, guess I was freakin' out over nothing!  (Although the thought did cross my mind that maybe there were only 2 people in my age group...)  Then I ate some food and took a nap, I was exhausted!

And I'm really sorry, but there are not really any pictures of me.  Royal made it to the race with the kids and a camera in tow, but I guess Jayden had the camera and was taking pictures of lots of racers and he just didn't seem to get me as I came by.  So, Royal got a picture of me in the transition area - you can see my white helmet as I'm racking my bike back up - I'm like the only racer in there, it's kinda hard to miss me...

And then I guess the kids were tired of waiting for me and there was a playground near by, so they were over there when Royal heard them announce my name as I came through the finish, but there just wasn't enough time to get a picture.  Oh well, I'm just glad they came!  I mean, really, I'm always the one taking pictures, so there's hardly ever any pictures of me doing stuff anyway, so it's no big deal, we can't have pictures of me all over this blog, it would throw things off!!!  Jayden did take a picture of me once we got home though, finger over the lens and everything!  :)

And really just for my own benefit of remember my times when I'm old and crumpled and probably in a wheelchair because they just can't replace my knees anymore, there is proof that at one time I did something beyond what I thought I might be capable of doing and I didn't come in last! WaaHooooo!!!
Total Time: 1:44:50
750M Swim :  18:31 (37 out of 41)
   trans 1 :  0:57 (5 out of 41)
16mi Bike :  54:44 (17 out of 41)
   trans 2:  1:30 (28 out of 41)
5K Run :   29:07 (11 out of 41)
So, in the end I ended up 16th over all, out of 41 participants, and 2nd out of 13 in my age group.  Not. So. Shabby.  (at least in my opinion)