Inside Out Triathlon

I just wasn't sure this triathlon was gonna happen.  Well, I was totally sure, until like Friday, when I woke up about 3 in the morning with a sore throat and runny nose.  It seems Willow decided it was going to be a great idea to share her cold with me.  Now, getting sick before a race really isn't that uncommon for me, please see mudwater or prairie fire, but getting a cold this close to a race hasn't happened before.  Usually my body gives me at least a week to recover, refuel, mentally prepare myself for coming out of the gates a wee bit rusty.  Nope, Saturday I woke up, knew I was on the verge of death, declared I was NOT getting out of bed, took some cold medicine, and went back to bed to feel sorry for myself.  My triathlon was the next day and there was no way I was going to be able to pull this off, my face was completely plugged up and there was barely any air moving in or out.  So, I posted a "sorry for myself" message on Facebook, in hopes everybody else would feel sorry for me too and leave me notes of how sorry they were so I could wallow in my own misery and everybody else's pity.  (I know pathetic, but sometimes I am.  however, i'm also not pathetic enough to not be able to admit it!!! :D)  Then my lovely sister Kaylee posted something about that she was "praying for a miracle" and I decided that maybe that's just what I needed to do.  So, I said my sad, pathetic, slightly begging prayer to the only One who could actually help me feel better, then decided I was going to do this triathlon anyway, feeling better or not, however I was really hoping my prayer would be answered and it would be the feeling better scenario.  I had done all my training, and paid my money, and gosh darn it, I was going to earn my t-shirt!  So, I got out of bed, took some more drugs, went to Target and bought popsicles and stuff to make chicken soup.  Then I hung out at home with kids, drank more water than I thought possible, laid down and rested multiple times throughout the day, and packed my tri bag with all my equipment plus an arsenal of cold medication to drug myself up with during each transition if need be.  I guess I'm lucky I don't compete at a caliber where they care about drug testing.  :D

I set my alarm for 4:15am, and when it went off this morning the first thing I noticed was my nose was completely clear.  Praise God for miracles!  I got up, got ready, took a handful of ibuprofen to help keep my knees in line, grabbed my gear, and a banana to eat in the car.  I was so happy about being able to breath that I didn't even care that it was raining and there was thunder and lightning flashing all around me.  I got to the transition area, set up my bike and arranged my shoes, checked in, got body marked, and decided to take some cold medicine to help combat the aches and sore throat I still had, and wondered if it was ever going to stop raining.

I got in line with my tri-training buddy Rebecca to start the swim.  Since the swim was in a pool, they started a swimmer every 15 seconds, and since swimming is my least favorite of the 3 sports, I put a nice slow time so I didn't have to feel bad about the people behind me getting angry at me because they want to pass.  See, even in competition, I like to think about making other people happy.  :)  The swim went pretty well, it was the first swim during a race I didn't think half way through that I would rather drown than keep swimming.  Improvement!  Granted, this was the shortest distance I've ever swam during a race, but I'll take what I can get.
Here are a couple pictures Rebecca's husband, Kale, took during our swim. (we're in the center lane)

I ran out of the pool and into the transition area to get my bike.  Noticed it wasn't raining!  Yay!  I've never ridden my bike in the rain, or even on wet roads, because 1)it doesn't rain that much here in Kansas and when it does, the roads are usually dry a couple hours later and 2)wet roads are slippery and I have enough problems not crashing on my bike!  The bike went pretty good, well good except when I wasn't being paranoid about getting a flat tire.  Since that race I've gotten flat tires 3 different times.  I'm really good at changing a bike tire now and was worried I was going to have to put my skills to the test, because even thought they had the roads swept the night before, there were still some small rocks on the side of the road.  So, every time I felt like I was slowing down for no reason, or we changed street surface, or I felt a little squirrely in the back, I'd be checking my tires just sure one of them was flat, then I'd check my mph and have to say to myself, "there's no WAY you could go 19mph with a flat tire, good grief!" to talk myself out of pulling over to really look my tire over. (Oh, and just so you know, I didn't ride 19mph the whole time, I think I averaged like 17)  Then I rode past a guy who was walking his bike because he had a flat tire and I felt so sorry for him because I have been there, but I also felt a little thankful that he had obviously ran over the rock that was meant for me!  Other than that, biking felt good, my legs felt a little tired and I was trying to drink more water than I normally did to help combat the dehydration from the meds and my cold, but overall when the bike portion was over,  I think I probably could of rode faster, but I was happy with it.  I mean come on, 24 hours previous I was laying around sure I was dying and now I was almost done with another sprint tri!  Oh! And on a side note, it started sprinkling while we were out riding and holy smokes it hurts to get hit by raindrops going that fast!  Ouch!!!

Heading out on the run!

 The run was suppose to be a little under 3 miles.  However, they had to change the course at the last minute due to construction, and it ended up being a little over 3.5 miles.  But not knowing that until after I was done running it, I guess it really didn't matter.  However, I was thinking that the run felt longer than what I had been visualizing, but then again, I was on death's door the day before so I'm pretty sure my body felt like everything was long.  Now, last summer I wore this same outfit during my tri's.  Tri/cycling clothes are freaking expensive, not to mention practically skin tight, leaving body image issues front and center, so when I was buying something last year I wanted it to be something that I could wear for more than just the race, I needed multipurpose clothes and I just wasn't ready to start sporting a tri-suit around town, and I was a total rookie, so I had no problem looking like one.  I settled on a swim suit that had a top that was supportive enough for me to run in, and then I also bought a cycling skirt, because running and biking in a skirt is fun and girly, and like I said, I just wasn't ready to prance around town with padded shorts on (I had padded shorts on, they were just hiding beneath my cute skirt!).  And while swimming in a skirt, I suppose, creates more drag, my swim time is just not going to improve that much with stream lined clothes.  The problem today came with the fact it was cooler and rainy.  You see, last year, it was freaking hot out, so after the bike portion, my clothes were completely dry.  But this year, it was cold, and cloudy, and wet out and when I finished the bike I was just as wet as I was when I got out of the pool.  So running felt like I had this wet heavy skirt on, which, I did!  There are obvious changes to be made (good thing my birthday is right around the corner!), but we shall see...  The run itself felt good, it only took about a mile for my legs and lungs to start working properly, but then of course I managed to pick up a couple tiny rocks in the back of my shoes (obviously rocks that were trying to find my bike tires!) and since I am not wearing any socks, those little baby sharp rocks worked a number over on the back of my ankles.  But thanks to my many half marathons I can run through just about any pain in my feet, plus I knew I just had a little bit to go.  I never train without my socks, so now besides chewed up ankles, I have a few blisters that look like balloons, but oh well.  All in the name of a few seconds shaved off transition time, or in reality it's one less thing to try and fight on over wet skin.  I ran a litle slower than I was wanting, but I'll take it and call it a good run.  Running is where I get to pass people, and I like that.  :D  It was even more fun to turn the corner into the last push to the finish line and see my support crew!

Heading into the finish line!

And you're not going to believe this, but once I crossed the finish line and stopped, my nose immediately started running and my sinuses started plugging up.  God is so good!  He gave me enough time to do what I wanted to do, and took care of a very little and slightly silly thing that was important to me, like being able to breath during a race.  And to top it off, I came in 1st in my age group and got a medal!  Awesome!

It was a good and fun race and my tri-training buddy, Rebecca came in 3rd in her age group.  (this photo by Kale too)