SG Triathlon- Sprint

Had an amazing weekend with Gaila, Mary Jane and Steve. I drove down Thursday night with Steve. We stayed at the Grow's home in Ivans, just outside of St George. These wonderful friends were so supportive and fussed over me. Taking care of 5 kids and a husband, I wasn't accustomed to being fussed over, it was healing in a way. I didn't have a lot of support during High School sports so having friends support me meant a lot! When Gaila, Mary Jane and I get together, people think we are drunk. Thinking up the most inappropriate situations possible, we laugh until our abs hurt and tears run down our faces.

Then at other times we cried tears of sadness over life's injustices to children.

A lot of my best friends are 20, 30 and even 40 years older than me. I have noticed that with older friends or male friends there is less competitiveness, loving each other unconditionally without competing against one another is so liberating.

Friday we spent time up Snow Canyon and then we headed over to beautiful Sand Hollow Reservoir for a practice swim and to check out the course. This was my first time swimming with a wetsuit! The weather was grumpy and the water showed it with rolling waves. I kept up with the group from the timp tri club even though panic was in my heart. Thinking, "Wave! Breath. Wave! Breath!" I survived to swim another day. We went into St George to packet pick up where Gaila made 20 more friends. When I got home I realized that the body marker volunteer put 44 on my leg for age. Do I look 44 years old or did I stutter?

Steve made a little wager that if I got under two hours on the race he would pay for dinner at Red Lobster. I enjoyed my tilapia for free!

This was my first tri try in 4 years. I was interested to see how my time would compare to four years ago. Because of the following:

1- I was carrying 6% more body fat than four years ago.

2- It was a different course.

3- I wasn't running with a concussion like I did four years ago (that is another story).

4- I started a new training program called Crossfit. I did very little mileage the last few weeks.

5- I am 33 not 29 year old.

6- Two years ago, I blew out my heart valve and had a pericardial effusion.

For me, a beginner triathlete, the result was a personal record time by 8 minutes, finishing at 1 hour 52 minutes and a few seconds. Ranking 59 out of 150 women is average but for me it felt above average. A personal victory over many emotional and physical trials.

The 750 M swim was fun, 19.47 minutes. Chatting with other athletes and making new friends is a fun part and atmosphere of a race. I think Gaila made 20 new friends. During the swim and bike I thought, "This is sooooo fun!" I felt strong during the famous bike hill of St George, even encouraging other athletes that were struggling. While biking, my big gear wouldn't stay shifted, I found out later that the cable was loose. I could have pushed harder on the bike but was anticipating the run. The run, well, not my strength. I need to work on running faster paces. I always finish races with a 50 meter sprint. Gotta love goose bumps at the finish. Then, usually, after races I get a sick stomach followed by a viral infection. But with good hydrating and supplementing with airborne and zinc lozenges, there was no sickness. Yeah! After the race I enjoyed a massage followed by eating lettuce and oranges (the post race food provided had gluten and milk in it). Part of my fitness plan is to eat more "paleo." Oats are something I haven't given up and its hard to cut out all sugar because athletes need the sugar during endurance sports. Paleo just makes my GI tract happier and it is a healthier life style.

Sunday we took a quick stroll up Snow Canyon and attended a local sacrament meeting, where Gaila made 20 more new friends. Then I drove home with Gaila.

Sweet Spencer survived the weekend with our hundred kids, autism, and crazy strict allergy issues. He admitted to me that he would roll over to my side of the bed at night to smell my pillow. So cute and supportive.

This will be a hard weekend to forget, beautiful scenery and beautiful friends. Good times!