"I'm a Triathlete!"

I think we have all enjoyed Steel magnolias - movie quote "I'm a chain" well - as of today...i'm a triathlete!

Preperations...
shoes? check.
socks? check.
hot pink nail polish? check.
pearl earrings? check.
race number? check.
tropical depression? check check.

The days were passing. Time to prepare for my first triathlon - the powersprint. 300 meter swim, 20k bike, 5k run. I can totally do that! but hmm...how do i really prepare. as the days pass i am feuling up on peanut butter, wheat pasta, eggs, pretzels, and wine. yes, wine is part of the process.

The race is sunday. it's now friday night. i load up on pasta, garlic bread, salad, and wine with katharine. then we head to the pile o junk and go through the TG checklist. what do i need and how the heck do i pack it?! as i pack my pink transition bag i receive some advice for rainy racing...a rubbermaid container instead of a bag. awesome. after racing in the snow i learned about these stinky conditions and man what a great idea. so i dump out the bag into a box. i'm ready now, right?

saturday. packet pick up. breathe. i mean i look cute with hot pink nails after all right?! i was working with a team mate who had to work on saturday to pick up her packet without breaking any rules. no luck. although days of communication to properly plan for this we were unable for me to pick up her packet. however...other people were allowed to pick up others' packets. rock on. i see fellow trigirsl and rtc pal erin and let her know that i properly painted my nails pink to match the uniform. she lets me know that oh yeah she will find turquoise nail poilish for the rtc uniform. i meet up with the girls and after a chaotic packet pick up we recieve our proper information. we head off to the race site. how do they have things set up? where do we run from the pool to our bikes? whoa. whoa. whoa. gravel?! umm...not cool. it's ok we are trigirls, we can totally take the gravel. (note to self...no whining...be a badass) then a quick completely pointless prerace meeting and we are of to be girls and totally carbo load - yum! my favorite part...eating!!!

i get home and now i have to go to bed. night before the race. can't. sleep. aaaaahhhh. i had a glass of wine with a very filling emal - why can't i sleep?! this blows! finally after laying in bed for about an hour and a half i am off to dream land. and luckily this time no dreams of swimming in sneakers.

bzzz. bzzz. bzzz. snooze button? okay one time. bzzz. bzzz. bzzz. geez already?! ok ok. it's race days. gulp. i have flashbacks of waking up to a snowy morning of the duathlon so i peeeeeeeak outside. RAIN! what?! no. no. no. i requested 70-75 with a gentle mist. i was allowing a range in temperatures and some rain, too. why must mr. weather not listen to me. sheesh. not like i sound high maintenance or anything. and this was nto jsut rain...this was tropical depression barry. oh well. sigh. get my butt our of bed and go.

i arrive at the race site and i see lots of pinkies around! woo hoo! i never loved pink so much as i do now. i head off to transition and find out that the race dirctor forgot to put numbers on the racks and it's a free for all - nice. this chaos turns out to work for the trigirls - we make a few "trigirl alleys" and cover the racks in pink bikes, pink ribons and even a yellow ducky balloon! we rock. i head on over to body marking - so hot. i mean who wouldn't want to get numbers and their age written on them witht a permanent marker. this is really why i chose to participate in thios sport. on my way over to bodymarking, i see rtc erin and she shows me that she found her turquoise nail poilish and she, too, properly matches her uniform - i love it! i get to body marking and once again...trigirls in effect. love having my pinkies color me. we recieve inspriational messages down our "non marked" leg. heck yeah. then back to just hurry up and wait.

i am standing around and my old college friend todd finds me. i have the best friends. he drove down from fredericksburg to come see me in my frist tri...he has done them before. luckily he has a golf umbrella and a rain jacket. i borrow these to wait for my swim to start. i begin to get real nervous and requst a trash can. no such luck - what friends huh!

my time has come. time to get in the pool. i push off the wall and am off. remembering not to let the excitement get to me and use to much in the first 100 meters. the guy behind me catches up and beings drafting. yeah right buddy you can pass me and use your energy. so i kindly let him pass and what?! he goes NOWHERE!! aaaahhhh. so within 50 meters i pass him again and this time leave him in ym dust. yeah that's right. eat it suckah! i catch up to the nect guy in front of me who is performing a freestyle breast stroke. yes. that's right. he was kicking his legs like a frog. um. ok. i mean i know we refer to kissing guys like kissing frogs, but really, must you swim like one...it's really annoying. tap the foot. tap the foot. tap the foot. with every stroke i was tapping his foot i was on his butt that bad. but nooooo someone doesn't understand the concept of letting people pass!!! aaahhh!! fine. be that way, loser. yeah i said it - loser. that's me being supportive haha. we practically had to share the stairs to get out fo the pool. whatev dude. we're done with this joint. peace. i'm off to the bikes, yo. as i run to the bikes we are so kindly given a 6" wide piece of carpet to run on. sweet. good thing i was a dancer and gymnast. shall i practice some moves on this. it's like a balance beam to stay on. but i guess better than nothing. thanks, rd, for some great gravel coverage. i am soaking. between the monsoon and the swim. what the heck - feet on wet ground. socks. wet. i pass my friends and see joette with a video camera! i wave - i love my friends - they rock my wet socks. i beign to pedal and i'm off. i think to myself "omg i am really going to do this. i am 1/3 of the way done to being a triathlete. i can so do this. wow". i get down in aero and cruise off. this feels so good. i love it. then *bam* pothole. i totally should have been looking down. as soon as i hit the pot hole it immediately became diificult to pedal. *insert expletive* did i just freaking pop my tire. Lord knows with my luck it's not the tube but the tire. i keep going and contemplate. do i take the 10+minutes to get off my bike and look and maybe change it or do i take the additional maybe 5 minutes it willt ake to grind it out extra hard for the next 11 miles. i choose b. - grind it out. i ride while continually looking at my front tire to see if i am deflating. i actually pass some people. i pass some trigirl volunteers and they tell me that up ahead is another trigirl and i better catch up. i pass another person then i see the trigirl...who is it? it's my cheryl! i love riding with her. but hmm we are in a race. what do i do?! i pass her and blow her a kiss as i pass. then about 2 minutes late she passes me with some inspirational words - we better keep passing each other and puch each other out - that's right cheryl - let's go - we can do this. so i pull back. go around a corner then i pass her and the person ahead of her...then i lost her :( but it's the final stretch...almost done with the bike. i come up to the tun and i hear joette and todd cheering...then i see a bright orange sign that reads "fave is our fave" i wanted to jump up and down but - right - i am stuck to my pedals - it's missy and steven with the best sign ever!!
i run my bike into transition. ok. i feel jello legs. poo. i have joette and tood to my right and missy and steven to my left. they are talking me through tranistion. i explain to them that i 'verped' a couple times on the bike - sexy mama. and my feet are squishy wet. i head off out of transition onto the run but whoops wrong way. i thank the volunteer and let her know that i was just making she was paying attention ;) as i begin my run out of the parking lot trigirl volunteer carmen spots me and starts cheering. this just cracks me up as i cheer my way out. announcer jay calls me for having way too much energy during the race. i begin my run and think about all our saturday brick workouts and remind myself that this awful jello feeling in my legs will pass. i just keep a steady flow making sure not to wear myself out. there is a girl with a good pace ahead of me - i catch up to her and pace off her. then...she starts walking - boo on her. i was using her. so i throw some high fives and cat calls to my fellow trigirl racers and finally hit the turnaround. OMG!!! i am SOOO close!!! i can totally do this!!!! man uphill - headwind. this is a stinker. but i have come this far - do you reallt hink i am going to let some baby hills and wind stop me - ha! i laugh int he face of bad weather - try to stop me now bitches! i kick it up a notch and pass a few people (as i get passed by two amazing runners - not cool! haha) i make the turn back to the main stretch and i know this is the end of the race. kick it. kick it. the finsih line. friends cheering. I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

remove the chip strap and hug my friends!!! we head off to the pavilion to protect ourselves fromt eh now freezing pouring rain. pop the bubbly and cheers! yes i strip right there into the sports bra to put on a dry top...it was cold! everything is wet...but warmer than nothing.

i hang out with the trigirls and cheer everyone else throught he finish line as we all snuggle in a blanket as the tent we are under is being blown around in the wind. how amazing. everywhere i turned there wrere trigirls - racers. volunteers. supoprters. i have met a group of amazing women and become one of them - it will only get better from here! and shout out to my fellow trigirls who received awards, i am so proud of you. sorry you were given 2006 award that they were "trying to get rid of" you receive nothing but the best in my book, ladies. i love y'all (carmen i properly hypenated just for you)

after a power nap and a very warm shower we have our surprise baby shower for our amazing head coach grandison and partake in some vino comsumption - something trigirls also do fabulously! (told you we are amazing - we race and we play!) this is what i call a fun filled day! and i know the best is yet to come. so thanks to my friends. and cheers to many more fulfilling race challenges to memories to come.