a race to the finish

Yesterday at 5:30 in the morning, I was cursing myself for signing up for another triathlon. Why do I put myself in this predicament, you might say? No one forced you to do it, you might add. Well, I'm not sure what the answer to those questions are, except for the fact that signing up forces me to train somewhat for the event, and then I do get a really great workout the day of the race--one that pushes me way harder than I can ever motivate myself to do on my own. However, when it comes down to the day of, and I am dragging myself out of bed on a Saturday morning in the dark, I always question and weigh the worth of these motivating factors. :)

Luckily this triathlon was close to home and after a 15 minute drive I was there. Pick-up my racing number and event t-shirt, strap on a computer timing chip anklet, setup my transition area with my bike, helmet, shoes, water and towel (to wash the sand off my feet), and go warm-up my muscles with a quick jog and a swim. Before I knew it 7:30 rolled around, the gun was fired and everyone dove in for a half mile swim out into the lake and back, where muscling for position and avoiding kicking feet and errant elbows is half the battle. Running up the hill to the transition area, passing all the walkers (don't they know this is a race?), stripping off my swim cap and goggles, and all of a sudden I realize my legs are jello. Luckily they hold till I plop down on my towel and get my shoes on and strap on my helmet. Off on the bike and feeling good. About 1 mile in on the 11 mile course, the rain starts to come, about 3 miles in, the heavens open and start dumping buckets. I have to slow down on the turns, I'm afraid the bike will slip out from under me in so much water. Luckily, everyone else does too. The rain stops as I pull back into the transition area again and ditch the bike and helmet. I take off on the run, actually, a better word would be plod, as my legs are seemingly non-existent. A weird feeling resembling two pieces of lead attached to my body that I awkwardly tug along as I go. I know from previous experience that this feeling will go away after a mile or two, but the run is only 3 miles after all. I start to regret the fact that I never did the "brick training" I was supposed to do, where you stack your workouts so you can get used to this feeling and your body can learn to overcome it. Time constraints are a bit tricky these days. About halfway through the run, the heavens open once again and I can hear a distinct slushing sound coming from inside my running shoes as I plod along. The two braids down my back feel heavy and wet, dragging me down, and I have no idea how far I have to go as the miles aren't marked. Suddenly I can see the end and I see my family there cheering me on. I love seeing all their cute little faces, and a brief burst of energy from who knows where flares through my muscles as I take off for the finish line. Halleluiah!

The rain is slowing down as I share my bagel and fruit with the kiddos and celebrate! I finished after-all, and placed fourth out of the 15 women in my age group.We didn't stick around for the awards and celebrations as we were headed off for an adventure with our friends, the Wilsons!

After I savored a glorious shower at home, we loaded up and drove down to Greenfield Village & Henry Ford Museum in Detroit. We had never been there before, but our friends had invited us to be their guests, so off we went. We really had no idea what an awesome experience was before us!
However, I think this post is quite long enough, and will leave you with a

to be continued...
:)