Well its been a long time coming, but I'm finally writing my post about the race!
To start this off I'll say that I was unsure how well I would do this year. Every summer I go through the doubts that every triathlete faces -- what if I can't make it across the lake, what if I get a flat tire, what if I just run out of steam? Well I had that on top of moving back to champaign and wedding planning, so I was hoping and praying I could still come out strong this year. I really hadn't started training hard until June, when I moved to Champaign. WIth only six weeks to prepare (about half the time of what I trained for me first race) I was hoping I could just make it through. But seeing as how I did in my race, I think I put in a lot of good quality workouts -- increased the duration and worked on my form, which in the end helped me tremendously.
So the weekend of the race, Adam and I drive up to Pleasant Prairie, Wis., to meet up with Dawn and Erika, as well as our supporters -- Sissy, Karissa, Derek and Kyler. Then Dawn, Erika, Karissa and I head over to the expo to pick up are race materials and other freebies for the race. Usually the race in PP is sponsored by Danskin, but we chose to do the Trek one this year because the Danskin event won't be until late september. Well I guess we got spoiled with all the free stuff at the Danskin expos because we were really disappointed at the trek one! The only freebies they gave you were the sports beans (the jelly beans with electrolytes and carbs infused in them)... no waterbottles, hats, etc. Well of course you could buy them, but they were really overpriced. I did buy a tank top to wear over my trisuit for the run portion of the race, but I called my parents to see if they could bring us some waterbottles to use during the race. And thankfully I had packed a hat to wear during the run.
Then later my parents arrived and we all went out to dinner at this great Italian restaurant... the food was amazing but I couldn't eat all of the food because we had a big lunch earlier at Chili's. Then we got back and went to bed early because our alarm clocks were going off at 4:45 a.m. on Sunday morning!
So Sunday we head over to the race site and watch the elite group take off in the water... and before we know it they are on the run! Before we've even started the race. It's so inspiring to see how strong these women look during the run after flying through the swim and bike portions of the race!
Then, as Erika, Dawn and I gather with the other women in yellow swim caps, I found myself getting nervous! This was my 4th triathlon, but I still had the pre-race jitters. So we start off on the swim and I'm panicking because there are so many women around me kicking and slapping their hands into the water... about 1/3 of the way down the lake people are spreading out and I finally get my rhythm down. The rhythm that I've been practicing everytime I go to the pool... I never felt this strong in a race and I was proud that I was able to keep my swimming form! Running up the sandy hill after the swim, I feel strong and ready to take on that hilly bike ride!
On the bike, I had my rough moments conquering those hills, but it was a lot better than last year when we had 17 mph winds! Once again, a lot of the Pleasant Prairie residents were out on their lawn chairs cheering us on and I love hearing them root for us! Its a big motivator to keep pushing yourself. As I came back to the transition area, I saw all our supporters which made me smile and push myself even harder!
Starting out on the run, my legs felt a little heavy, but I still felt strong! I did have to walk a few times, but I ran more during this race than any other triathlon I've done so far! The last 1/2-mile I sprinted and felt so elated when I crossed that finish line! I was excited that a few minutes later I got to see Erika and Dawn cross the finish line together with big smiles on their faces!
Once again I was so happy with do this race with them! I love sharing fun (and healthy) experiences with good friends and I'm hoping next year we can recuit some more to do it with us!
