New Bri Tri - 2011

1st sprint tri for the season is in the books! Saturday was warm and sunny - nice to see 7 of my Lake Marion Tri teammates there, and really happy to meet Aquaphor teammate Christina!
The water was nice and warm (probably upper 60s?) and not much wind so it was flat. The swim start at New Bri is among the worst - they have 300 people and 5 waves (women >35 go with the relays and of course in the last wave). I got clobbered a lot at the start - finally just stopped and stood up to let people that were criss-crossing go ahead. Got some open water at the turn around (we swam 800m) and felt pretty good on the way back. Exited the water toward the front of our wave, and stopped my watch - OOPS! Had an ok transition, then off on the bike. The road is really bumpy, and last year one of my aero bars twisted down when going over some railroad tracks, so I was happy that my bike held together (including the paper clip holding my water bottle on, but that's another story!). I should note, restarted my watch somewhere in the 1st mile of the bike course. I rode at a moderate effort level - knowing that I'm way behing on my training this year, and still had to get through the run! Nice little up and down hills, and hardly any wind! There are a lot of short out and back sections, so fun to see everyone as they go the other way. Just before the turn back in to the park, I saw a police car, and and ambulance with someone wearing bikeshoes inside. Scary! Turns out that was one of my Lake Marion Teammates who somehow crashed - broke his nose, his wrist, and elbow, and according to my friends that went by earlier, had a lot of road rash on his face!
T2 was pretty good, and since I didn't have a running time, I restarted my watch again to get my run splits. The run (3 miles) goes along the trails through the park, and is really pretty. There is an out and back section for the 2nd mile, which I don't really like (because at that point I just want to be done!). The run warm (which we're not used to!!), and I was wheezing a little from my allergies, so I was pretty happy with my pace. Crossed the finish line, ate something, and waited for the results.
Unfortunately, my results never showed up. Lake Marion teammates got 1st in W40-44, 2nd in W45-49, 1st in M50-54, and 1st in M55-59. When they announced the W50-54, I was waiting for my name, but never heard it! I knew that I was ahead of the woman that they gave 1st place to - WHAT? I went and checked, I still wasn't in the results! Went to talk to the head time, and he said "Oh, your chip must not have worked. I'll see if I can find you." In the meantime, my friend Tim (who won the M55-59) gave me his medal. ;-)
I checked back a while later, and they told me my time (which I don't remember exactly). When the results came out, I'm listed at some completly different time (which is much slower), and listed as 1/9 in my age group. Sigh.
I've never had that happen before, so I was frustrated. In the mean time, we were all scrambling around and working with the police to figure out how to collect the bike, gear, car, etc. of our injured teammate. Got that all worked out, and so happy that he's not seriously injured! Good to get the 1st race out of the way, now I hope I can start training for real for the next one!

Lake Mille Lacs in the Fall

Lake Mille Lacs on the first weekend in October - what a great time to ride! We were really lucky with the weather - frost on the ground in the morning (and a chilly 41 degrees), but a beautiful sunny day with that great fall sunlight on some approaching-peak leaves.

8 of us met at the BP station in Onamia to begin our journey. Some were coworkers from the distant past, and some were new to me. I started with booties, tights, long sleeve shirt, short sleeve shirt, jacket and long-fingered gloves. The wind (although light) was pretty cool off the lake. We stopped at 18 miles for a rest stop (and a photo of this giant walleye). My legs were pretty tired (what else is new) for the 1st 18 miles, but after the walleye, I seemed to find some inspiration. We kept up a nice pace (while I reminded myself to look at the beautiful colors) to the restaurant for lunch. When we asked Tom (our ride leader) what was good at the restaurant, he replied "nothing really, but it's 1/2 through the ride." ;-) Since I'd been inspired by the giant walleye, I had to have a walleye sandwich.

I did eventually take my jacket off (at about mile 40) Our pace picked up after lunch, and got downright speedy by about mile 55. I managed to keep up with the 18-20mph, but when they hit 21.4, I was dropped. Luckily, Andy got a flat, and everyone stopped while he fixed it. ;-)

We all arrived safe and sound at the BP station, and refueled with Bagels and Dairy Queen. Thanks to Tom for organizing a great ride!

Women Run the Cities

What better subject for my 1st blog entry than a Women's 10 mile race. This past weekend, my friend Susan and her friend Tara picked me up at 0-dark-hundred on Sunday morning. It was chilly (51), and drizzly as we made our way to Minnehaha Falls. We found a great parking spot, got our packets, and returned to the car to stay warm before the race. What an amazing sight - there were 650+ women lined up for the 10 mile race. My college friend Anne's daughter was there doing her 1st race. Lots of pre-race chatting waiting for the start. I heard more than one person say that with that many women in one spot, they could start the race, and we'd all be standing there yakking away! Finally, the national anthem, and the start. I wanted to run my 1st mile around 9 minutes, and then pick it up from there. Mission accomplished. I had a great run - it was so cool to hear all these conversations/encouragement/etc going on for at least the 1st 4 miles. There were lots of fans (my favorite was the guy on his bike in the orange jacket that I saw at least 10 times), lots of water, and the weather was great. The drizzle stopped around mile 7, but it was chilly the whole way. I proved a couple things - running 15 miles a week for 3 weeks before the race is enough training to have a decent run, and running 15 miles a week for 3 weeks before the race is NOT enough. Not my fastest 10 mile, not my slowest either, but were my legs ever feeling it when I finally got out for another run today! I'll have to step up the training a little over the next couple weeks to get ready for the Nerstrand 1/2 marathon. Thanks to all the women who made this one possible - what a great venue.