Labor Day Tri

Happy Labor Day!

I hope you all had a great LONG weekend! I was suppose to do this race this weekend but the place we were planning on staying at fell through and we weren’t able to find a hotel close by due to the holiday weekend so I ended up not running the race. I was super bummed about it because I have been wanting to do a trail race for a while. After talking to my sister Heather she informed me of the labor day tri in our hometown. My Step-mom Aly, and my sisters were all doing it in a relay and she said I should do it with them.

Sign me up!




The fact that I haven’t even swam since June, or biked since… never (actually a year..). Didn’t stop me. I couldn’t even find my goggles and had to go buy a pair the night before. Won’t lie though.. It kicked my booty. Although, endurance wise I felt great the whole race! The whole transition bike to run was a little tough.. hello, Jell-o legs! (Pics to come! My sisters took a bunch!)
My bike chain fell off at about mile 7 of that portion or the race and some guy stopped to help me with it. My tires were a little flat also but overall I had a great race and felt good about it even with my lack of training. NEXT TIME: I will probably swim a little more.. and tighten my goggles- All efficiency went out the window the last 100 meters or so. I was glad to take a breath at the end of each stretch. I will make sure my bike is all tuned and ready to go too.
The best part was seeing my little fam along the way.



Here we are at the finish! Brent was such a great support the entire race, he cheered me on AND pushed two strollers while keeping the Tanner and Baylee entertained. That my friends takes talent.
The swim portion of the race was indoors. They had everyone line up according to your predicted swim finish time. We wrapped along the pool and one at a time jumped in the pool 10 seconds after the person in front of us. We snaked the pool, which was actually nice for me because the swim got a little rough towards the end. I anticipated it to be the hardest portion because there is a lot that goes into training for a swim. I finished the swim in 8:50. I climbed out of the pool quickly and ran to T1.
The bike was 12.21 miles. There was great volunteer support, the race crew was at every turn, crosswalk, and stoplight. I knew exactly which way I was supposed to go the whole race, no second guessing if I was making the right turn or not.







Here I am with my good friend Suz, just climbing off our bikes in transition for the run.
The run was around the neighborhood and it was probably the roughest transition. Biking straight to running is a little tricky, it took me a good mile or so to pick up my pace and shake the jell-o legs. It was also pretty hot outside and I felt a little more dehydrated at this point. They had two water stations, one right at the beginning and one at mile 1.5.




We all hung out for my sister to run through! I loved doing this race with my family. It was the first race we were all part of and it was motivating and fun to see them along the way. They all did great as well!


All DONE!




Here is my overall times:

Swim: 8:50
T1: 1:52
Bike: 44:55
T2: 1:14
Run:30:28
Total: 1:27
They posted this shortly after I finished and I was surprised to see that I took 4th in my age group! There was a total of 18 people in my age group. It was a great race and I loved that it was close to home and smaller then most. They had great support and was well organized. The only thing they could of improved on would be start time. The race was scheduled to start at 8 am but didn’t get going till about quarter after. But lets face it, I’m hardly on time for anything and I enjoyed a little extra time to chat and get settled. I am for sure going to do this race again. I was surprised how relaxed and fun it was! No pre-race jitters or anything. There is something about going into a race with no expectations. I loved it!