1. The logo is cute (this is a good enough reason to choose a race, right?)
2. The awards are JEWELRY! It was an all women's race, which didn't mean that much to me, but it turned out to be pretty cool to only race against women. But the jewelry awards gave me something to work for!
3. It's SHORT!!! It was a 400 yard swim, 11 mile road bike and 2 mile trail run. I generally want to get the most of my money and effort by doing longer races, but I've only done one triathlon this summer and wasn't entirely happy with my performance, so I thought it would be fun to do something shorter where I could push the pace (in theory) and get in an open water swim and brick as training for whatever is next.
The Results:
Swim - this was my best swim of all the triathlons I've done so far. I don't know or care how the time compares (hopefully pretty good, since it was only 400 yards!), but I felt comfortable and confident for the first time. I haven't seen the results, but I'm pretty sure I passed more people than passed me, so that's good! It was a time trial start where a swimmer started every 3 seconds, so we weren't all on top of each other like a wave start. I hardly got kicked or even touched anyone else, but even when I did brush against someone I kept going forward and swam my own race. Normally it takes forever (more than 400 yds!) for me to find a rhythm and feel comfortable, but today I did from the start. A friend at the men's tri last night said that he did a pre-race warm up swim and it helped, so I did the same. I'm going to have to make that a habit because I think it really prepared me for the dive in and the murky water, which started the race out on the right foot!
Bike - The bike was an 11 mile loop that I heard was really hard and hilly, and it didn't disappoint! The first 5 or 6 miles were relatively flat and easy, so I thought that people were exaggerating about how hard the course was. However, by around the halfway point the hills picked up and it was pretty tough. I was proud of myself for pushing the downhills and trying my best on the uphills, and ended up averaging around 18 mph and passing a lot of people. It was fun!
Run - I was disappointed in my run. First, I should do bricks in training. I NEVER run off the bike. So it makes sense that I wouldn't be that good at it. But I'm supposed to be a runner, right?! I've been running really poorly lately and today kept of the trend. I stopped and walked at least twice, plus at two water stops (remember, this was a 2 MILE RUN!) I think I've just forgotten how to hurt. When it's hard, I stop and walk instead of pushing though. It's pretty frustrating!
Overall, I had a great time and am really glad I did the race. I got to hang out with a new friend, Lisa, and her family. I placed 3rd in my age group, which I was really happy about for the jewelry award! It turned out to be a pennant with the swim/bike/run logo. And it was a gorgeous morning for a race!
