Once again, a long time since the blog has been updated. Race season is in full swing and loads of stuff has been happening. After surviving the Rocketts Landing Duathlon, which I was still scarred from, I had the Power Sprint to look forward to. I had been training for it, but for whatever reason on race day things just didn't fall together the way they should have. I had a great swim, but I was held up twice by lap traffic, which once upon a time never bothered me, but this time it did. I know I can swim 300 meters in 6 minutes or better, but I got held up some and finished in 6:30. I have to say the bike leg was the best thing I did. I increased my speed considerably from last year and finished strong. My run was the thing that did me in. It actually took me 30 minutes to run the 5k *gasp*. Now I know I am no Kenyan when it comes to running, but it's a pretty poor state of affairs when turtles blow past you laughing their shells off. I don't know why I was so frickin slow, but there I was, like a car with three flats (which makes me think of that joke about when Pirelli tires go flat, daygo wop wop wop wop...well I went wop wop wop too must be the eye-talian in me). Finally, not too far from the end a guy I used to run with, Fred, started yelling at me I was running like a girl, which used to be a good thing once upon a time, but not so this day. I was running like a girl who forgot how to use her legs. That yell was good to hear though,it was like someone shocked me like that dog in Something About Mary, and I picked up my pace to where it should have been the last 2.5 miles before. I flew through the last part of my run, and finished my race in 1 hour 21 minutes. So disappointing for me, but I finished I guess. Not at all what I had hoped for but it was what it was. Oh to go back to that race, to just motivate myself more. Once again, it would have been enough to finish upright last year, but not so much this year. We did start Marathon Training team the day before too. It probably wasn't the best idea for me to run those 6 miles the day before. I can make a million excuses, the fact remains I was disappointed with my performance. I came in tied for 15th in my age group, out of 44, so I suppose it would have been good last year, but not this year, there's that mantra once again.
I did make mention of the Marathon Training team. I love it so far. My first run was okay, I hadn't been running 10k a lot, so it was good to have to. I am a Navy Team member, Brad started on Navy with me but quickly discovered his fruity side when he realized he was more Cranberry then Navy. He belongs with those rabbity types. I can't say I am with turtles or snails, but I am definitely not hopping along at a Cranberry pace. Anyway, I did get lost this last run. I couldn't figure out where the heck I was supposed to go and well I wound up doing almost 7 miles for a 6 mile run. Did I mention how amazing it is for me to be able to mention these distances like they're no big deal. I often sit back and think, is this really me? Who is this person who can talk about running 6 miles, or 8 like there's really no big thing involved?
I did miss my second Training team training session. I was busy riding the MS 150 with my team. Actually, I was busy chasing down my husband and team mates, they were way faster. I had never ridden farther then 50 miles. To do 150 miles in two days was daunting to say the least. I, and my bottom half, faced this with much trepidation....I didn't relish the thought of having sore girl parts, or heinie. I have to say my cyling shorts, Glide and Chamois Butt'r combination did alright for me. The free Cream Ale at the Williamsburg welcome did alright by me too! I did a majority of my ride by myself, I did hook up at the end of day 1 with this nice guy named George that reminded me of my Uncle John. He took pity on me grinding away by myself. But anyway, I survived the first 75, which was actually a bit longer then that, had a lovely evening dining with our Tri Club friends and I was out by 8:30PM. The next morning my stomach was in knots. I knew how tired I was from the day before and I thought how the heck am I going to do this back? I managed to find a fabulous little group to ride with, and the four of us had one heck of a good time throwing movie quotes out as we suffered along. I thanked God for my Granny ring on two hills, didn't have to walk my bike up any hills, and gained the respect of my riding friends because of how well I powered up the hills. I got to help some one suffering from the heat, draft off our local weatherman, and thank God for every pedal stroke that I could do what I was doing. I finished the second day in 6 hours. I spent 12 hours in the saddle over two days, made some really nifty friends as I rode, laughed a lot the second day, saw some beautiful country and wound up saying I rode 150+ miles in two days time. Not once was I dissatisfied, not once did "but not this year pop in my mind". Don't know if I will ever get faster then 6 hours each way and I don't think I care, not this year anyway.....
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