Friday July 20
Rachel stays at home with Grandma while we leave and go hike a 14'er called Mt. Bierstadt. We succeed in our summit and celebrate Meggan's 3rd ascent, Jason's 10th ascent, and our friend Annie's first ascent.
Saturday July 21
Pack up, pack up more, realize we are very disorganized, can't find Meggan's drivers license, and we drive to Steamboat Springs. Arrive at 2:45pm in time for race check in and pre-race meeting. Meggan is scheduled to race a sprint triathlon Sunday morning. Rachel and Grandma play in the lake. Meggan asks Jason to swim the swim course in the lake with her but Jason struggles to survive without goggles or any recent swimming.
Drive to campsite, have dinner, and unpack. Go to set up tent and realize... uh-oh. Left the tent poles at home. Unable to erect the lovely huge tent our friend Amber gave us that can fit us all so nicely. Knowing that it was not supposed to rain, and knowing that lodging around the area was all booked up, we erect a tarp and put our sleeping bags underneath it.
Eat dinner. Stove shuts down and needs a good cleaning. (Must have camped too much this summer!) Throw rocks in creek. Get ready for bed. Starts to rain. Rachel confused about our new camping set up and having difficulty going to sleep. Grandma is being a trouper and willing to stick it out. Jason's feet are getting wet. Meggan's head is getting wet. Meggan pulls the plug on camping, we throw everything in the car and leave in search of a hotel.
We call 10 places and all of them are fully booked, except for one fancy 1 bdm condo for $249+ tax / night. We drive into town (which is 1 hour drive away from race start) and find the first dingy hotel with a vacancy sign and celebrate our musty room with 3 doubles for a bargain price of $96+tax. (nothing inlcuded) We take advantage of the fridge for food and the water for rinsing dirty diapers and sleep well.
Sunday July 22
Wake at 5:30am, pack and leave to get to the race. Set up transition zone, get body marked, and celebrate how warm the lake is. Decide not to bother with wetsuit. Celebrate the fact that we have all the critical equipment needed and didn't forget anything.
Race Start 8am
0.5 mile / 750m SWIM - I'm very pleased to say that I actually swam the front crawl for the entire swim, with no panic attacks, no floating on my back, no stopping, no getting kicked in the face. I made into transition in a time of 15:39, which was a huge improvement for me. I had a huge smile on my face because I was so proud of the fact that I finally overcame my open water swimming fear and was able to swim! (FYI I was 152nd after the swim.)
Rachel practices the water exit many times after I go through:
12.5 mile / 20km bike ride - I had no expectations on the bike. I have been riding to and from work a few times per week, which is about 4 miles one way. Other than that I've been on a couple of longer family bike rides which include going slow and stopping at playgrounds and stores along the way. I had no idea how I would do. I felt good on the bike and felt like I passed lots of people. The course was rolling hills with a few good climbs and descents. I'm sure I'd never gone as fast on my bike as I did on some of the downhills, which was actually fun and not as scary as I thought. The scariest part was making it over the cattle guard, which was covered in plywood but made me very nervous. I completed the bike in 46:06, which was ranked as 146th place.
3.5 mile / 5.6km run - part road, part trail, some rolling hills. I felt like lead on the run and was reminded just how little running I've done since my marathon last year. What a way to feel out of shape! I was trying hard to remind myself to push hard since I was in a race and see if I could catch anyone in my age group. Despite passing many people, I think I was passed by two people in my age group. I ran in 32:35, which definitely leaves room for major improvement but was ranked as the 121st fastest run!
Overall, I was thrilled with the event and had a great time. I was 146th overall and 10/28 in my age group. I was really happy with my swim but motivated to work harder in each event, particularly the run, in order to get ready for an Olympic distance (twice as far for each event) next time.
Sunday afternoon we drove to Grand Lake to play at the park, then through Rocky Mountain National Park and home. In the park we saw several moose and elk. Grandma's pictures are much better than ours, but here's what we have so far. CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES
Until next time...
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