Monster Bash Dash 5K Race Report

I had signed up for this race a while back thinking I'd be ok to run by the time it rolled around, however, Hampton is still hanging around so I was definitely debating whether or not I'd head over to Orlando for this 5K called the Monster Bash Dash. 

After discussing it with my teammates (there were two others but they dropped out, losers) I decided it looked like way too much fun to pass up. I figured if it was anything like the Warrior Dash I could run/walk it and still have a blast. 

Robin, Chris-Brian, and Me before the start. 

This race was a first with "flags" for me. I was handed a belt with two Velcro flags on it and was instructed at the race start that we were going to be chased by monsters and zombies who would try to get said flags. We were also told that we could take flags back while on the course. Fair enough.

I told Chris-Brian and Robin to go ahead without me since they were both able to run the whole thing. I figured I'd just fend for myself and do my usual talking to random strangers thing. Heh. 

We lined up for the start of the 6 PM wave and were told the flag rules and then a bugle boy played taps. I suppose it was for those of us who were not going to make it out.... alive. *Queue scary movie organ music*

As soon as we got running there was a big, black tarped tent that was pretty dark once you got inside. There was probably one or two monsters in here. And of course you were trying not to get your flag taken while running through. And what do I do? Get my first damn flag taken within two minutes of the race. I think I yelled "DAMMIT!" as soon as it got pulled. 

I made it out of the first "obstacle" only to see Chris-Brian and Robin cruising ahead of me while both still have their two flags. Oh hell no. I'm not going down like this. I am keeping this effing flag and I'm getting one back. Game. On. 

One of the obstacles. There were ghouls stationed in this web. 

The race continues on and I find myself staring at two ropes with flags at the top. My t-rex arms and I attempt miserably to climb the rope and it's just not happening. Mother fudger. I want that flag. As I leave these free flags a family comes up behind me and a son hops on his dad's shoulders and gets the flag. Son-of-a-bi....

I run on an am chased by two lady monsters who didn't really seem all that into getting my flag so I escaped them fairly easily. And one dude zombie runs at me with a flag in his mouth. Really dude? I run right at him and snatch it out of his teeth. Unfortunately, the Velcro is missing on this flag and I leave it on the course. 

I arrive at a "wooden fence" so to speak and see flag up on the top posts but there is also a ghoul pacing around that I'd have to face in order to climb this fence for that flag. As soon as I decide to make a break for it, I'm over taken by a woman and three tween girls. The woman creates a diversion and the Beliebers scramble up the fence and take both flags. Son-of-a-bi....again. If I had brought a child with me I would have done much better at the start of this race. 

At some point or other I find myself running with what I assumed was a father and his two kids, a little boy and a little girl. The little girl is super chatty with me. She tells me that her mom and sister are behind us because her little sister is slow. The little sister is six. She also tells me that she tricked one of the zombies by telling them she had asthma and they left her alone. Smart kid. 

I notice that the little girl is sticking to me like glue and I ask the "dad" if she's always this friendly. He says he doesn't know her and that he just happened to be running with both her and the little boy, who he does know. Uhm, ok. It's at this point that I decide I've found my "kid" for this race. I'm going to use her as bait, er, I mean a distraction, so we can both finish with flags. (Ok, really I just felt bad leaving her alone and she was pretty hilarious.) We continue on and are half heartedly chased by monsters and zombies. The little girl throws some of her bottled water on one of them. I laugh. What? I'm not her parent. 

She and I basically ditch the dudes and come up on a long, tarped tunnel. It's white tarped and ripped up and just spooky enough at this time of day to give me the willies. It was very quiet at this point in the race. As we approach I see a lady in white staring us down and eye balling my remaining flag. No way sister. Not. Gonna. Happen. 

I lose the little girl at this point but I hear her screaming as she runs through the tunnel. I am also running and I see one or two more zombies coming at me. As I look down and to my right I see a pile of flags near the edge of the tarp. Jackpot. One ghoulie girl comes at me just as I dive toward the pile, grab a flag and high tail it out of there. She yells at me, "That's cheating!"

Ok, so technically it probably was cheating. However, I was told I could take flags back while on the course. And who leaves a pile of flags out in the open when you know you have deranged runners coming through? I'm just saying. 

I get through the tarp and have two flags now. Suck it monsters. The little girl is with me and low and behold she's still got her flag too. We come out of the tunnel only to face a long field. It's one zombie dude and we have to run straight down this field to get to another un-zombie area. 

Let me back up and say I hadn't really been running hard at this point. A few chases here and there but not full sprint or anything. Plus the stretches in between monster zones were long enough that I walked those. This all changed at this point. I apparently decided to be Neon Dieon Sanders and take this guy on bob and weave style. 

I was faking left and right and back and forth. I did some spin moves just for the hell of it and made a very quick sprint out of that field. I kept my flag and probably over did it with the hammy, but dam it was fun. Suck it monsters. 

This is the longest 5K recap ever. Sheesh. Sorry about that. 

Anyway, as we got to yet another monster area I was told to put both of my flags on the outside since they had shifted to the front of my belt. No sooner had I done that did I get one of them taken away. Grrr! 

We were so close to being finished that I really just wanted to finish with at least one flag. I wasn't sure if I needed both to get the special "Survivor" t-shirt, but I was going to damn sure try. 

With the little girl still at my side we made it past a few more monsters and headed toward the final finish area. I felt bad when a kiddie zombie came at me and I quick stepped backward which sent him sliding on his belly into a pile of leaves. I basically jumped over him and kept moving. Sorry kid. This flag is mine.

Here he is showing off some poor suckers flags he stole.

The last dude to really come at me was The Grim Reaper. He DID NOT want me to cross that finish line with a flag. I felt certain he was going to get it and I'd have no choice but to get the "I became the walking dead" t-shirt. Just as he came at me and I thought I'd see the end of this flag the little boy from earlier jumped in front of me and guarded me in to the finish. It was amazing. He had no flags left and yet here he was protecting little old me. 

He yelled, "Come on!" and laughed as the kid protected me.

I crossed the finish line and handed over my one remaining flag. I was handed my medal and a ticket to go pick up the special "Survivor" t-shirt. That's right. Suck it monsters.

Bragging rights, oh yeah. 

The finish with our medals.

This was such a fun race. I'd definitely recommend you all try out a "flag" style race. Fortunately, I didn't seem to make my leg worse although it was grouchy after this morning's swim. Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had great Memorial Day weekends. 

Barometers

I don't normally post on Friday but since I do what I want, I figured, what the hell. After Wednesday's test run my leg was fairly normal on Thursday and the PT told me I should keep up with the ever other day working out that I've been doing. She wasn't ticked I ran a mile but let me know that I should keep it to a mile only for a bit. I agree with her on that but I don't know if I can continue this every other day crap. 

I may have mentioned this before but I have a pair of jeans that I call the "barometers." These are jeans I bought right before my first marathon in 2009. Yes, they are that old. However, they are GREAT jeans and considering they were about $150, I'd say I've gotten my money's worth out of them. (Citizens of Humanity brand, if you must know.) 

Anyway, when I bought them they were pretty tight. We all know that when buying denim it's safe to purchase them nice and snug because denim tends to stretch, especially if you wear it a few thousand times before washing. So these jeans have been my "barometer" so to speak on weight gain. Mind you, I don't think I'm fat, nor did I think I was fat when I bought them. Actually I was pumped when I bought them because I had lost about 30 pounds the year before so I was still on the, "Look at this size!" high when buying clothes. 

It was only after marathon number three that these barometers starting getting looser and I'd pay close attention to them every time I wore them. They haven't ever been as tight as they were when I first got them, however, since I've been very side lined with this Hampton of mine I decided to give them the test today. Unfortunately, they are tight. My poor thunder thighs are definitely getting the squeeze. Fortunately, they are still wearable. But it doesn't help me from being pissed about the fact that when I work out I tend to have a much easier time eating better. I mentioned this on twitter and a few twerps agreed with me. It's frustrating. I know I can be an "emotional" eater and trust me, when I can't run, I'm emotional. 

On the plus side, I'm coming out of this injury so I'm hopeful that the barometers won't get much tighter or the button may fly off and kill someone. I'm also trying to be better at watching what I eat during this cardio hiatus. And to top that all off, I'm trying to laugh more. I hear it's the best medicine. 

Have a great long weekend peeps. I'll be eating celery and riding my bike. Remember to have a DD on hand for those Memorial Day beverages. 

If you want to laugh today too, check out these posts. They had me snorting:


Steve in A Speedo discusses the earworm that is Call me maybe. 

Katie makes Team Amazing Day shirts that have puppies shitting rainbows.

Ken's posts are always funny. 

SUAR's peeing etiquette is not to be missed. 

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday friends! I'm in a much better mood today than I was on Tuesday and Wednesday. I think the leg injury and few non-running things just imploded in my brain and I was super grouchy. That being said,  last night I finally got in a run. It was a whole mile! And even though this guy wanted my mile recap to be very exciting with moon walking unicorns and roller skating elephants, it just wasn't. What it was, was pure awesomeness. 

Jess and I are both suffering through lame injuries so we decided since we are both feeling more on the mend that we'd do our test run at Fit 2 Run since John Pyle was going to be there. Not only was it awesome to run with Jess and vent, it was also awesome just to run. Plus, John Pyle is a super amazing dude. Today, I'm thankful for all of the above. 

I decided to wear my new shirt from Punk Rock Racing and I got several compliments on it. One was from the guest runner himself, John Pyle. He has good taste.

John Pyle and me. Killer 'stache right? 

Jess and I decided to warm up with a half mile walk and then run our mile. As we got to the half mile point I was nervous to start running. Would I be able to run? Had I forgotten how? Is my leg going to hurt like a mofo? Why is there an elephant with roller skates? As we got running, I realized I had not forgotten how to run. My leg didn't hurt like a mofo. And that elephant apparently just wanted some exercise. I am fairly certain we ran about a ten minute mile and as we came back to a walk pace my leg seemed sore but not the way it was when I initially injured it.

As we walked on I was thinking of ways to trick Jess into letting us run more but she was the "running police" and told me no way Jose. Dang it. Since today is really the true test, I'd have to say I'm still on the mend but definitely closer to being at 75% healed. The leg isn't doing the weird "twingy" thing it was and I didn't feel it at all last night while I slept. All good things. I'm going to continue to rest it and may go for another mile run this weekend. I have physical therapy tonight so I think they'll be part annoyed and part happy I went against orders. Snort.

Before I end this post I definitely need to let you all know about who John Pyle is, you know, in case couldn't peel your eyes away from this Pulitzer writing of mine long enough to click on the link. John Pyle ran across the country raising money and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project. He ran from San Francisco to Key West in about 80 days. I'm in awe of this feat and completely respect him as a fundraiser for such a worthy cause. It was very cool to meet him and he, like any other professional runner or celebrity runner I've met, was completely approachable and down to earth. We runners are a friendly lot aren't we?

I'm on the left in my Punky shirt. Jess is next to me in blue and yellow. 

So, what are you thankful for today? 

Turning the corner

Other than the arrival of McBaby on Saturday my weekend from Friday to Saturday mostly consisted of waiting around. I didn't get to workout on either day because I was afraid that I'd get all sweaty right as I got the call to get to the hospital. I didn't want to meet him for the first time all sweaty. However, he may have to get used to his Auntie B being sweaty a lot. Thank goodness little boys tend to enjoy running around and being gross! 

The good news on the not working out front is that it gave my leg a full two week break save that one spin class and one morning Crossboot session. Apparently my nephew knew I needed more rest. Of course, this didn't stop me from shopping to kill time. I wound up buying a new pair of running shoes. 

I got these bad boys because they were having a Pearl Izumi day at my local running store. And with the purchase the PI rep threw in a t-shirt and water bottle. Score! I also bought some new perfume and spent entirely too much time in Sephora, but that's a whole other blog. 

Yes, I bought running shoes with a running injury. But, I desperately needed a new pair and I have high hopes that I'll be running very, very soon. 

On Sunday I had the chance to meet up with a slew of local area lady bloggers. I was super excited to head to St. Petersburg with Jess (Cuban Running Crisis). We headed over to downtown St. Pete and went to a cute tea shop called The Hooker Tea Company. I wondered if anyone else thought about the fact that a bunch of ladies were heading to a place named hooker, but I kept that one to myself. 

Since one of the other ladies managed to tag everyone and link up I figure I'll do the same, against my better lazy judgement. Heh. Back Row Left to Right: ME, Diana, Steph, Jules, Rachel (who did all of this leg work. Thanks girl!), Caroline, Nanci. Front Row Left to Right: Jess, Xiomara, Meghann, and Beka.  

After our fun meet up, I headed to a free outdoor yoga in downtown Tampa. It was really pretty outside so that made me happy, even though I wasn't feeling the yoga. I just have to be really into it and quite frankly, for some reason on Sunday, I just wasn't. I went through the poses but felt that I'd rather be doing a cardio activity. No surprise there. 

Thus, yesterday, I decided I HAD to swim. I couldn't go in the morning since I am helping walk my sister's dogs so it had to be after work. I asked these two chicks to send me texts to ensure I didn't go home and plop down on the couch. They did. And I didn't. 

My swim was glorious and just what I needed. I didn't want to push it as Hampton is still on the mend so I opted for a 30 minute swim of 1,500 yards and smiled the entire time. I did about 600 yards of pulling and just took it easy with the rest. I'm happy that my leg didn't hurt at all and is only the slighest bit sore today. I've turned the corner on this injury but I know I'm not out of the woods just yet. 

When did you know your injury was gone? Were you nervous to start moving again? 

He's here!

My nephew finally arrived on Saturday and I'm the happiest auntie ever. I love this kid more than could be imagined. My sister and brother in law are doing great and are already wonderful parents. The entire family is thrilled. He's been named after my father and I know he's going to grow up to be a great man too. 

"Hi! I'll take a bullet for you."

"Check out my guns. No t-rex arms here."

If this isn't a foot built for running, I don't know what is.

Thankful Thursday

In case you all haven't noticed, it's been fairly quiet on this here blog. Frankly, I don't have a lot going on running or race-wise to post about. I'm still on the injured reserve list but I know it's getting better and have a PT appointment tonight. I've gotten lots of great advice and help from friends and I really appreciate all of the feedback because we know that injuries suck and can lead a person to being sort of...well, a grouch. 

However, I'm doing all the things necessary to get better and attempt not to be sort of....well, an ass. 

In all of this free time I've had lately I've actually done some normal people things, like sleeping in and watching TV. I have been re-introduced to Jeopardy in the evenings and forgot how much I missed that know-it-all Trebek. Heh. 

Fortunately, amidst all this rest my sister, El Prego, has still not had her baby. I say fortunately because I think McBaby knows I needed something else to look forward to besides just being able to run again. Even if his mama is SO READY. 

His due date was last Wednesday and apparently he's quite content in making us all wait. I'm particularly fond of the "Is the baby here yet?" emails and calls I've been getting non-stop. It's actually turned into a joke amongst my friends. They've been playing the I'll-keep-asking-cause-I-know-it's-now-annoying game. It's cool though because I know people are almost as excited as I am. (No one besides the parents and grandparents are truly quite as excited as I am though really. Singing: Gonna teach him how to shoot spitballs! Gonna teach him how to play darts! Gonna teach him how to be awesome! Boom.)

So today I am thankful that my nephew is taking his time. Yes, I'm dying to meet him and yes I'm going to regale him with tales of how he kept us all in suspense. And I'll tell him how his Auntie B wanted him to arrive during the week so she could take a day off. Heh. But I am happy that he's doing his own thing and taking his time. I sense a strong independence with this one and that stubbornness that can only run in this family.

What are you thankful for today? 

Everyone gets to live

I made it! I completed my NWW last week and fortunately, I didn't kill anyone. I was on the verge so instead of attempting to drag out the rest period into another week, I went to spin this morning. Everyone gets to live. 

Last week had some highs and lows. I was pretty miserable not working out but I did have a great time with a fellow injured runner, Cuban Running Crisis. I made us a lovely meal. Only 50% of it store bought and heated. She brought us a lovely wine. And we discussed life, running, and the universe. 

I also got in my cleaning, bought a new book, and took an outdoor yoga class on Saturday. While it wasn't completely fruitless, I have to admit it was terribly boring to not workout. I mentioned on FB and twitter that people who never workout must be insane, this lady agreed and said they were all probably homicidal maniacs. Heh. I also ate and drank more than I should have based on the fact that I was burning about, oh let's say, zero calories. I definitely eat when I'm sad or bored so I know that working out actually helps me save calories in addition to burning them. 

Thus this week I have to reign it in. No more bottles glasses of wine and definitely no more cookies or cupcakes. What? I just kept seeing them at the grocery store and they looked so sad. Really, I was helping them out. 

Knock on wood, but even after I was a complete maniac in spin class today my leg is feeling fine. It was sore when I started spin but hasn't been "twinging" after like it was the week before last. I definitely think the week off was a good idea. I'm going to try to keep it easy this week but still get in some quality bike and swim time. 

Happy Monday! How were your weekends? Anyone race? 

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday peeps! I'm in a better mood today than I was yesterday and that has a lot to do with my running buds. Last night I went a mile challenge at the track which hosted a veritable who's who of local speedy folks. I got to promote my race and watch really fast people tear it up. A few of us headed out for beers and food after and I must admit that this really cheered me up. If I can't run then I'll at least be a damn fine athletic supporter. 

I was pretty grumpy about this leg at the beginning of the week and even grumpier when I went to swim (just pull - no kicking!) on Tuesday and the pool was closed due to poop. Yep. Some kid had Caddyshacked it up. Ever get a literal sign that you shouldn't be working out? This was mine. 

I've made it to day 4 of NWW (No Workout Week) and I'm hanging in there. I did some sit ups, push ups, and planks this morning and followed that up with my PT stretches and exercises. My leg doesn't hurt when I walk but I'm getting a random twinge here and there while sitting. Anyone know what that's all about? 

Looking over my goals on what I wanted accomplish this week, I'm actually doing very well. I've been promoting my race, I've cleaned my house, I've made one actual meal and am making another one tonight for Jess at Cuban Running Crisis. We're having an injury party where there will be both wine and whine. I still need to wash my car and Lloyd but otherwise this whole not working out thing definitely opens up your calendar. 

Dealing with an injury is certainly no fun but today, I'm so thankful for friends and bloggers who have previously been injured and have come out on the other side. Obviously I'm not thankful they were injured cause being injured blows, but I have their recovery stories to look to for examples. And to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Both Red at Caution: Redhead Running and Lindsay at Chasing the Kenyans have dealt with some serious running set backs and both of them handled these rough patches with grace and humor.

Moving forward I'm really hoping that this whole NWW does my leg a lot of good cause I don't know how long I can go without at least swimming or biking. Apparently the hamstring is a beeyotch to heal. 

What are you thankful for today?

BAMF of the day

Today begins my No Workout Week (NWW). I'm going to try to go a full week without swimming or biking. Thus far it's not terrible but I'm freaking out about every single thing I eat. I know I can't gain a lot of weight in one week but you know how that goes...

Since I knew this was going to be a NWW I decided to bike my butt off over the weekend. On Saturday I planned a nice, easy ride with Tiny Tish (visiting from Texas) and Aloha Kris. I got in 18 miles and felt good. My hamstring was grouchy after but nothing that was going to stop me from riding on Sunday.

Since a bunch of my friends are doing the Florida 1/2 IM in a couple of weeks I decided I'd head over to Haines City with them and ride the course. Granted, I've never ridden more than 32 miles but I figured I could make it to 56 by hanging on to someone's wheel. I am fairly certain that I'm insane.

I don't really know what possessed me to make this leap but I've really been enjoying my bike time lately and I guess since I knew I was taking a full week off I got a wild hair.

Of course, as pumped as I was to ride that far I was also nervous and a bit tired on the way over. It took about an hour and a half to get to the ride start and when we arrived there were a lot of cyclists, both with our group and those who were also checking out the course. The worst part of this was that there were no open bathrooms. We had to ride to the nearby McDonald's as a group to use the restrooms.

Let me explain that this was my first really large group ride. I was riding with people who've ridden a gazillion more miles than me and who probably didn't feel a bit of panic every time they had to stop and start again. And there were traffic stops. All of this was new to me and yes, I was nervous. I gave myself an inner monologue pep talk and felt a lot better after we got about five miles in.

There were originally supposed to be two groups. An A group going about 18-20 MPH and a B group going about 16-18 MPH. But as I assume what happens with many group outings, we sort of splintered into a few smaller groups. I wound up riding with my good friend Chris-Brian and about four to six other people with a few joining and a few leaving at different points. Two of the women we rode with were so extremely helpful and friendly. Fortunately, they live close by and asked me to join them on some rides and runs. I love making new friends!

We rode along and I marveled at how strong I felt. I got to mile 27 and thought ok, maybe I'll get tired once we pass mile 32. But we got to mile 38 and I felt good still. I was eating Powerbar Energy Blasts (I love the cola flavor!) and drinking lots of water with Nuun plus I had some Powerade Zero in one of my bottles too. I made sure to eat and drink often since I had never ridden this far.

The course had a few hills but nothing worse than what I had ridden previously and by the time we stopped to refill and realize we were lost at mile 42 I was still feeling fine. Yes, you read that right. We got lost. We missed a turn that wasn't marked and went about 4 miles out of our way. Thank God for GPS cell phones, a friendly local real estate agent, and a helpful gas station attendant.

We had started our ride at about 7:15-7:30 and by the time we got back on the route it was getting pretty warm out. I started to feel tired and hot right around mile 58, give or take. I had run out of water and thought, "Welcome to Bonk Town, Population: Me." I got some water from a fellow rider and when we stopped a couple miles later to let everyone catch up I noticed we were right squarely in the hood. Heh.

While at the gas station chatting quickly about where we needed to go and how far we had left a gentleman in a hoopty with a Black N Mild cigar yelled over at us, "How many miles ya'll got left?" to which I replied, "Too damn many!" He laughed and we got back on the road. No less than a half mile later the same guy from the gas station pulled up next to me and yelled, "Can I get a tow?" to which I replied, "No way!" Then we both laughed and he turned off presumably to head to his crib. 

As we got closer to the end of the ride I felt like myself again and was in shock at how far I had ridden. Sixty four miles total!!! We weren't going very fast which definitely saved me but we weren't exactly crawling either. I'm so thankful to have ridden with such a nice group of people and guess what else? We had to stop at a couple of gas stations and a couple of lights and a couple of stop signs and I had zero issues with clipping. Not a single one.  Yay! Go me! I gave myself the BAMF of the day award. I'd say I earned it.

It's safe to say that had I not had this impending week of nothing I would not have gone out to ride like that. Once again, Hampton is taking a lot of credit for this new found cyclist chick. I didn't know she was in me, but I'm glad I found her. 

Thankful Thursday

Well folks it seems that the time has finally come where I must admit that I have a problem. I'm an addict. And I just can't stop.

Heh. No, I'm not crack addict, but I do find this picture hilarious. I'm a workout addict. I just can't stop. I think this leg injury is just not getting better because I keep swimming and biking. And while it doesn't hurt during these activities, much, it does feel sore and aches after.

Thus I've decided that next week I'm not going to swim. Or bike. Or crossboot. I may go to yoga or take some walks but nothing that is going to stress Hampton. Thus today, I'm thankful for admitting that I have a problem. Because admitting it is the first step right?

To help me get through next week, since I am terrible at taking it easy I've come up with some goals for the week. Please note there are 12.

1. Wash car. Oh-em-gee, this car is filthy. I blame Dolly.

2. Wash Lloyd. He is smelling like a straight dog right now.

3. Make an actual meal. I have been feeling the need to cook lately. I'm not quite sure why but I'm going to make one actual meal next week. And breakfast does not count.

4. Visit various running groups with Lazy Runner to promote our race.

5. Clean. Clean. Clean. There is no reason my place should have one speck of dust considering that I'll have a boatload of free time.

6. Do at least 50 sit-ups and push-ups every day. What? This doesn't count as a workout.

7. Load up iPod with new songs and get rid of the tons of stuff I never listen to that's just taking up space.

8. Buy some new music for iPod. (The new Jack White album has been calling my name. Specifically this song.)

9. Pick out and start a new book. I just finished THIS book based on a recommendation by Spike. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it.

10. Try really hard to do what Mika says....

11. Go to either a food truck event OR a farmer's market. I never do either of these because my typical Saturday and Sunday mornings involve riding, running, or swimming.

12. Make it through the week without stabbing someone from not getting my beloved cardio in.

And that's it. That's the plan. Gulp. I can do this. It's just one week.

What are you thankful for today?

St. Anthony's 2/3 Triathlon Race Report (AKA swim, bike, beer)

I made a final decision on Saturday after walking around the expo that I would take a DNF on Sunday. My leg was grouchy all day from walking and I just did not feel that it was going to make it through 6.2 miles no matter what pace I ran. I also didn't feel like walking 6.2 miles. It was one of the tougher decisions I've made with regards to this sport. 

On Sunday morning when my alarm went off I felt ok. I was a little grumpy and looked at my running shoes, still deep down debating if I should just bring them. I realized that if I did bring them the desire to run would probably override my desire to not get re-injured so I left them at home in the solid company of Lloyd. 

My pre-race mood improved a little when I saw P-Funk, a bunch of other friends, and then this man right here:

Yay! It's TNT Coach Ken! Ken is like a giant ball of fun. His laugh is infectious and his sense of humor is outstanding. He is one of the best people I have met through blogging. Love him! (And I got to meet his other half and guess what? She's cool as shit too!)

As I waited...and waited...and waited for my 8:25 start time I was preoccupied with thoughts of my dumb leg injury and how I wanted to run. It's amazing how much bullshit can effect one's mental game.

My age group of women finally got the call to line up for the water start and new swim course just as we heard them announce that the first male pro was coming in to finish the run. It was rude. I hadn't even freakin started! Heh. 

When the horn went off for the swim start I took off like a maniac. I am pretty sure that first 100 meters was out of control. I reigned it in and got to about the 400 meter mark and just started thinking those negative race thoughts that occur when one is not quite in the game. 

"F@ck it. I'll just swim back now." 

"Why do I feel like poop?" 

"How many effing buoys are there?"

But then I told myself to man up and get going. And I did. For the most part. Honestly, I just really didn't enjoy this swim. I hated that when we got to another yellow buoy we had to turn left, AKA farther away from the swim exit. I caught a lot of the yellow cap group in front of me but I just never seemed to find a good rhythm. 

Swim time 1.5 KM: 30:33 

As I gratefully exited the swim, with a new course that now meant climbing up some stairs out of the water, I started feeling better. I easily found my bike in transition and since I knew I wasn't running I didn't really push through transition as fast as I could have. I know I probably should have practiced this but I just didn't feel like killing myself to get out of the sausage casing known as the wetsuit. 

T1: 3:10

It was amazing to get on the bike, clip in, and go without even a thought. In races past I've been so nervous just getting on the bike. I was smiling like a fool by mile two. By mile five I was actually having fun. I was riding around a guy who I noticed didn't have clips OR toe cages on his bike. And he was staying with me. At one point I said to him, "Hey! You know how fast you would be if you got clips?" He laughed and said he didn't like them and asked, "Can I have some of your water?" Say what? Apparently he forgot his water but was relieved when I told him there would be water on the course and he could have some of mine if he needed it. He said he was good and happy there was water ahead.

At this point I was cruising right along and eating my Gu Chomps and just really riding as hard as I could. All the while, having fun and enjoying myself. I admit I was thankful for not having to run because it was getting hot as balls out there. Yes, I would have dealt with the heat if I could have, but honestly, it wasn't too bad to know that once I was off the bike I was done. 

I saw "No Clips" get his water and when he caught back up to me on a turn he asked how fast we were going. When I told him 20 mph, he agreed that he probably should get clips. It was funny! I enjoy these moments during a race. No sense in not making friends when you can. 

As I got toward the finish I realized that I hadn't been counting down the miles like I had last year and I actually smiled for the photogs and even though there was some skidding of my cleat on the cobblestone dismount area, I didn't fall and I had a great ride. Notice that someone finally got comfortable in the "drops." Seriously? Who am I? 

When I saw my time, I looked back at last year's race and realized I had a 15 minute PR on the bike. That's huge for me! I'm not a speed demon by any stretch of the imagination but man does it show how the practice does pay off. 

Bike time 40 KM: 1:23:57 

When I got Dolly re-racked I found an official taking a chip from another poor soul who was DNF-ing but he was a lot worse for the wear than I was. He had taken a spill and had some serious road rash. Poor guy. At least my DNF was predetermined.

The post race celebration was killer. It was probably one of the most fun post race celebrations I've ever had. Watching the awards was awesome and a few friends got in the top ten age of their age groups. I think that sitting directly in front of the beer truck was an excellent decision even though I was probably dehydrated and had a head ache by 4 PM. 

Congrats to those who raced and thanks to those who spectated. Shout out to Lazy Runner on his first step into the triathlon world with a relay. He killed that 10K! And very special shout out to Chris-Brian who completed his first oly. He's been a huge help riding with me during the week and I'm very proud of him. 

A few more pics....