Folsom International Race Recap

I know I am a few days behind putting these pictures up but I spent my entire night last night attempting to find suits to wear for a work conference this weekend. Don't get me wrong, I love to shop but 5 hours of not finding any suit that would fit me properly was not fun. Suits are made for men and just make women look like boxes. Why can't I just wear nice pants, a top with a sweater and jewelry? Blazer jackets look dumb on me and I don't like not feeling cute in my clothes… ok enough about that… now back to what you have been waiting for.

Sunday, I participated in the Folsom International (Olympic Distance) Triathlon. I did not feel as too prepared as I should have due to my lack of not wanting to work out for the last month. Because of my lack in training myself, my time suffered BUT I still crossed the finish line and that is all that matters.

A short little recap.

The swim was in water swim start, which is quite weird. I tried to start as close to the start line but did not want to get trampled by other swimmers, so I think I lost maybe a minute trying to just swim to the actually start line after the announcer said we could start.  My swim was slow but steady, I used it as a warm up and felt ok when I realized I was actually passing a few other ladies in the wave.

The bike ride was hell. It was way to windy and my lack of riding on hills lately really took it's toll. I took my time and pushed through the wind fearing that I had a flat tire, due the constant swerving of my bike… but no flat tire, it was just the wind whisking me away. My bike time wasn't actually too bad, and once I finished the bike, I was off on the run.  

Oh wait, on a side note, I christened my bike seat, and if you don't know what that means just think about it… we were out in the middle of nowhere on country roads with no porta - potty and NO trees… So what the hell else was I supposed to do… when you gotta go, you gotta go or else you will be in severe pain… (I was to the point at which my stomach was cramping so bad, that I just said "F" it… I already smelled like lake water, and I had already christened my wetsuit and I knew that I still had the run to do - so I went for it… there was a bit of stage fright, but I think I spent more time having an internal dialogue with myself about how funny this was going to be….

Now, we all know that I am not a fast runner, but I am trying to work on that. So my goal was to just run (my pace is a slow jog) the entire distance. I actually felt pretty good and walked at each water station to take some GU and some water so that I didn't choke…

Oh wait, I did loose a few minutes because I had to take a detour into the trees. Just trying to find a tree far enough off the beaten path where people wouldn't see me popping a squat because of all the water I had consumed  was frustrating enough But, I realized I wasn't the only one and I made myself laugh when I would see other runners magically popping out of the trees and back onto the course.

So as I crossed the finish line nearly 4 hours later, I collected my EXPENSIVE $150 medal and inhaled the most expensive chipotle burrito I could ever buy…(Yeah, yeah, so my medal is made of cheap metal and the burrito was donated, but when you wait till the last minute to register for the race, you have to find some how to feel ok about paying a way too expensive race fee)

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So my official time was 3 hr and 56 minutes and some odd seconds. Even though my family didn't want to see me cross the finish line (I wouldn't want to go sit in the hot sun either) but  it was good to see some faces I knew cheer me on that day!

I spent the next 15 minutes or so, sitting in the lake taking a fake ice bath and then went home and collapsed. It was a long weekend, I had hosted a dinner party on Friday night and will post some more about that later….

Because I was very frustrated and disappointed in myself for falling off the training and working out bandwagon, (and not having any damn suits that I already own fit my right now)  I have reevaluated and will be hitting it hard the next month.

 Please help keep my accountable because sometime we are our own worst enemy.