Buckhead Border Olympic Tri 2012

    On July 15, 2012 I completed my first Olympic Tri!!  It was also my first race with an open water swim.  Once I signed up for it I became very nervous for some reason??  I guess it was the open water swim and my longest tri ever. 
           
Swim .9 mile 41:54
    
     The swim was really neat.  We swam across the Ohio river.  They bused us over to the Louisville side to take off.  We got delayed for almost an hour because they were waiting for the ambulance to be on the other side before we started. Finally the race started, the first group took off.  They went around the buoy the way they were suppose to.  The next group went in the water ignored the first buoy and went straight for the second buoy.  So we were all watching and the people in the kayaks were not stopping them or correcting them.  So my group decided to take the shortest route too!!  When it was our turn I hopped in the water and scooted to the back.  I want to finish this race without getting beat up.  Swimming across the river was not bad at all.  Once we got across we had to swim down the shore line.  That's when I could feel the boat wakes while I was swimming.  It wasn't too bad just made me nervous that it might bother my stomach later.  Jim was on the side cheering for me to move faster so they could get their race started.  Jim was doing the sprint tri.  He couldn't start until we were all out of the water.  Once I finally made it to the end I had another task to conquer, getting out of the water.  When you got to the end you had to walk or crawl thru mud to get to the exit and then climb a steep hill.  I made it to the top of the hill to get hosed off and I was handed a wash cloth to clean off.  REALLY a washcloth??  Half my body is covered in mud and they think a wash cloth is going to work.

Transition 1 1:54

     I got to my bike in the transition area, the girl next to me was sitting on the ground taking her time cleaning and drying her feet.  I wiped off a little and told myself to get going!!  As I was leaving the transition area I heard that I received a text but I knew I couldn't look at it or I would get penalized, so I went on.

Bike 1:29:05

     The bike ride was mostly flat.  The bike ride was a 2 loop course with a total of 26 miles.  It was a little scary on the turn around.  I needed to turn around but the 2 guys behind me needed to go straight to finish. I ended up going a little further so they could pass me and then turn around.  I think they could have laid that out better.  On my second lap I had 1 person pass me.  I passed at least 6 people.  Once I got into the transition area again Jim was there cheering me on.  He had already finished his triathlon.  Then he became my photographer and #1 cheerleader during the rest of my race.  I got out of transition after posing for a few pics. 

Transition time was messed up?
 
Run 1:11:50

      The run was starting to get hot especially since the race started an hour late!  The run was really flat too.  I think there was 2 hills total in the race.  I had 3 people pass me on the run.  I passed a few myself.  When I was getting close to 3 miles I saw the hill I had to run down.  I wanted to cry because I knew I was going to have to run up it on the way back.  Once I got to the turn around I noticed my garmin said 3.25 miles.  Wow!  They were off just a little bit. I turned around and made it back to the hill.  I decided I needed to walk the hill because there was no porta potties out there and I needed to go to the bathroom.  Walking that little bit up the hill helped me survive the rest of the run.  Once I got to mile 5 Jim was there taking my pics and was going to run my last 1.2 miles with me.  I really needed the conversation to make the time go by faster.  I kept telling him the mile markers were way off.  When I finished I had run 6.5 miles instead of 6.2 miles. 
    The race was over and I had survived!!  After the race we took our bikes back to the hotel and came back for awards.  Jim got 2nd out of 12 in Clydesdale for the Sprint Tri.  I got 2nd out of 3 in Athena in the Olympic Tri.  We got our first ever Tri awards!!  We were so excited!!  I couldn't believe it.   This was a test to help me know if I can do a Half Ironman 70.3 in September. I now know what I need to work on for September 30, 2012 Augusta 70.3.  I have a ton more training to do for my big race in September and I am looking forward to it.

Total 3:26:23

Remember the text I mentioned earlier? This is what it was:

This is the sweetest text ever!!  My 12 year old daughter sent it to me while I was racing!  I will always remember it!


Do you do triathlons? 


What is your favorite distance? Sprint, Olympic, 70.3 or 140.6
   So far mine is the Olympic distance.

What is your favorite event?
     My fav is the run.