Lonestar Olympic Triathlon in Galveston, TX

This race brought out the rebel in me. After a great night's sleep in our hotel, Diana and I headed over to the race site. By the time we had parked, the wind had picked up from 11 mph to 35+ mph. I needed two hands just to keep my bike upright as I was walking to transition. It was so hard to remain positive and optimistic as we were battling this weather just walking!! As we got closer to the transition area we heard the news of the morning. No swim. Bike and run only. My reaction was one of utter disappointment. I love the swim, it's my favorite part and I was really looking forward to the long test swim before TexasMan next month. The rest of the day my attitude about the whole day was just weird. We had about 1.5 hours to just hang around next to our bikes and wait for our time trial bike start. The good part about this was I made two new friends! : ) The bad part was that I just become indifferent about the whole thing.

Once I got on my bike I starting getting my competitive spirit back and had a great time the first 12 miles. However, that's when we had to turn around. Ugh. There was that wind. Not giving any thought to having to run when I was done, I just kept hammering it out. It was exhausting but satisfying. I don't know my exact time yet, but it was a definite PR for me. I think I averaged just over 19 mph. Compared to my 16.9 mph over only 12 miles last month, this was a huge improvement. Dan let me borrow some faster race wheels and his helmet. I think they both really made a difference. Honestly, I just really never let up either. I'm normally too good of an energy conserver, but not today (there's that little rebellion.)

As I sat down to change shoes in transition, I felt so tired! Way more tired than I normally do in T2. Oops, on to the run anyway. The run was a loop that you did twice through Moody Gardens. I thought I really liked it because you were around a lot of people and there was a lot of activity going on. As the day goes on though, I think that this was one of the things that messed with me mentally. I become so bitter and rebellious during the run. I was annoyed with all the people already done and getting to drink beer and the fact that I had to run two laps and that it was so crowded and that we didn't get to swim and it was hot and I was tired and being a big whiny baby! I felt like I could run a little faster, but I didn't want to! Seriously, these are the thoughts going through my head. "I think I could pick up the pace. I don't WANT to pick up the pace. I'm going to regret not going faster. I don't CARE that I'm not going faster. My running friends are going to say I could of done better. I don't CARE! I don't WANT to do better! hahahaha! I was ridiculous!! It must have been the heat, the wind and the dehydration talking.

Well, all the self-pity aside, the fire has been lit under my butt for my 70.3 in 3 weeks. To be honest, I'm pretty confident that my physical self will be ready. My goal for the next 3 weeks though is to figure out how to be stronger mentally. That was without question my biggest barrier today. For that distance I've got to stop thinking about the finish and focus more on being in the moment. 6+ hours is way too long to only be thinking, "Is this almost over? I'm tired."

*Results: 16th out of 55 females age 30-34. Bike Time 1:18:36 (40k) Transition 1:43 Run 54:27 (10k) Overall time 2:14:45. I'm not sure if it will still be a special qualifying race because there wasn't a swim but I did place in the top 33% thereby qualifying for the National Age Group Championships in Alabama! Kinda cool!

*Also, the two girls that I met placed 13th and 14th. We were all only 2 minutes apart! Too bad they live in Corpus Christi and Houston or we could train together! : )

Picture to come!