HELP! The tri bug is after me!!!!

I don’t know why, but the race bug has been chewing on me all day. Last year I did not participate in a single triathlon, which is very unlike me. This year I have 4 on the books. The first one for the season is Tri for the Cure (Sprint distance – 500m swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run) and I found out last week that the Weight Watchers leader will be doing that tri too, this will be her very first tri (so excited for her!). Then I have a weekend of races, Rattlesnake Crazy Back to Back – I will do an Olympic (1500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run) on Saturday and a sprint on Sunday. My last one the Harvest Moon Long Course, which will be my second half ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run).

The last time I toed the line for the Rattlesnake I was doing the Olympic Distance and my sister was doing to the Sprint Distance. Well, things didn’t quite work out! At the time I did not have a wet suite, no big deal, but that day it was so cold. I was grateful when I got I the water! I completed my swim and froze my way to my bike, I was not going to quit! It had been raining the majority of the morning, shoot, for the better part of the day before! Because it was so cold my sister only had one kid with her to cheer me on and my other kid was at the hotel with my parents. On the bike I could have sworn it was haling at times, but I kept going. At that point I was not learned how to use bike shoes so I was in my running shoes and they were soaked! I kept going. As I headed towards the turnaround point people who had just passed me were coming back the other way, I knew I was not that close to the turn around, they started shouting ‘race is cancelled, turn around’. After a few people said that, I turned around right into the wind. I was a country block away from transition area between cars and I hydroplaned, ON MY BIKE! Luckily the cars were paying VERY close attention and man was I grateful not to be clipped to my bike. I finally made it back to the transition area and there were people everywhere. For those of you who are not triathletes or have never been to a triathlon – non racers are not permitted into the transition area. That day everyone was permitted in to help collect stuff before it got washed away. I was so ecstatic to find out that my sister had loaded my stuff into the truck, had it turned on with the heater going full blast. Turns out she was one of the ones out there trying to save everyone’s stuff. The lightening had started so they had no choice but to cancel the race. The race director was very apologetic about not being able to return money but he did offer everyone some goodies. My sister ended up not doing the sprint the next day because it was still way to cold. It took me a few hours to warm back up. Anyway, hopefully the weather will behave a little better this year for the race weekend!

I am really excited about my tri schedule this year. I have done Tri for the Cure and there is this stupid hill that I thought I would not make it up the first time I did it, once you get up it there is an amazing view. The second time I got up it with little to no troubles and when I made it to the top I slowed down so I could enjoy the views! Harvest Moon is in the same location as the Rattlesnake Tri, I know the area pretty well. The course looks relatively flat and it will be nice to have another half ironman under my belt. All this excitement doesn’t start until August and will be over in September. As I look at my races all I can see is CDA next year. As each day ticks down the more focused I seem to get and I still have well over a year to go!

This Sunday, assuming the weather is good I plan on taking Baby out for her first ride in over a year. I have new shoes that I need to make sure are up to par so I will spend some time riding around the Air Force Academy, an out and back along the main road is 11 miles – good starting point!

Here is to the tri bug!