Writing about all the big & little things

Race Day Recap

Yesterday was the Annandale Heart of the Lakes Triathlon.  See I even have the shirt to prove it!  😉

These were the specs for the long & short courses:

Relay/Short Course
Swim 1/4 Mile, Bike 9 Miles, Run 2.5 Miles

Relay/Long Course
Swim 1/2 Mile, Bike 21 Miles, Run 5.3 Miles

We took part in the relay short course.  Kristen swam first, then Jen biked and I brought it home with the run.  I was stressed out, to say the least.  I had never seen a triathlon before so I had no idea how it would unfold.  And I was definitely not prepared for the sheer volume of people.  There were about 1300 participants.  That’s a lot, at least by my standards.  So I showed up bright and early all alone, not sure where to go or what to do, and feeling very “un-athletic” compared to all these “true athletes” flocking all around me.  Luckily I found the registration building and didn’t have to wait long for everyone else to show up.  In addition to the three of us girls there were a few other family members doing the short course all by themselves: Jeremy, Ryan & Stephanie.  So it really was a true family affair!  Lots of people to cheer for.  🙂

After we went through registration (and they drew huge numbers all over me: on my hand, the front of both arms, the front of both legs AND on the back of my calf) we got set up and figured out where everything was situated.  This is what one side of the street looked like with bikes lined up as far as you can see.

The race officially was underway at 8:00 but we were in wave 10 so we didn’t start until 8:33.  It was incredible to see all of the swimmers in the water–I commented to Abby as we were watching that it looked a bit like birds.  All you could see were arms and heads.  Kristen zipped out and ran past us up to the bike area where Jen was waiting and they did the transfer of the ankle chip band (to keep track of our times).  She took off.  I was trying to make my way back to the bike area with Abby but our path had been closed so we wandered around for a little bit trying to find a new route.  Luckily I had roughly 30 min. before Jen would be back from her part, so there wasn’t any panic.  Well, okay, maybe a little panic on my part, but I was pretty much that way until I finally started running.

She had to run the bike down the road so we could transfer the ankle band (which I couldn’t figure out how to get off!) and then I was off and running.  All of my training was great, but hadn’t quite accurately prepared me for what it would be like.  I’ve never run in a race by myself.  In fact I’ve only ever been in one other race and I ran/walked with Kristen (while pushing Abby in the stroller).  I wasn’t prepared for people to be passing me like I was standing still.  I mean, I know I’m not terribly fast or anything, but it made me feel like a tortoise.  On a positive note, though, I did actually get to pass a few people as well.  🙂  About half way through I decided to try and drink a little sip of water since my throat was quite dry and I sloshed it all over me.  So I tried it again at the next station and grabbed what I thought was water, which ended up being clear gatorade that I swallowed wrong and it burned my throat… so I gave up on the whole water thing.  It was a bad idea.

At one point near the end I was getting pretty tired and I had one last hill to make it up and I decided that I would just power walk some of it.  As I slowed down to walk a lady passed by me.

“Don’t give up now!”  She encouraged.  “Just run a little slower.”

That was the push I needed.

I started running again and yelled “Thank you!” after her.

She yelled back, “No problem–it’s all up here” pointing to her head.

And ain’t that the truth!  Once I rounded the last curve and I could actually hear the loud speaker I actually enjoyed myself running to the finish line.  It’s fun to hear all those people cheering, who I can pretend are cheering for me. I finished my part in just over 23 min. which breaks down to just over a 9 min. mile.  All things considered it’s not all that bad.  I did have unrealistic expectations to finish in 20.  But now I have something to work on beating for my next race, whenever that may be. Of course, my next one will most likely be slightly longer since most races are 5K and not 4K…  Here’s a picture of me finishing the race.  It’s really not flattering, but at least it commemorates that I actually did it!

Anyway, overall our team finished in 1:10 and our team placed 21st out of 32 teams.  I’m happy with how everything went.

Ryan and Stephanie did excellent as well… If I remember correctly, Ryan finished in 1:03 & Stephanie in 1:20.

And Jeremy also did awesome–finishing in 1:06.

We stayed around to see the awards ceremony and then the prize drawing (nope, none of us won anything.  Bummer…) and then I took Jen with me back to Bakers.  Which was a good thing too, since I didn’t realize until I was getting ready to go that I didn’t actually know how to get home.  I had been so focused on getting to the race that I had only printed directions to get there from Shannon’s house!  Whoops!  Luckily Jen was my co-pilot and got us back just fine.  🙂

I got home and took a much needed shower and then pretty much vegged-out for the rest of the day.  So there you have it.  Race Day Recap.  All in all, a great experience… but don’t ask me if I’ll do it again next year yet–it’s still too soon 😉

3 Comments

  1. Amy

    You did great! I think it’s easy to feel slow when you’re competing against folks in a triathlon. I would think that people that participate in an event like that would be just a bit faster than the group you would find at a 5k race. I have been really nervous the days of my 2 races too. I’m always freaked out that I’m going to forget how to run or not pace myself well 🙂

  2. Kristen B

    Good job, Erica. Thanks again for participating with me. I had fun, and you did well. You have some good pics too. Can’t wait to get copies. Now to plan for next year! 😉

  3. Krista

    Congratulations!! What an accomplishment. : )

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