Adrenaline Junkie

Typically the adrenaline rushes that I get come from running or riding (or in the rare case swimming) past someone that I didn't think I would be able to in a race or finishing a killer training session, but this past month has been a little different.  I had two opportunities to get that adrenaline pumping in ways that I was not expecting.

 Just before Thanksgiving, my dad had been offered the opportunity to repel down the side of the Hilton out at the beach.  I thought it sounded pretty cool and I went out to take some pictures.  When I got there, he was all rigged up and had already gone through his practice runs on the parking garage.  he took the elevator up to the top of the building and I went to wait outside.  I watched him come down and walked into the hotel with him so he could take off all his gear.  While he was getting ready to go, the lady who was organizing the whole thing said that they were way ahead of schedule and asked if I wanted to fill one of the empty spots.  I jumped at the chance, I was so excited. 

The volunteers promptly set me up with a harness, ropes, carabeeners, and everything else I needed and took me out to the parking garage to practice.  There wasn't much to it and the garage was only one story high, so it wasn't long before I was 17 stories up ready to repel down the hotel.  I thought I might get a little nervous once I got to the top, but I really didn't.  We started by walking backwards down the roof, kneeling at the edge, and then leaning backwards until we fell off and started the descent.  It was so much fun and right on the beach, so there was a great view! I really enjoyed getting to share that experience with my dad. 

Matt wasn't there to witness that, he was at home and got a call from my dad telling him his wife was about to jump off a 17 story building :-), but the next crazy thing I did was all his doing.  Our 7th wedding anniversary is coming up this weekend, but I will be out of town, so we decided to celebrate early.  He told me he had something planned, but wouldn't tell me what.  We left the house at around 11:00 and I really had no clue where we were going.  After driving for about 40 minutes, he asked me if I knew where we were going, I didn't, and then he looked over at me and said "you're about to jump out of a plane." I was shocked, thought about it for a minute, then got pretty excited.  My parents have both been skydiving and I thought it would be cool to do, but I never dreamed that was what he had planned.

We got to the airport in Elberta, AL, checked in and started getting ready to go. Oh yeah, I do have to mention that I was a little nervous that he was sending me up to jump out of an airplane, but he was staying on the ground to "take pictures" :-). We had to watch the safety videos, sit through a short briefing of what was going to happen, and then we put on our jump suits and harnesses.  Since I had never done it before, I was jumping tandem (attached to an instructor).

When everyone was ready, we headed out to this rickety little airplane and climbed in.  It was pretty cramped and took us about 20 minutes to get to the altitude that we were to jump from.  When we reached 13,500 feet, the door opened and people started jumping out. We were the last to go and I really didn't get nervous until I was sitting on the edge about to jump.  We had decided earlier that we wanted to do flips as we jumped out, so I squatted down at the edge of the plane, pulling my knees to my chest, and then rolled out head first.  It was a rush like no other.  We free fell for about a minute which was incredible and then the parachute opened.  Once the parachute is open it's a pretty relaxed ride down.  The instructor let me hold onto the controls and we did a few spins which were cool, but made me a little nauseous.  I made it safely to the ground after a pretty smooth landing and told Matt that he has to try it, but he told me not to worry about returning the favor :-).

Surprise!!

This Thanksgiving me and Matt totally surprised my sisters and their families by showing up in Texas unexpectedly.  Originally I was planning on driving to Texas with my parents and Matt was going to wait and take time off at Christmas to go out there, but when my parents decided to fly, we didn't think I would be able to do that so I told my sisters I'd have to wait until Christmas to see them.  Not too long after that, my mom told me that she found out she had some frequent flier miles that we could use so we decided to go, but wanted to keep it a surprise.  It wasn't easy to keep the secret and it nearly slipped several times, I was so excited.  I had my sisters convinced that we were going to celebrate with Matt's family and even tried to play off how disappointed I was not to be able to spend the holiday with all of them and the kids :-).

Lindsey and Eli

We flew out of Pensacola on Wednesday morning, had a short layover in Dallas, and arrived in Killeen (about 30 mins from Devon's) at around 3:45.  When Devon and the kids got there to pick up my parents, they went out and greeted them while me and Matt waited for a few minutes inside.  Once they were distracted by my parents, me and Matt snuck up behind them. Devon was shocked and the kids were excited. The next day when Lindsey and her family arrived, she came outside to help my mom carry in her groceries and was pretty surprised to see me standing out by the car. 

Enjoying Thanksgiving dinner

On Thanksgiving we went to my Aunt Pam's house (we had told her we were coming) where they had over 20 people there for dinner.  There was a ton of food and it was all delicious! It was a little different not having to help cook all day, but it was fun to be able to just relax, hang out with everyone, and enjoy the day.  That night me and Devon waited in line at Toys R Us for about an hour and a half for some good Black Friday deals for the kids.  Once we were through there it was about 11:00 and I was exhausted. My crazy sisters went out to do more shopping, but I was ready for bed.  

Family dinner (just missing Kevin) while the guys watched the kids

Playing at the park





New Christmas pajamas

I got to stay for a whole week and Matt and my parents stayed from Wednesday until Sunday. We had such a fun trip and it was so good to see everyone.  I couldn't believe how much the kids had grown and how much older they all seemed since I last saw them this summer.  The twins are talking so well, Isaac is super smart, I was amazed at some of the things he understood and knew, and even little Eli is turning from a toddler into a little boy.  I also got to meet my newest nephew Carter Ames who was born October 10th.  He is adorable and the perfect baby, hardly ever cries, and sleeps really well which Devon is more than pleased about. I can't believe Thanksgiving is already over and Christmas season is in full swing. This year has flown by!

Catching Up

Carter with his proud brothers and sister

I have been a slacker when it comes to blogging recently, but alot has happened since my last post.  The most exciting thing that has happened is I have a new nephew.  Carter Jonathon Ames was born to my twin sister and her husband on October, 10.  Unfortunately I have not been able to make it over to Texas to meet the little guy, but I can't wait until I can!! He was a healthy 8lbs 5oz and he is adorable. Their other three kids adore him and enjoy taking turns holding him.

On October 22, me, Matt, and my mom ran in the Great Pumpkin Run in East Hill.  We have done it a few times and enjoy going back to it, especially for the homemade pumpkin bread.  It was a 5k race which is nice because it is over so quickly, but not so nice because it hurts like heck.  I just have to keep telling myself that it'll be over in 20 minutes :-).  I started off lined up at the front because there are always a ton of kids that run in this race and I hate having to weave through them as they sprint for 30 seconds, stop to walk for a minute, sprint, and so forth.  The gun fired and we were off, that first 200 meters is always the worst as I try to stay near the front and get settled into some type of rhythm.  Starting out, there was one girl who was about 20 yards in front of me and another who was right with me.  The one who was right with me didn't last for long, but the one in front of me lasted longer than I expected.  I passed her after about one mile into the race.  The race course is pretty nice, but there is one decent hill right before we reach mile two. Once over that, I knew I was on the home stretch and just had to hang on.  I ended up running a 19:38, getting first place (female), and winning $100...sweet!



I'm in the middle in red



Training has been going pretty well.  I've backed off on the bike a little bit and increased my time running as I prepare for the Houston Marathon in January.  I'm pretty excited (and nervous) about that race, the last time I did a marathon was in 2008.  The cool thing is that the Olympic Marathon Trials are the day before my race, so we are going to watch that in person.  All of the top runners will be there fighting for a spot on the 2012 Olympic team.




 Yesterday I ran in the Pensacola Half Marathon.  It was kind of a last minute decision to jump into it, but I figured it would be more fun than doing a long run on my own. I even got my mom to run it with me.  I woke up yesterday, went outside, and was expecting cool air, as I woke up to ice on my car the morning before.  Unfortunately, it had warmed up considerably. I barely needed a jacket. The race started at the Veteran's Memorial Park downtown and we got there around 5:45 to prepare for the 6:30 start.  I wasn't going into it with a whole lot of expectations, just wanted to have fun and see what I could do. 

Mom (in blue) around mile 3

I had never done the race before and I enjoyed the loop course. It was a nice change from the typical out and back races.  I felt pretty good through the first 8 miles, but the last 5 were a little tough.  Once I reached the top of the 12th Ave hill, my legs were a little tight and never fully loosened up after that.  After the halfway point, I never saw any other women except the one that was a little ways in front of me and gradually gaining time on me.  However, when I got to about the 12.5 mile mark this woman came running up next to me, she was going at a decent clip and I had to speed up a little to keep up with her.  She gradually started picking up her speed and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stay with her. I tried to throw in a few kicks to try to shake her, but couldn't. Eventually, it came to a sprint down the final stretch and I was able to edge her out by 3 seconds, earning me second place female and 15th overall.  Mom also had a great race and was recognized at the finish line as a veteran of the US Army.





Santa Rosa Island Triathlon

Last weekend, I participated in the Santa Rosa Triathlon one of the finest triathlons in the US, which fortunately for me, happens to be held here in Pensacola.  Race weekend started with me and my mom volunteering at packet pick-up on Friday afternoon, where we spent a few hours handing out packets to the athletes.  When we were through, we headed over to the expo to register for the three bikes that they would be raffling off the next day after the race. 

Race morning the alarm clock went off a little before five, not that I really needed it as I had already been awake for thirty minutes.  Me and Matt got up and quickly got ready to go.  Preparation was a little different this time as it was the first time that me and Matt were both going to be racing.  He has done lots of running races with me, but never a triathlon.  We got the bikes in the truck and headed out to the beach.

When we got over the bridge and saw the flags waving, we realized it was going to be a windy day and with the purple flag up, there were going to be jellyfish in the water.  Once we had unloaded our stuff and started heading over to transition, we couldn’t believe the line that we saw to get into transition.  We got in the back and waited our turn, thankfully it moved pretty quickly.  After we had racked our bikes and set up our transition, we walked over to the beach to where the swim would start. 

While waiting for the swim to start, we found my parents who were also doing the race and chatted excitedly and maybe a little nervously with them.  The final announcements were made, the national anthem was sung, and then the first wave of swimmers were off.  I was in the 8^th wave and Matt was in the 10^th wave, so we had a little bit of time to wait (the waves were separated by 3 minutes).  After what didn’t seem like too long, I was standing at the water’s edge waiting for the horn to go off.  The horn blew and we ran in, did a few dolphin dives, and started to swim.  The water temperature was great and it was crystal clear.  The bad thing about that was that you could see all of the jellyfish around you.  I probably saw 8-10 that were floating beneath and around me and got a few mild stings.  I felt like I had a decent swim and completed the 600 yard swim in 12:04.

After the run up through the sand and into transition, I was out on the bike course.  The course was pancake flat out and back and with the way the wind was blowing, we had some crosswind and a little bit of a headwind on the way out, but then a tailwind on the way back.  Being in one of the later waves, I was passing people pretty much the whole time and with the younger guys starting behind me, I had several of them fly by me.  I was so happy to hit the turnaround and get to enjoy a little bit of help from the tailwind on the way back.  The 18  mile course took me 53:05 to finish. 

One good thing about that bike course and having the help from the wind on the way back is that it lets you start the run with legs that are a little fresher.  For the first quarter of a mile or so, my legs just didn’t feel like they wanted to move at the speed I was asking them to, but once I settled into it, I felt a little better.  The good things about sprint races is that they are over quickly, the bad thing is that they hurt more as you try to push the pace J.  By the time I was on the run, I had a pretty good feeling that I was in the front of my age group, but I also knew that there were some fast ladies who had started earlier than me so I tried to push and close that gap as much as possible.  I was happy to turn into the parking lot and have the finish chute in sight.  One goal I had oing into the race was to run my first sub-20 minute 5k and I knew it was going to be close.  I crossed the finish line, looked at my watch, and saw that I had run a 19:38. 

Now that my race was over, I could relax and focus on cheering on my parents and Matt who hadn’t finished yet.  I walked over to the outskirts of transition and saw that Matt hadn’t come in from the bike yet.  Not long after, I saw him coming and cheered him on as he started the run.  Meanwhile, my mom had finished, so we waited together to see Matt complete his first triathlon.  He did it and actually finished with a pretty stellar run time for a first timer. 

Once everyone was at least on the run, we were able to pick up our bikes from transition and pack them up.  Then we headed over to the best part, a lunch catered by Carabba’s and the post race party.  Charles Gheen and the crew that puts on the Santa Rosa Island Triathlon know how to put on a fantastic race and top it off with a great post-race party.  I had lots of friends and people I know that had also done the race and it was fun to catch up with them and hear their stories.  After eating a delicious meal, they did the award ceremony where I found out that I got first in my age group and second overall (fourth overall if you count the elites that raced), but unfortunately did not win any of the bikes that were raffled off.  Team MPI showed up in force and had several podium finishers, including the overall female winner. 

 

MPI IMFL Training Camp

Last weekend me and Matt had the chance to help out with a training camp for Ironman Florida that my coaches at Multisport Performance Institute put on.  There were 10 athletes from 3 different states (one all the way from Missouri) that attended the camp, none of whom had raced the iron distance before.  The camp ran from Friday through Sunday and was held in Panama City Beach.  It was basically a primer for athletes that are preparing to do the Ironman Florida race in November either this year or next.   It was a chance for the athletes to see the course, get some tips from veterans who have done the race before, and get all of their questions answered. 

The first event planned for Friday was a run along the first part of the race course.  Unfortunately Matt had to work that day, so we weren't able to make it in time for that.  We got to Panama City Beach around 6:30, just in time to meet everyone for dinner at the Boatyard Restaurant.  During dinner, we were able to get to know the athletes, enjoy some great seafood, and go over some of the logistics of the camp. 

At 5:45 on Saturday morning, me and Matt met Coaches John and Mark down at the beach to get ready for the first open water swim session.  We carried the kayaks down to the water and put the buoys in to mark the course.  Around 6:30, Mark and John gave a lecture on open water swimming and then the athletes were able to get in the water and practice what they had learned.  While they were swimming, me and Matt were in the kayaks watching over everyone and giving people a place to rest if they wanted to.  The water was absolutely beautiful, crystal clear and we even saw some dolphins pretty close by.

 Once everyone got into dry clothes, we all caravaned about 25 miles away to the middle of the bike course.  Everyone set off for a 60 mile loop, which was the back half of the course and me and Matt were the sag wagons.  We leap frogged the riders in a van and a truck and stopped at different places so they could refuel, fill up their water bottles, or get any help they needed.  It was a good ride, only one rider got a flat that we were able to get changed quickly.  Everyone did great and seemed to really enjoy it.

By the time we were through with that, everyone was starving, so after getting quick showers, we met at Mellow Mushroom for lunch.  Now that everyone's stomachs were full, we were ready for something a little less intense.  We headed back to the condo for a lecture on the race week schedule and all of the little intricacies that go with racing an ironman.  Afterwards we did a walk through of the transition area and went over how everything goes from changing tents, to picking up T1 and T2 bags, to other details that go into racing the iron distance. It was a great opportunity to discuss some things that the athletes otherwise would probably never have thought of.

Now that our food had settled and the sun was starting to go down we were ready to get back at it for the last event of the day.  We drove over to the back side of the run course and ran the loop through St Andrews Park.  It was just a couple of miles and we kept it pretty easy, I think everyone's legs were pretty beat up from the ride earlier.  Since I hadn't ridden, I was feeling pretty good and decided to add on a couple of extra miles.  Matt patiently waited for me to get through and then we decided to pick up Subway for dinner and take it back to the condo.  We were beat and Matt wanted to catch some of the football games. 
We met at the same time on Sunday morning to set up everything for the open water swim.  Mark and John gave a brief lecture on entry/exit of the water and then the athletes got a chance to practice.  Once in the water, Mark and John discussed and demonstrated how to draft and then gave the athletes an opportunity to practice.  They finished the session with a relay race that ended in a photo finish :-).

The last session of the camp was a ride on the front half of the bike course.  We took off from the hotel, which is where the transition area is on race day, and basically rode an out and back course.  Since the course was a little simpler, we only needed one sag wagon and I got to ride.  The whole group stayed together for the first 8-10 miles before we started splitting up.  I stayed with Coach John through the first half, tucked right behind him for most of the way.  It was a good hard effort for me, though I'm sure it felt like a piece of cake to him.  The way back I took it a little easier, stayed with another guy for about a third of the way, and then just rode alone.  We did about 50 miles total.

This camp was fantastic.  I heard nothing but good remarks from the campers about how glad they were to get the experience of seeing the entire course and the opportunity to learn from Coach Mark and Coach John.  I learned so much from being a part of it and know that I would feel much more confident after having gone through it if I were planning on doing the race.  We were pretty tired by the end of it, but we had so much fun.  The athletes were all a blast to be around and had great attitudes.  Good luck to you all as you race this year and next!!   

World Championship

As many of you know, last year I qualified for the Age Group World Championship in Beijing, China and was planning on racing in it, but decided not to.  Once I found out that next year's World Championship was in Auckland, New Zealand, I decided I'd rather risk it and wait and try to qualify for it instead.  If we were going to make that big of a trip for a race, we figured we'd rather go to Auckland than Beijing.  So I raced in the Age Group National Championship, the qualifier for Worlds, in August and I found out last week that the gamble paid off.  I got a spot on Team USA to race in New Zealand next October (2012).  I accepted the spot and am just praying that all of the details and financing works out.  Thanks for all of the support and encouragement that I've received along the way.

HyVee Championship

A week and a half ago on Thursday evening, me and my mom set off for Des Moines, Iowa so that I could race in the HyVee 5150 Series Championship.  Unfortunately Matt and Dad couldn't come because of work responsibilities.  I was not really looking forward to the drive (16 hrs) especially after having driven to Vermont and back two weeks before, but splitting it up into two days at least made it a little better.  The first night went great, we made good time and got about 5 hours of driving done.  The hardest part was searching for a hotel since we were driving on back highways through Mississippi.  We were relieved to finally find a Holiday Inn Express and were able to get a good night's rest.  We didn't get up too early on Friday and when we started out our predicted arrival time in Des Moines was 7:30 and we couldn't wait to get it over with. 
The drive was going pretty smoothly until after lunch.  After we ate, we stopped to get gas and while I was pumping, I set my wallet on top of my car so I could wash the front window.  Only problem was that I forgot to pick up my wallet before we drove off and didn't realize it until we stopped to get gas again about 4 hours later.  Needless to say, I was not very happy.  I called Matt so that he could handle getting my debit and credit cards canceled, thankfully no one had used them.  The other problem was that I now had no picture ID which you need to check in for the race.  Matt came to the rescue again and emailed me a copy of my passport.  By the time the panicking, trying to get a hold of the gas station where I lost the wallet, and deciding what to do was over with we had burnt quite a bit of time and didn't end up getting to the hotel until about ten o'clock.
On Saturday morning, I did a quick ride on the trainer followed by a short run and mom went out on her own run.  Which by the way, she scared me a little because their were some shady parts around our hotel and she was gone longer than she had planned to be, but it ended up she had just gotten a little lost.  After breakfast, we headed over to the expo and packet pick-up.  I hadn't brought any warm clothes with me, didn't even think about it, but when I heard the overnight low was going to be around 50, I figured I should probably get some long sleeves or something to wear before the race.  We found some good deals at the expo and I got a long sleeve shirt and pants which I was so happy to have the next morning. 

Reading in the law library

After we got lunch, we went to the state Capitol building and took one of their tours.  It was about 1 1/2 hours long, a little longer than we were expecting, but it was really interesting.  The building was amazing, though we had to climb a ton of stairs.  Afterwards, we took my bike down to the transition area to check it in and then drove the bike course.

Race start time was 6:45 and we got over to the race site at about 5:30.  Mom dropped me off and I had about a 15 minute walk over to transition.  When I got their I heard over the loudspeaker that the unexpected happened and the water temp dropped 7 degrees over night (it had rained all day Saturday) and the swim was now wetsuit legal.  Of course, I had left mine in the hotel after they said it would take a blizzard to drop the water temp enough to allow wetsuits.  I called my mom and she was able to run back to the hotel and grab it for me, luckily our hotel was less than 2 miles away.

After standing around for awhile trying not to freeze, it was time for the race to start.  They started with the elites and then I was in the 9th wave.  The swim was in a pretty nice lake and I didn't have much trouble sighting the buoys.  I was able to get into a pretty comfortable rhythm, but wasn't too happy with my time when I got out.

Once on the bike, I was ready to make up some time.  The course had some rolling hills, but none that were too bad.  The worst part was we had a bad headwind.  It was a one loop course and wasn't too crowded which was nice.  It was the first race I used my aero bottle that my parents had gotten me a few weeks earlier, which I really liked and felt like I did a better job of drinking more.

The run was pretty flat which I was happy about because my legs were dead.  I think I was feeling some of the effects of racing two weeks earlier, they felt like they were 1,000 pounds each.  They loosened up a little, but I didn't have my best run. The course was beautiful though.  We started by running across a bridge that went over the lake that we had swam in, went along a bike path, over two other bridges that crossed the river that's downtown, and then ended with a half mile stretch directly in front of the capital building which was a cool view.  The worst part was that they put the hardest hill in the last quarter of a mile leading up to the finish line.

The race finished at the Capital building

They posted the results pretty quickly afterwards and I was excited to see that I had gotten second place in my age group with a time of 2:30:32 (30:06 swim/1:13 bike/42:29 run).  We stayed around for the awards ceremony where I was awarded with a Timex GPS watch.  This race was top notch and really a great experience, the whole city seemed excited about it, there were banners about it everywhere.  They also had some great sponsors that gave away some great stuff in the race packets as well as awards.  The overall winners got a brand new Mini Cooper and a $7,000 gift certificate.

Award Ceremony

Later that afternoon, we watched the pro women's race.  It turned out to be a phenomenal race with an exciting finish.  This race has one of the biggest prize purses, so it attracts the best of the best.  It was cool to see the men and women that you read about in the magazines.  If you can believe it, the top male and female in the pro races each earned $150,000.

Unfortunately we had to start the trek home before the men's race began, though I heard it wasn't as exciting as the women's race.  We got a couple hours done that afternoon and then got home around 5:00 the next evening.  Thankfully our trip home was uneventful.  I can't say thank you enough to my mom, she was a lifesaver in so many aspects.  I couldn't have don it without her support, encouragement, and money :-) (after I lost my wallet).  Now I've got one more race before this season wraps up and I am so glad that it is local.  It is the Santa Rosa Island triathlon on Oct. 1.  It's one of the finest races around and right in our backyard. 

Vermont Part 2: Nationals Race Report

Saturday August 20th was race day.  I was in Burlington, VT for the USATriathlon Age Group Nationals race (1.5k swim/40k bike/10k run).  This was the third year in a row I've competed in this race (the first two were held in Alabama) and I always look forward to coming back to it.  It's fun to race against some of the best age group athletes and the competition is always fierce.

Transition stayed open until 7:30 and our hotel wasn't too far away, so we were able to sleep in until 6:00.  I had checked my bike in the day before, so I didn't even have to worry about getting it packed up.  Once we got to the race site, there wasn't any parking close, so Matt dropped me off and went to hunt down a parking spot.  By the time I got all of my stuff set up in transition, Matt was back and we headed over to the swim start.

Swim- 28:57 (47/77 in age group)

I was in the second to last wave, so I had to wait around for quite a while.  The one good thing about that was I got to see the first few waves go through the entire course which helped because it was a little confusing at first glance.  I grabbed a last minute GU and when it was finally time for my wave to go, we jumped in, treaded water for about five minutes, then took off.  About halfway through, we made a turn straight into the sun and I couldn't see a thing.  I started just following the group around me because I had no idea where the next bouy was.  I ended up going a little wide and wasted some time looking for the bouy which hurt a little, though I'm sure pretty much everyone had the same problem.  The swim was in Lake Chaplain and it was beautiful, though that wasn't something I  really got to appreciate until I saw the pictures afterwards :-). 

Bike- 1:10:23 (24/77)

I had driven the bike course the day before the race and was a little nervous after seeing how hilly it was.  It was a lollipop-shaped course and the first half was tough!  We had a little bit of a headwind and a lot of climbing, but once we hit the turnaround, it was pretty nice.  We still had a few climbs, but the majority was flat or downhill.  I was passing a lot of women, but most of them were from the 30-34 age group that had gone in the wave before us.  I only noticed about 8-10 girls in my age group that I passed and with the way that the course was, it was hard for me to get an idea of whether I was in the front, middle, or back of my wave.

Run- 40:59 (13/77)

Right out of T2 there was a killer hill.  For those of you who have done grandman, it was similar to that hill, but a little longer.  Once I got over that, got my legs under me, and took in a GU I felt surprisingly good.  I wasn't sure what to expect after the tough ride.  The run course wasn't too bad, after the first hill, there was just a gradual uphill until about halfway through after which it was pretty flat.  A lot of the run was on a bike path with some parts shaded which was nice.  The lack of humidity was great too!! 

Finish 2:22:49 (25/77 in my age group 112/664 overall females)

Once I finished, I really had no idea how I had done, I felt like I had a pretty decent bike and run, but didn't feel great about the swim.  The good thing about this race is that you can get a print out of your results as soon as you are finished.  When I got mine, I was a little disappointed that I didn't finish in the top 20 in my age group (my goal going into the race), but I was glad to see that there was still a chance that I could get a spot to go to the World Championship race next October which I should hopefully find out within a week or two.

We really had a great time in Vermont.  It was a cool little town and some of the mountains and lakes were breathtaking.  As always, the race was well organized and top notch. 

Vermont Part 1: Road Trip

Last week me and Matt set out for Burlington, VT where the USATriathlon Age Group Nationals race was being held.  After 3,317 miles, 7 days, 12 states, and a few visits with good friends and relatives we are thankfully home.  We had so much fun, but by the last day were tired of driving and ready to sleep in our own beds again.

Day 1 (Wednesday)
We got kind of a late start leaving Pensacola because we had to stop at the tax collector's office on the way out of town.  We bought a new car the day before we left and had to get the registration and everything taken care of.  My old car's A/C was broken and it was on its last leg so we were happy to find something before we left for our trip.  We drove about 9 hrs to northeastern Tennessee where our friends the Osteens live.  Allison was my volleyball and basketball coach when I was in middle school.  We always have so much fun catching up with her an her husband and enjoy getting to see the kids so we were glad they were on the way.  It was nice to have a comfy bed and some delicious cookies right out of the oven.  We were spoiled.

Day 2 (Thursday)
Before we headed out, Jon and Allison made an awesome breakfast of whole wheat waffles and a ton of fresh fruit that we used to make fresh juice.  Unfortunately we couldn't hang around too long as this was our long day of driving.  It was a thirteen hour drive from their place to our hotel in Burlington.  The drive went pretty smoothly, it was just long.  We got to our hotel around 10:30 that night.

Day 3 (Friday)
I woke up Friday morning and did a quick spin on the trainer followed by a short run outside.  The weather was so much nicer than Pensacola, cooler and no humidity.  After breakfast, me and Matt drove to a lake that was about 45 minutes away from our hotel so I could get a short swim in.  The lake was beautiful, surrounded by trees and mountains. 

That afternoon, we drove over to the expo/packet pick-up to pick up my numbers, swim cap, chip, etc.  Then we went to check my bike in.  Once that was taken care of, we drove the bike course so I could get an idea of what to expect.  There were some beautiful views along the way that I made sure to enjoy because I knew I probably wouldn't even notice them during the race.  I also realized it was a pretty hilly course which made me a little nervous.

Checking my bike in

One of the views from the bike course

Day 4 (Saturday)
This was race day.  (I'll have more details about the race in my race report).  After the race was over, we went back to the hotel, got something to eat, and got cleaned up.  Then, we found a place where we could rent kayaks on Lake Champlain. That lake is huge and some of the views are breathtaking.  We paddled around for about an hour and a half before we headed over to the race award ceremony.

Day 5 (Sunday)
We checked out of our hotel on Sunday morning and headed out for Gales Ferry, CT where I lived until I was eight years old.  I hadn't been back there since 1998 so I had a blast driving around to all of the old, familiar places.  We stopped by our old house, my elementary school, the base my dad used to work at, and some of the places we used to go for fun.  Everything seemed so much smaller than I remembered.  That evening we stayed with my Aunt Janet and her husband Brian.  They made us an incredible dinner, which was a nice change from fast food.  We also got to see my cousin Robert and his wife who also happened to be passing through. 

Day 6 (Monday)
There is a reservoir right down the road from Janet and Brian's house, so me and Matt woke up around 5:30 and went for a run around it.  It was beautiful, we ran over the dam and mostly on trails as the sun was coming up.  After a quick breakfast, we headed out on what we figured would be about a five hour trip to Pennsylvania.  It ended up taking closer to eight hours due to some bad traffic. We were so happy to finally make it to my aunt and uncle's house.  We went to dinner with them and enjoyed a nice evening catching up.
They are always great hosts and made us feel like we were at home.

Day 7 (Tuesday)
The plan for today was to drive back to the Osteen's house in Tennessee, spend the night with them, and then finish the trip up on Wednesday.  However, we were making good time and when we got about an hour and a half away, we started contemplating just driving straight home.  As much as we hated not getting to visit with them again, we really liked the idea of not spending another full day in the car.  We decided to go for it and after a full day of driving, finally made it home at about one o'clock in the morning. It was late and we were exhausted, but glad to be back.

Music City Tri

I had the opportunity to travel to Nashville, TN this weekend to compete in the Music City Triathlon.  Me, my mom, and Matt drove up to Nashville on Saturday and stayed with my mom's friend Michelle.  She was an incredible hostess.  She made us a gourmet dinner of baked chicken, potatoes, grilled asparagus, and rolls, got us set up with fruit and bagels for race morning and the drive home, and even gave up her bed for us to sleep in.

The race was put on by a company called Team Magic who always do a phenomonal job.  The last time I did this race was three years ago, but it wasn't a very good experience.  There was a tropical storm on the way and on race morning it was really windy.  They ended up canceling the swim and the bike ride was awful, there was a bad crosswind and it was rainy.  This weekend, however, was much different.  On race morning, we woke up to skies that were a little overcast, but didn't look like they would turn into rain.  We drove downtown (transition was in one of the parking lots of the Tennessee Titans' staduim) and got everything ready to go.  I was racing the Olympic distance race (1500m swim/40k bike/10k run) and my mom was racing in the sprint distance (400 yd swim/20k bike/5k run).

Lining up to get in the water

Swim- 31:10 (31st female)

The swim was a rectangle shaped course in the Cumberland River, which wasn't the cleanest river.  Half of it was against the current and half was with it.  The part that people had the most problems with were the short sides where we were perpendicular to the current.  Watching some of the people before me, they were getting pushed by the current and swimming way wide of the bouys, so I knew I would have to sight often and "crab" as my dad calls it or swim diagnolly so I would end up going straight.  I didn't feel that great and was disappointed with my time which was a few minutes slower than usual, but was happy to get on my bike.

Part of the swim course

                                                                                     Bike- 1:10:52 (7th female)

The bike was a 20k loop that the sprint distance racers did one loop of and we did two loops of.  The course had rolling hills throughout, with a couple pretty big ones in there.  It was really nice because the majority of the course was on a highway that was completely closed to traffic and had just recently been paved.  I took a GU at the beginning and drank about a half a bottle or so of HEED throughout.  I should've drank more, but I always feel like I'm drinking more than I am until I go to empty out my bottle after the race, something I need to work on.  Anyways, I felt good on the bike, was able to catch a few girls, and really  enjoyed the course.

Mom finishing up

Run- 44:22 (4th female)

By the time I got to the run, it was about 10:00 and it was sweltering.  The course went through downtown Nashville and there were some killer hills.  Again, it was a 5k course that the sprinters did once and we did twice.  We hit the first big hill in the first quarter of a mile, we ran up to the top of a walking bridge.  There were two other pretty big hills and by the time I was done with the first loop, I was not looking forward to tackling them again.  I didn't end up with my fastest run time ever, but I was happy with it considering the heat and the hills.

Heading up the bridge

Finish- 2:30:36 (8th female)

I was happy to see mom, who had finished her race earlier, Matt, and Michelle cheering me to the finish.  I got some cold water, a cold water soaked towel, and waited around for the award ceremony.  My goal going into the race was to finish in the top five, which I didn't quite do, but ended up as the eighth overall female and second in my age group.  My mom had a great race and got first in her age group.  Though I didn't quite have the race I had hoped for, I had a lot of fun and recognized some areas that need to be worked on.  I have about three and a half weeks left to prepare for nationals up in Vermont and I can't wait!