Red Hills Triathlon

I opened up the triathlon season yesterday morning with the Red Hills Triathlon in Tallahassee, FL.  It was a sprint (short) distance race that consisted of a 1/3 mile swim, 16 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile run.  Me and Matt were both able to get off work a little early on Friday afternoon, so after about a 3 hour drive, we got to our hotel around 7.  I was excited about the race, running races are fun, but triathlons are on a whole other level.

Race morning, we got up a little before six, our hotel was pretty close to the race venue so we got a little extra sleep, and headed over to the Alfred Mclay State Park.  What we weren't expecting was the 20 minute walk from the parking lot to the transition area.  Once we finally made it to the transition area, I grabbed my packet, picked up my chip, got bodymarked, and set up my transition area. 

Getting ready to race

The race started at 7:30 and I was in the 5th wave.  We swam in a lake which was a little dirty, but I've been in worse.  With swimming being my worst event, I was glad to get it over with.  Once in transition, I struggled a little with getting my wetsuit off, and then was off on the bike.  The website had said that it was a hilly course, but it was even more hilly than I expected.  Most of it was rolling hills with a few pretty tough ones.  I felt pretty good and pushed as hard as I could.  The last event, the run, is always my favorite.  This course was pretty cool, the first and last mile were on pavement through the park and the middle mile was on a trail back in the woods.  I felt strong and was able to pass a few girls, but was caught by another girl in the last 1/3 mile.  I decided I was going to try to sit right behind her and hopefully outkick her at the end. I was actually able to just barely pass her on the last hill, but then, right before we got to the finish line, the road kind of forked and I started going down the wrong side.  I heard Matt start yelling at me, quickly cut over to the right side, and ran as hard as I could.  I thought for sure she would've passed me, I ended up beating her by 2 seconds.

 

Overall, I was happy with the race.  It was very well organized, had great volunteers, and a great atmosphere. Definately one I would do again! It was a good season opener and a good chance to get back into the groove of racing before some of the big races coming up.  It wasn't a very big race, but it had some strong competitors show up. I ended up as the 7th overall female and 2nd in my age group.