Smallest race - longest race report?

I'm sure I could write the longest race report ever, since I can write the longest blog on a day where nothing happens.

So Saturday was my big race! I didn't feel very prepared going in. Friday night I picked up my race package and read it. Just minor info about what to remember to bring and stuff. And where to go. We then went to my SILs to visit her baby. We ended up staying until 10:00 and then had to drive home. Not that big of a deal, but I hadn't packed really at all and gotten ready. So I just went to bed at 10:45 (already late for me) and planned on getting ready in the morning.

So Saturday morning I was wide awake at the first alarm. Nervous excited. Not worried. I packed up my towels, shoes, swim cap, goggles, socks, shorts and pants, tank, long sleeve shirt, coat. I also brought a little energy bar thing since I actually am out of raisins. Plus my MP3 player, it didn't say anything about yay or nay for these, and I thought I'd want it to keep the wind out of my ears when they're wet.

I overpacked, like I always do. brought another bag of clothes and shower stuff for after. and of course helmet and bike. And water bottles. I also decided that I needed to shave my armpits last minute and just did a dry shave. NEVER DO THIS THE DAY OF THE RACE!!!! I got a nasty razor burn that stung so bad for 2 whole days, the salt water pool didn't help. Plus having read stripes down your armpits looked worse than a bit of stubble.

So finally hubby and I get the SUV loaded up and head into the city. We needed to stop for coffee for him, and he got a donut which he ate in front of me. Boo. I had some toast earlier so I was ok.

Ok, get to the university, find a parking spot. Unload my bike and everything. Then the rest felt really fast and unprepared. I parked my bike beside a rack since I had a late heat and the racks were full already. In fact people were already racing and it was pretty cool to watch. I got to see which way to head out of the pool and stuff. Anyway, so I laid out a towel on the ground, next to my bike, I put my socks in my shoes, helmet on the bike with sunglasses in it. shorts on top of shoes, shirt on top of shorts, towel on top of it all. (this was nicely described in the race package or I would have had no clue.). So I just sort of put stuff there, lotion and whatever. Put my MP3 player in my coat pocket with the energy bar. Then went inside to register.

They markered my number on my leg and arm. I felt totally cool after that. Super hard core. I was 181. As you'll see here:

Got t-shirt that says "I tri'd" with little swimming, biking and running icons. I really like it. It's a bit big but all race shirts are aren't they?

Went to the pool, I was already in my swimsuit, but took off my outer clothes, put on my swim cap and goggles and watched the heat before me. They didn't have the lane dividers in which was dumb. Plus there were 4 people per lane so you had to try and figure out who was fastest in your group and start them first. Also lame. It just looked like chaos. I talked to a girl who was very nervous since she hadn't done any training in a couple weeks. I shared the thing I told my husband to tell me if I came in last or completely sucked "no you didn't come in last, the person who is still at home sleeping came in last".

Anyway, hubby was already chatting away with officials and other husbands and spectators. I hovered around him a little bit. Then it was finally race time. At about 8:45. My lane decided that I looked the fastest so I started first. The stagger was only like 4 seconds anyway.

So they told us to get in the water, and in about 30 seconds we started. I thought we'd be able to warm up and do a lap but no. It was just a sort of "ok go!" to start. So I take off. So excited I'm going way too fast. I breath every 3 strokes but I was pulling 4 before breathing. First lap was fine. Then the next I passed my whole group. Seriously. I tapped them on the foot like you're supposed to, then did breast stroke behind them until the wall. It was very easy. So I passed them and did another lap. Then passed them again. It was sort of dumb. I swam fast for about 1 lap, then a length of breast stroke, then fast for a lap, then breaststroke. Silly. Unfortunately that made me lose count and I got to the wall and yelled at hubby if he knew what number I was on. Embarrassing, but oh well. He thought one more so I did it. He was probably right. But maybe not. I got out of the pool in about 2nd place. (there were about 24 people in my heat). So I then walked/ran outside to my transition area.

I dried off pretty quick since it was so cold outside (well relatively, it was about 10 degrees C maybe?) Threw some lotion on my face and arms, threw my clothes on, spent a long time drying my feet since I didn't want blisters. Did not put on my ear phones, or eat my energy bar. Also didn't do up my coat which was a mistake. And then walked my bike to where you get on. I should have jogged it I think. Anway, I was then off on the bike. I was biking no problem, passing people left and right (I think I might have been on my second lap and they were on their first or something, because I have no idea where all these people came from). I felt like a tool saying "passing" all the time to these women.

oh yeah, that reminds me in the pool, I tapped the one girl's foot so she got to the edge and waited, but there was another girl there when we got there and she was like "do you want to go ahead?" since I couldn't tap her foot 2 people ahead of me, so I was like "if you don't mind." What a weird thing for me to say! Anyway.

I was pushing it on the bike since the competative thing was kicking in. There was always somebody just ahead of me to pass so I'd push it to pass them and then there was somebody new. I worked much too hard on the bike. Because when it came to the next transition I was really out of breath. I took of my helmet and parked my bike (again walking, when I should have ran). Then I was running!

I've never started running as out of breath as I was. In all my training I've never huffed and puffed on the bike like that. weird. Made the run feel harder. Plus I was in race mode and pacing had no meaning. I tried to slow down a bit to get my breathing under control. It probably wasn't so bad, but I had no ear phones so it was all I could hear. I passed couple people on the run, I think they were second lappers. I couldn't see anybody ahead of me so I thought I was in first in my heat, apparently though there was somebody who finished ahead of me. Hubby was moving around a bit taking pictures for me and I finished my first lap on the run and he said silly things like "you're doing great, running in dead last, but doing great". Or "move it! she's right behind you!" when nobody's there. But with one lap to do on the run hubby said ok I'll see you at the finish line and then went that way. But got distracted by something because at the end I was racing him! I yelled out, "I'm gonna beat you!" and he ran faster. I sort of forgot about the sprint to the finish thing. It's ok though because that way we got a picture of it. It was hard because it was sort of a blind finish, couldn't see how far away it was until you were right there. Anyway, I guess I came in second in my heat, so I was like, "sweet, top 5%!" and hubby thought it was more like top 3% out of all the heats. YAY! And while I didn't expect to be competetive like that, all I could think about was how crappy the swim was and how much faster I could have done if I had my own lane. And who knows, maybe I did an extra lap!

I had to run the finish line twice because somebody walked in front of my "official" photo. I'm not sure if I get those, or if it's gonna be online or what. After the race they had snacks and stuff. I ate some candy, a banana, 2 cookies and then felt like crap. I did not need to refuel after a 30 minute race.

oh, as for time. it wasn't timed, and hubby didn't think to time me. no biggie. If we started on time, I finished in about 30 minutes. I heard that all distances were actually slightly shorter than "official" but that's ok too.

Anyway, we hung out for a little while. Visited the other girl I knew in the race. It's weird, we're really awesome in emails, joking and talking easily, but face to face, it's akward. whatevs.

So we then packed up my bike and transition area, hubby helping. And an official came over and told us that even though the race is over and this was just for fun, if it was serious, I might be disqualified because hubby was in the transition area. So if anybody has a race coming up, just to be safe, don't let anybody else in the transition area. this other guy there told us that was a bunch of crap and that the lady was high on her power. the race was over. But I guess better safe than sorry right?

So that is my awesome race report! Took longer to write than it did to run the race! ha!