July 15, 2002

The Tri Bug

I think...I hope...I've infected Mom with the triathlon bug. We had a great time in Wichita Falls this weekend. On Friday, we arrived in WF around 8pm, went to the YMCA to pick up our race packets, then met Uncle Matthew at the Olive Garden for a carb-loading dinner. At Grandma's house, we prepped our race bags, checked the fit on Mom's new helmet, and went to bed around 11:30pm which was way too late considering we needed to be up at 5am.

Saturday was Race Day. Matthew was kind enough to give us a wake up call. I don't think he realizes how invaluable that was.....especially since he went back to bed before either Mom or I made it out of bed. I did have my watch alarm set. It woke me up right before Matthew announced the time....right after my alarm beeped, there was a quiet but long roll of thunder. I didn't know what (if any) rain plans the organizers had made, but their was only one way to find out. Mom and I got up, got dressed, and were at the race site by 6:15am. It had rained pretty hard at the Y in the early morning, but the weather had cleared by the time we arrived. The ground was all wet in the transition area, but at least it was on pavement (and not mud) and it did stop raining for the race. This was a really fun event. There were only 90 participants (more than twice as many as the 40 they had last year). The "trophies" were these big rocks that the race coordinator found in Colorado with brass plates labeled with 1st, 2nd, or 3rd and the age category. I think their were 7 or 8 people in my age group (25-34) and 7 or 8 people in Mom's (50-54). I'm not sure what place I won yet, but I do know that I didn't get a rock. I enjoy these races without placing in the top of my age group...if I ever want to be really competitive, I'll need to invest in a street bike.

Here are my personal stats for this race:

7th Annual Wichita Falls Sprint Tri
Swim (300M in pool).............................6m 40.2s
Transition 1............................2m 28.2s
Bike (15 miles).......................58m 13.2s
Transition 2............................0m 55.7s
Run (5K).................................. ..33m 16.4s
FINAL.......................1h 41m 33s

Mom doesn't have a watch to track her splits, but she finished in 2h 14m 36s....very nicely done for a first time tri-er.

Afterwards, we got cleaned up at Grandma's then went shopping (I was with Mom!). I bought us maching rhinestone, butterfly toerings as our own personal trophies for completing the tri. Then we both got really hungry so we grabbed lunch at the Olive Garden which made us crash energy-wise. So it was back Grandma's were we completely vegged for the rest of the night. It was great!

One last word about the race. In my heart, I know I owe my success to my darling Stepan (well, him and my training). He couldn't make the trip to cheer us on (and take our pictures), but before I left Austin, he hid a card and a big bag of M&Ms in my race bag. It was such a treat to find it - I love getting unexpected surprises and Stepan is fantastic at arranging them. What can I say?....he's my Sugar Bugar!

Posted by jfer at July 15, 2002 12:33 PM
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