Santa Cruz Tri 2015

  It was a beautiful sunday morning down at the beach.  The clouds rolled back, the fog had lifted, and it was pretty calm over the water.  I couldn't have asked for better conditions for this little sprint triathlon (1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run).  Though I've done a number of these before and it's short, it's always a big deal doing any sort of race these days.  There is so much more to training and showing up like we did sans kids.   Coordinating the logistics surrounding bringing all the kids down to the race, finding time to do any sort of "extra" training (impossible), and then of course getting over the mental hurdle of swimming in the ocean that is not Hawaiian.

  I remember clearly my first big race after having Hannah.  Having her obviously was a huge deal, but taking back ownership of my body by training and racing again, and then finishing that half marathon was one of the most incredible things I've done for myself.  I remember feeling so empowered after doing it.  Not to mention it was the funnest half marathon I've ever done because I was in really good shape.

  All that to say, even though I've done a bunch of these in summers past, getting back at it after 2 years made this one a big deal to me still.  Lots of pics to follow, and don't worry, I'll only give you half of the play by play.  :)

      There were supposed to be 3 of us, but sadly one of us was hurt.  :(  Next year!

  She has tall girl problems, I have short girl problems.  She couldn't decide whether she wanted to be up or down, so there were a lot of pictures of us laughing and her bobbing up and down. 

  They love the beach! 

  Mike grabbed this pic right before I had to line up.  Poor Calvin didn't want to let go of me.  First of all, he was obsessed with the wet suit, but second of all he was genuinely scared that a shark was going to get me.

   I didn't even think about how this was going to be a beach start and I totally freaked.  It ended up okay, but I know I annoyed Lia with how much I kept talking about the beach start.

   I was SO tired after my swim.  Usually it is my best event, but I wanted to be done halfway through.  I was breathing so hard after and then we had a good distance to run to get to the transition. I blame it on the beach start!

  This hill was the only thing about the race that I didn't like.  The transition was right at the bottom of it so we had to run up it to mount our bikes, and then after biking we had to dismount and run/walk it down the hill.  With cleats on and wobbly legs.  Not a fan.

  I am pretty competitive, but I also was having a lot of fun.  Stopping to wave and chat.  And of course, looking for the whale that was near shore that I finally saw on the last loop of the bike.  On the first loop, I could see it moving underwater and there were birds flying right above.  And it was obvious there was something out there because there were spectators lining the cliff with their cameras up and ready and tons of boats out in the water.  On the last loop, I looked again and I first saw it's little fin, and then it's head and huge mouth came up out of the water and I was so excited I squealed.  The other racers were def looking at me.  :)

  I can turn on the serious and hammer (well, not so much on the bike), but if I'm not having fun then what is the point?  I've spent many years racing and training and not having fun.  No time for that.

  Final stretch, I had been eyeing the girl behind me and when I finally caught up to her and saw her age on her leg, I felt like I didn't have to keep pushing.  She was 40, and so she wasn't in my age group. :)  But then she said something to me like, "power me in" and then turned it on and so I couldn't let her beat me after I caught up to her.

Serious race mode.

Fun finished face.  I even surprised myself with second in my age group.

  The best thing about sprints is that you can just go hard and not have to worry so much about leaving anything in the tank.  There is little opportunity to suffer since everything is pretty short.  Sprint tris are definitely my second love in terms of sports (swimming first), and every time I dip my toes in the water I get that bug again.  So fun!

Have a great monday!