Some photos from the race

Remember when I said I would have race photos up soon? Well, here they are. These pictures are only the ones that my parents took. I think the race organizers took photos as well. I'll have those up soon too.

I think this is the first time I posted photos on this blog. Now you all get to see what I look like. I'm sure you were dying to know.



The start of the swim. Just me and 750 of my closest friends.



Coming out of the swim. I am the one in the black swimsuit (not the wetsuit) just barely out of the lake.



Still coming out of the swim. In case you still haven't found me in the black swimsuit yet, I am the one with HUGE tan lines on my legs.



Running from the lake to the transiton area.



Running to the finish (this is when I picked up my pace from a walk to an almost sprint)!



Still running to the finish (now I'm sprinting- well, as much as I can after 4 hours of exercise)!



FOOD! (Yes, I look like crap after 4 hours of exercise in the heat. I think everyone does!).

I think the race orgainzers are going to have a lot more photos from between the swim and the finish. My parents weren't at the race site the whole time, so those are the only oppertunities they had to take pictures. Sorry if it seems like there is a huge gap in this photo-story!

Today's race: A brief report

I finished!!! I did my first olympic-distance triathlon today and I finished!!!

The race was really fun, but pretty tireing. I enjoyed every moment of it!

Some highlights of the race-

The swim: I accidently swam the half ironman course. Oops. Oh well, the lake was nice anyway. Apparently when I saw some people turning, I was supposed to follow them toward the finish line. I wasn't supposed to keep going straight!

The bike: My new road bike made the 25 miles fly by. At the end of the ride, I felt like I could have actually went farther! I even ended up passing a couple people during this bike ride (all on road bikes!) even though maybe 20 or so people passed me. I never passed anyone on a bike before! The hills also felt SO much smaller and easier to climb on the road bike!

The run: Whew! This was when I was starting to get tired! I pretty much ran/walked the entire course. The race also finished in 85 (ish) degree heat. I kept myself plenty cool with the water at the aid stations, but the run was still pretty tough. My next goal is to be able to run the entire course (without walk breaks) next time I do an olympic-distance triathln.

The finish: Wow! The finish was amazing. I couldn't believe I just did an olympic distance triathlon. I did a huge sprint to the end, followed by much eating, drinking of water, and when I got home- a shower, nap, and more food.

Today's race was great! I love this sport SO much!

Full race report (with pictures!) coming soon.

Ready to race!

Last running race: A 5K in the middle of December (In the middle of a blizzard! It was fun!).
Last triathlon: The OSU triathlon on May 4th.
Last swim meet: June 8th.
Last race of any kind: An open water swim race on June 28th I DNF'ed because I couldn't stand the cold.

As you can tell, it has been a long time since I last raced. It has been almost two months since my last swim race, and almost four since my last triathlon!

The whole summer I have done nothing but train, train, train. I have had some fun times involving great workouts and huge impovements on my fitness level; however, I am ready to race!

Just 11 days untill my first olympic distance triathlon!!!

I am so pumped!