I laid out all my clothes the night before as I usually do before a race and I was in bed by 10:30 I think. My alarm was set for 6:00 giving myself 15 minutes to get ready and leave in the morning. I threw an English muffin in the toaster with peanut butter for breakfast and out the door I went.
There wasn't really any traffic that early in the morning so I ended up getting to the race around 6:50 giving myself plenty of time before the start of 7:30 am. I met up with Victoria and Jessica before the start of the race and warmed up 100 meters since it was only a 300 meter swim. This was the first time I have swam in a long course pool so I was in a little bit of a panic mood during warm-ups. I was thinking .. were is the wall?
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| With Jess before the start of the race |
They lined us up from fastest to slowest swimmer. We had seeded ourselves on our time, so if everyone was honest who knows? We were doing a snake swim in 3 lanes, so it was there and back in one lane, then under the lane line. Swimmers went in the water one at a time every 15 seconds. I ended up passing the guy infront of me not even half way down the first lap (why did he put himself near the front)? I ended up passing another 3 people in the pool and got stuck behind one of them doing the front crawl until I could get around him which was more than a little annoying. Overall I was happy with my swim and the race went better than my small warm up. I wish I was swimming in a pool for the tri.
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| Looking at my # to know my line up |
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| I'm out of the pool |
Before I knew it, I was out of the water at about 6:10 on my watch. I ran over the transition area and Jason ran with me as he was cheering me on :) I didn't bring a big enough towel and just sat on the ground and got leaves and stuff all over my butt (oh well). It was pretty hard to get my socks on while my feet were wet, but I think this was a great learning experience! I have no clue how long the transition took me? But I know the guy who ran barefoot was in and out in a blink of an eye.
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| Belt is on..score! |
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| my butt is getting grassy |
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| yep, there's crap all over me |
Once my shoes were on I was on the run. My heart rate was still up pretty high and it took a couple minutes into the run to catch me breath. I crossed the one mile mark at 7:45 and this is were all the hills really started to began. And I'm not talking little wimpy hills, they were kick ass ones! The girl I ran past said to me: "what goes down, must go up." I was like, ugg, I know! I'm not sure what my pace was on the hills because I used my old timex watch, but I felt like I was walking. It also didn't help that this was a super small race - 40 people total! So on the run no one was around you and it didn't feel like a race, so it was hard to keep pushing myself. I saw Victoria and Jessica about 1.5 miles in as they were in front of me since they started in the pool first. I thought I might be able to catch up to them, but yeah not a chance they were too far in front and I still had to do the turn around. The turn around was of course at the bottom of a hill, so I had to joy or running back up it. I hit the two mile mark at 16 minutes. So my second mile was slower than the first. Then I got lost and went the wrong way and one of the other runners was yelling at me form far back that I needed to turn. opps. My last mile was pretty slow and the last 200 meters another runner ran next to me and said: "lets sprint to the finish line together!" So we did :) I finished my 5k in 25:35. Not my best 5k, but whatever I suppose.
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| At the finish |
Total time was 33.23 according to the race site and I came in second!!! Hooray for small races! I have never placed in a race before! I actually don't think I have gotten second in anything since I was a gymnast. Too bad I actually didn't know they were having awards and left about 20 minutes after I crossed the finish line. I didn't find out I got second until I was on twitter and that we got Luluemon gift cards! OMG lulemon gift cards. I emailed the race director and he is going to mail mine for me :)
Overall this was a great race and great practice for the tri this weekend.
Woo-hoo gift cards! And that's a pretty good 5k time for being after a swim and through so many stupid hills.
ReplyDeleteCongrats! The lulu gift card is an awesome prize.
ReplyDeleteI get SO cranky in pool swims when people don't seed themselves correctly (ahem, DC training tris). Actually, who am I kidding, I hate sharing a lane with pretty much anyone.
Congrats on getting second place - I love small races! And it's even more exciting that you get a gift card.
ReplyDeleteMy wet feet/sock tip is to turn them halfway inside out when you set up your transition area. Then you only have to stick your feet into the toes and pull the rest of the sock on. My brother told me this before my first tri and I think it definitely makes it a bit easier!
congrats! That's a great time and awesome prize!
ReplyDeleteCongrats! And Allison's tip is a good one. I'm going to have to use that!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome, congrats! Haha, yeah, the only time I have ever placed was when i twas in a really small 5k. I was mad, too, because I could see the one woman in front of me and I was going to go catch her after the big hill we were running up when I saw her, but I didnt realize the course was actually a lot shorter than an actual 5k distance (I think my normal 5k time is around 24/25 mins, and my time for that race was like 18:30!) so as soon as we got up the big hill we turned the corner and we were instantly at the finish line. Blast! Haha:).
ReplyDeleteThat's SO awesome that you won a LuLu lemon gift card, wow! My small race I didn't even win anything, haha:).