Sunday, September 27, 2009

Colby Triathlon Race Report

Saturday was my last tri of the season. The Colby Tri has to be one of my favorite races! It is low key, lots of fun, and always the last race of the season.

I had my toes done Friday night. A little pre-race ritual when I'm really excited about a race. I laid out all my gear Friday night as well. Packing was tough as it was suppose to be fairly chilly Saturday morning. Well, fairly chilly it was!! It wasn't even 40 when I arrived at the race. It did warm up a little by the start but it was by no means even close to being warm.

I checked in, got body marked, set up transition, went for a warm-up run, and then into my wetsuit. Did a quick warm up swim and then waited for the start. As I stood on the dock, I was thinking of the advice my best friend gave me ... "Lay it all out there, don't leave a thing behind ... end the season on a high note."

Alright, show time. When they said go I went. I swam harder than I have ever swam before in a race and I survived! Something to take into next season for sure. Into T1 and out on the bike. I had not been on my bike for almost 6 weeks so it took me a bit to feel good, but once I warmed up things went fairly well. I didn't break any records, but I went as hard as I could at the time. I did drop my chain around mile 11, but I was able to put in back on in seconds. Into T2 and out on the run. My feet were pretty cold from the bike but overall I felt good. I met Catherine coming in for the overall win as I was heading out. She looked great. A few minutes after that I met Nicole coming in for her second place finish. We did a quick high five as we passed. I was feeling really good on the run and after the turnaround really pushed the pace. As I was coming in for the finish Catherine and Nicole had both come up to the road to cheer me on ... always nice to be racing with your teammates. Finished 6th female and 1st in my age group.

As I was getting in my car, Catherine rolls down her car window, leans out and says, "Season's over. Now what do we do?"

Good question.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

What if ...

Shel Silverstein said, "Last night, while I lay thinking here, some what ifs crawled inside my ear and pranced and partied all night long and sang their same old what if song."

We all run the what ifs through our mind ...

What if we had done more
What if we had done less
What if we had said no
What if we had said yes
What if we were better
What if we were less

Does it ever make any difference? My thoughts, no. All the what ifs do is take up a lot of time and energy. Life is what it is ... roll with it, accept it, live with it. We are all just who we are and we all just do what we do. Does everything happen for a reason, well that's a topic for another day ...