Success at Lake San Antonio!

Wildflower #3. Check!!

What a great weekend we had! All of our team did really well. The weather cooperated just beautifully, and I finished my race in a respectable time (for me) with out any injuries or an aching butt. So all in all, I'd call it a success!

We got there on Friday, and it was drizzling on and off, which worried everyone. We set up camp and noticed that it wasn't that crowded and the energy levels seemed sort of low in Loop G of the campground. It never really got packed like it has been the past. Not sure if its the economy or it was the rain.

Saturday our Long Course team raced. Everyone finished and did really well. One of my mentees completed his first triathlon ever, and did it in under 6 hours. Amazing! Chris and I spent the day cheering folks on, chalking up the roads with TNT cheer, and trying to stay hydrated.

That evening, as is tradition at Wildflower (a.k.a the Woodstock of Triathlons), we had a group dinner, which was interrupted by a pack of streaking Cal Poly students. I don't know why, but this is just part of the Wildflower experience. Good times. No photos to share of that. Sorry.

Sunday 6am rolled around pretty quickly. I hadn't slept well, which was to be expected. My leg had started cramping in the night, so I actually woke up with a sore hamstring. But other than that I felt calm and collected and not too nervous.

My wave (the old lady wave) started at 10:40am. The first wave was at 9am, so there was a long wait to begin. And consequently, by the time I finished, the crowds for cheering had thinned. Another disadvantage of getting old . . .but I digress. It was about 72 or so when we started. And probably hit 80 by the time I was running. A mix of cloud cover and sun. Perfect!

My swim felt great. I didn't get the race panic that I often get when I first jump in the water. I found my stroke pretty quickly and had a great time swimming. I swam next to a woman pretty much the whole way who did breaststroke for the entire swim. Very impressive. But I couldn't draft off of her. Darnit! Coach Bill ran with me after the swim exit and it got my spirits up. Having people cheer you on at a race gives me an amazingly huge psychological boost.

The bike was terrific too. The sun had come out by then, but there was no wind. The hills were shorter than I remembered and I felt pretty strong. I did fly down a few of the hills at 40mph, which might be fastest I've ever gone on my bike. I dropped my chain right before the last decent back to transition. Lost a few minutes there fixing it, but in the end, I was quite happy with how that all went.

The run, as usual, kicked my butt. It was much harder than I remembered and my hamstrings were really aching. But I felt hydrated and pretty good, tired legs aside. Chris and the captains were in the "Pit of Despair" and ran with me up the hill, which definitely got my spirits up. I ended up having to walk parts of the 2nd half of the run. I also got passed by two 65 year old women. Sigh. The last mile is all down hill, but I was really having to dig deep to pick up any speed on it. I thought of Jasmina, Arylene, and Buck the whole way down. I thought of everyone who supported me and donated to my fundraising. I thought of why I do TNT each year. And I thought about the beer and ice cream I would get after I finished. All of it worked! I had enough in me to pick up the pace as I crossed the finish line!

My time was about 2 minutes slower than last year, but given all of the challenges I've had this season, I was quite pleased with my time. I placed 1993rd out of 3500 people, which is squarely in the "slow camp," but hey, I did it! Today (Wed) my legs are still aching a bit and stairs are a bit of a challenge, but it's all good.


Thanks to everyone who supported me. You guys helped me get across the finish line!!