Circle Tri

There are so many things I liked about this race.

#1 is my shiny new PR!  Yay!  I did better on the bike and T1 and it made a minute and a half difference.  I was slower in the swim, better than last year on the run but not as good as the first year I did it and slightly slower on T2.  But overall - victory!  They don't give age group awards here but I would have been third at best out of not many.  The woman who came in first in my age group was FAST!

Let's start with the swim.  It was so peaceful this morning.  Finally it got started. Waiting for the start just increases my nervousness.  There were people doing one for the first time and I suspect they were more nervous!  The swim went okay. I started out too fast and made myself slow down as that whole breathing too fast thing isn't comfortable in the water.  Apparently one guy had to get in the canoe in the heat before mine. I didn't see it thank goodness. One guy I was talking to after told me it made him feel good as it all went just the way they said it would in the pre race meeting if someone was in trouble.  Good to know.  I thought the course looked long and I do think I'm getting better about knowing the distance.  But it was the same for all.  I passed some people in this race. Really!  Of course MANY passed me. I was in wave 7 out of 10 and waves are random so faster swimmers can be after you for sure.  I did the breast stroke mostly. I can see better, I like my breathing better, I can't see weeds.  It was a little weedy but I told myself to get over it, it wasn't terrible.  Plus I have a song I sing to get my mind off the weeds.  So my time was 13:05 which includes a run to transition.  Last year it was 12:27.  Oh well.  I was 147/189.  Hey, that's quite a few people I beat. 

 BUT my transition was awesome. It was 2:35.  Last year it was 3:27. The year before 4:27.  Lots of improvement there.

Then it is my happy time because I am on the bike. This course is 12 miles and takes me about the same as the 14 mile one near my home. It is HILLY!  I heard some guys talking ahead of time about how hilly it is and they were surprised it was pushed for beginners.  I lose some time on the downhills as I am not brave particularly when I don't know what is around the corner.  There are two major hills and lots of more minor ones.  I passed 24 people, you know how I like to count.  I was 112/189.  My time was 49:33.  Last year this was 51:01. The year before 52:19.  Oh yeah! My pace was 14.5.

T2 seemed fast but my time was 1:43 to last year's time of 1:21. Oh well.

Then it was time to run and I felt surprisingly good.  My first mile was 9:30. I did slow down after that but it was better than I have been doing. I was 26:18 for 2.7 miles.  I was 134/189.  This was better than last year at 26:29 but not as good as my first year.  My pace was 9:45.

Overall I was 1:33:14.  Last year I was 1:34:45 and my first year 1:36:21. I love improving!  I was 122/189 overall.  Yay!  I am thrilled.

I hung around some after and ate blueberry pancakes and home fries.  Then I was leaving but I watched the cutest little kids first running in from the water to ride bikes.  They were seriously little and seriously brave. There were also some older women and at first I was confused.  But there are three races and you can choose anyone of them, no matter your age. You can do a really short race which would usually be offered only to kids.  The women looked so excited!

Then I went to Dunkin Donuts, race kit on, medal on, number still on.  There was an older woman there and a school age girl.  The woman thanked me profusely for doing the race.  It is for girls who don't have opportunities to go to camp, do this mentorship program this lady was involved with and other stuff.  This woman said she had been meeting with her mentee for years but this was the first time they had watched the race. I was already sold on this race but the appreciation of this lady made me think I need to come every year. This year I had some hesitation but I  won't next year.

The day before the race I walked around Plymouth where I got my undergraduate degree. I was so happy to be walking around with those wonderful memories on such a great day.  Here are just a couple of pictures I took of that.

*****I hit 500 miles on my bike for August! This is definitely a high for me.