What A Race

This has been an amazing trip so far. Last night we had our pasta party and it was wonderful. Our teammate and my mentee Ted was honored for the fact that he is now a triple crowner (century ride, marathons and tris) as well as actively going through cancer treatment. He is amazing and it was wonderful that he got that recognition in front of all 311 TNT participants. As a whole we raised 1.3 million and that pasta party always reminds me of the reason we are there.
Another fun part was running into a girl that I have not seen in 8 years that I used to work with. SUCH a small world. Partway through the party Chris McCormack (the Tom Brady of Triathlon, former IRONMAN champion and record holder on our course) sat right in front of me. So of course I harassed him for a picture. I think we impressed him so much because he is now crashing our after party where I am sure will lead to more pictures, and since there will be alcohol involved, most likely pictures of me doing inappropriate things in the pictures.
We woke up at 4am and were good to go, met up with the team. We did our thing, pumped tires, stapled bike numbers then rode to transition. As you can see from the pic above the sun rose over Mount Kea ( or Koa can't remember) and it was beautiful. I got to do some pro stalking and got pictures of my favorite female triathlete Bree Wee who also won the race!
We got marked up and did our thing (record here! I did not have diarrhea once!!!) By 7:33 Bri hit the water and I was about 6 minutes behind him or so. The swim was just amazing. I got kicked and punched and all that but its only because our biggest obstacle was coral that was very close to us so there was alot of moving around as to avoid some nasty cuts. I spent the first half getting into the groove and then the shoulder started acting up. I took some deep breaths (out of the water, not in it) and just went for it and enjoyed myself. It was like snorkeling, so many fish to see and the occasional foot in the eye.
The transition went smoothly, I used some water to wash off my feet and threw on my bike gear and was off and running. The prayers to the wind gods were answered. The wind was remarkable. It was pretty much only strong once in a while and provided either nothing or a bit of a tail wind which I'LL TAKE!! I saw Brian a few miles before the turn around so I knew he was cooking and I was releived because HIS STUPID WHEEL was broken when we got up this morning. His spokes keep coming loose and as a result ended up in some bad situations while training. He had a new wheel made but apparently that one sucks too! Luckily a teammate had a wrench and basically put a band aid on it with a "this might work or this might not". Brian was cookin and I was so proud of him. I was having a ball on the bike. I was singing, taking requests (afterall I have been training that way) and tried to hammer it as much as possible (despite having grown small balls again, must figure out why I keep getting saddle sores). At about mile 20 on the bike was when it happened. Almost every race I get this overwhelming sensation and I know then that my mom is there with me. It always catches me by surprise. Of course I soaked it up, shed a few happy tears, thanked her and asked her to push me in, and a push I got!
In T2 I decided I should throw on socks which took a while for me cause I kept falling over. I ran out so quickly that I forgot my handheld water bottle. Our coach has been hammering this into us all season and I have trained all year with it. It is not to drink out of, but strictly to pour over your head. Of course I forgot it and realized it while I was not even 25 yards out of transition. So I ran my little behind back to transition and grabbed it, probably lost a few minutes there but it was worth it!
The run starts off through the black lava fields (aka its hot as shit) but it was not as hot as I expected and not half as hot as Vineman last year. THANK YOU SUN GODS!! I had a great pace going, almost always under a 10 minute mile. At about mile 3 I saw Bri just after the turn around and knew I could catch him. I was feeling great. That was also about the time that I saw a fellow teammate, well heard her really as she was wheezing and pretty much having an asthma attack. There was no chance I was leaving her. At that point I knew I would still hit my goal (to beat my last olympic tri time which was over 4 hours) so I stayed with her. Did Reiki on her back while we walked and ran along side her squirting her down as we ran. It was worth it because I know she would not have left me either and I am here as a part of a team that I love very much, and that is what teammates do. UNTIL the last half a mile. At this point I knew she would not die and she waved me on so I put the petal to the metal. I wanted to do a sand angel at the finish but there were way too many people there. Instead I did a Run run leap run leap run leap like the good old days at Susan Wright's School of Dance.
It was awesome. I finished in 3:26:06!!! Brian finished in 3:23 I'll get him next time!
Mahalo for all the support this season and for the continued support I receive. This race lit the fire and will only be race number one of the season as I am already signed up for another oly in June and a half iron in October.
Congrats to my husband on his first triathlon! If he had a bike that didn't suck so bad (maybe one as nice as his wifes) he would have done even better!!

We are off to the victory party and then leaving for Maui in the morning for some serious R & R!!

XOXO from the Big Island!