The tri is over, as you all know.
My good friend from my Boston days, one Ms. Aileen Shen came and stayed with me a few days before the tri, during which we biked and swam for about 3 days straight. I don't think either one of us had worked out that much in awhile- we biked all over the city and swam quite a bit to get used to the lake. It was fun, and I really enjoyed "training" with her!
On Saturday, the day before the tri, we went to the expo downtown and were immersed in a triathlon frenzy. It was pretty amazing to see two rooms full of vendors of tri gear, (so much in one place!) and nutrition and bikes and people and spandex and wetsuits - and the freebies! We basically ate our lunch there. We also sat in on the course talk, which was really good to go through, as they told us all of the hazards and hidden rules of the course- like always wear your helmet when your bike is off the rack, watch out for potholes at foster exit, etc. Also, don't worry about the swim, every year people just hang on to the rope and pull themselves along (a huge relief for me).
Shen and I operate a lot alike. We kind of get caught up in the moment and forget practical things, like curbs, and walls, and eating a real meal, unlocking your bike before you ride away, and picking up your tri packet with all your numbers and chips and instructions before you leave the expo. That said, we spent more than the usual amount of time running around the huge expo getting things we forgot.
I also saw my coach and asked him if it was ok to cut my wetsuit bc it dug into my neck about 20 min into swimming, and hurt. He introduced me to the maker of the wetsuit, a very nice lady from Hawaii who explained it hurt then because my muscles (trapezius) were swelling up and probably digging into my wetsuit. She said I could get it altered, but for the race to just either not wear it or deal with it. So i dealt with it and it was fine.
Race mentionables:
After I got out of the water (everyone i was with in the back of the pack was extremely polite and nice and said excuse me when passing) I was running to transition, and my chip fell off. Luckily, I just happened to be passing my coach (side note- when I say coach, I don't mean just one coach, I have multiple coaches) and he threw me one of his chip ankle holders and it was fine. I might buy one for the next race bc they are nice.
On the running course I heard a lady exclaim "And I thought Chicago was flat! What's with all these hills?"
On the bike course there were HUGE potholes that didn't look very deep until you were right over them. That was fun. We biked on Lake Shore Drive, and it was lovely to check out the city.
I probably wouldn't have run as fast as I did on the run portion except there were these two girls in matching skirts in front of me and I wanted to beat them something fierce.
Shen beat me by 10 minutes, but she got lost in the transition trying to find her bike. One of her transition times was like 7 minutes. I asked her what she was doing in there, and she said "I was trying to find my BIKE!" hehe.
Hearing people shout "GO TEAM" was nice, but I wrote my name on my running jersey bc one of my teammates said that was nice bc then people would cheer for you, but it just creeped me out to hear my name from strangers. Probably won't do that again.
My dad, brother, sister in law, and a couple friends all made it down to see me, and it was great seeing their faces at the finish line.
More stories and pictures to follow! This blog is far from being over...
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