Gratuitiously Cute

So...it's been a while since I've posted gratuitously cute bunny pictures!

Awww, Mom...why do I have to take a bath?

All clean and cuddled up in a towel.

Playtime in the kitchen!

I swear I see another bunny.

I see one too!

All that fun makes us hungry!

Are you overloaded on cute yet?  No?  Okay...one more.

Shoreline Duathlon

I was so excited to race the Shoreline Duathlon on Saturday morning for the silliest reason: I finally got to wear my team tri top! It almost made the 4:45 am wake up time seem bearable.

Going in, I had exactly zero expectations for the run course.  They changed it up a bit from last year and now the run legs are substantially longer and feature the series of switchbacks twice: once going down hill and again...going up hill. 

The gun went off and I hauled ass, knowing that most of the first mile was flat or down hill and the big hill was going to kill my pace.  I hit Mile 1 in 8:11!  The course followed the Shoreline for about 1/10th of a mile before it began the wicked climb back up the bluff.  I ran for as long as I could, before power walking the rest of it.

As predicted...the hill killed my pace.

Once we reached the top of the hill we ran through the woods on the cross country portion of the course. It was cool and shady which made it a lot easier to recover my pace.  Before long, I was back on concrete and running into T1.

Run 1: 20:21

I flew into T1, threw on my helmet and bike shoes, and jogged out to the mount line.

T1: 1:45

Once I was out on the bike course, I spun easy for a little bit as I pulled on my gloves, took a drink, and settled into my saddle.  Last year, my legs felt like lead for the entire ride and I loathed every minute of the rolling hills.  This year was a complete 180. It was possibly one of the most perfect rides I've ever had. I passed people, rarely got passed, and only really struggled on a couple of random miles (mostly because my booty was getting kind of sore). I was almost finished, when I took a turn at about Mile 20.5 a little too fast, hit some gravel, and lost control of my bike.  The next thing I knew, I was laying on my right side in the gravel with my bike resting on my helmet.  The good news is that I didn't break any bones, my bike (once I fixed the dropped chain) was rideable - although the left brake hood, brake lever, and shift lever were unusable since they were bent inward and I had to ride with my handle bars sideways since the stem got knocked 90 degrees in the crash, and I managed not to tear my new tri top!

The bad news: A girl saw me crash and tried to stop to see if I was okay. Unfortunately, she stopped too fast and ended up crashing (and damaging her bike) herself.  I felt awful and apologized profusely as we both picked ourselves up and remounted our bikes. I limped my bike into T2 and have never been happier to be off the bike.

Bike Time: 1 hour, 17 minutes
Avg. Speed: 17.1 mph

Can you tell where the crash occurred?

I jogged my bike back to the rack and switched back to my running shoes, while simultaneously waving off the medical volunteer who asked if I wanted to get the scrape on my elbow looked at.  I promised I'd stop at the med tent...after I finished the race! 

T2: 1:41

The second run course was identical to the first; only in reverse.  The cross-country portion wasn't too bad and I did more running than walking and running the long hill down the bluff was my favorite part of the whole course - just like it was last year. The view of Lake Michigan was absolutely magnificent and I had one of those "This is why I do these things" moments. Of course, hitting the bottom of the hill meant having to go back up...via those miserable switchbacks.  I won't lie. My arm was hurting pretty bad and my legs were absolutely toasted, so I walked most of them. I hit the top and dropped right back down to a respectable running pace, knowing it was almost over. 

I took the final turn and broke into a sprint.  I was almost to the finish line when I heard the announcer say, "And here comes #121 from Tri Wisconsin...and it looks like she's sporting a little road rash!".  I felt a little rush of pride, to be recognized as a member of Tri Wisconsin, and it put a smile on my face as I crossed the finish line...less than 2 minutes behind Mr. R&R (the closest I've ever come to catching him in a race).

Run 2: 23:03

Official Finishing Time: 2:04:11

I made my way through the finishing chute, locating Mr. R&R and saying hello to Dr. Beast (who kicked some serious ass...as usual), before the vultures from medical insisted on looking at my arm.  The hydrogen peroxide stung like hell and when the girl scrubbed out the gravel, I may have been biting on my knuckles.  Before long, I was sporting a nifty little elbow wrap, collecting my stuff from transition (after hugging it out with my fellow crash victim) and was on my way to Emery's to drop my bike off to be fixed. 

The owner, Brent, was outside when we walked up (still in race clothes) and he took the time to assess the damage himself instead of handing it off to one of his guys.  We browsed the store as I steeled myself to hear a huge number and a long wait time to get my bike back in working order.  It turns out that in addition to knocking my stem out of alignment and bending the brake hood/brakes/shifter, I also managed to screw up the rear derailleur, and knock both wheels out of true (which doesn't surprise me in the least) - and the grand total to fix my idiocy was a whopping $45...and he'd have it done later in the afternoon!  Wow.  I mean just....wow. I've always had a really high opinion of Emery's, but this just raised the bar another notch.

All in all, it was a great day...now I just have to hope my damned elbow heals fast!

USAT Age Group Sprint National Championships

The USAT Age Group National Championships came to Milwaukee this weekend, featuring an Olympic distance race on Saturday and a sprint distance race on Sunday.  The Olympic distance event (which requires qualification) boasts an incredible field of top age-groupers and also serves as a qualifier for Team USA.  The sprint distance event was open to all age groupers and I had the chance to volunteer at it.  I originally signed up to volunteer on the run course along with the Iron Cheerleader and 3 other members of the Newbie Herd, but when we arrived this morning they were over-staffed on the run course and under-staffed on the bike course, so we agreed to help out there while the Iron Cheerleader stayed on the run course.

Our day began with a walk up the long hill onto the Hoan Bridge - which is normally closed to pedestrian traffic.

Once we were up top, we split into two groups to man the rubber mats covering the expansion joints on the bridge.

These nasty joints suck to drive over and are so wide that a bike tire could get caught and cause serious injury to the riders - especially at the speeds they were traveling downhill.

Our job was to direct the riders over the mats as they traveled both down the hill and back up it and to reposition the mat as needed - we had to do this quite often since all the bikes traveling over them made them move a lot!

From our position on the bridge, A and I had  great views of the swim venue, Lake Michigan, the City, and a water treatment plant.

Before long, the lead cyclist came over the hill.  From there on, there was a steady stream of athletes.  A and I were cracking up as they popped up from their saddles at our shouts of 'Speed Bump'!

Some of the athletes looked like they were hurting, and I didn't blame them. They'd had a rough climb to the top of the bridge and the knowledge that they'd hit the turnaround point and have to climb it again in reverse.  Others had the biggest smiles on their faces - like they couldn't believe that they were actually here...racing at the Age Group National Championships!  They were all incredible to watch.

A & I screamed and cheered for every single one of them, complete with an impromptu dance party and singing of Lady Gaga tunes, until the very last athlete made her way back up the hill.  She was last by several minutes, had the sweep vehicle right on her tail, and she didn't quit. That takes a lot of guts (at least in my opinion).

Once she passed us by, our duties were complete, so the four of us made our way back down to the finish area, grabbed a snack, and chatted about our race plans for the rest of the season - and next season!  The USAT Age Group Nationals will be in Milwaukee again next year, and we're all seriously considering going for it.  After all, how many people can say they raced in a national championship in their hometown?

Road Gunk, Graduation, and Warm Fuzzy Feelings

This week was a really nice mix of workouts, fun, and good food - with a side of warm, fuzzy feelings.

I may have pissed off a few people in the process, but I finally made it to the beach for open water swim practice tonight.  I signed in, pulled on my wetsuit for the first time in two weeks, promptly discovered that my Garmin was dead. Okay, not the most ideal situation, but I was willing to deal with it - I already knew the distance. Time...well...probably better not to know!  I waded in and spent a little time hanging out in the shallow area acclimating to the water temperature (cold) and hoping A would make an appearance so I'd have someone to swim with. I know I swam the same distance two weeks ago, but without the huge turn buoys, the course looked really imposing and scary.  It became obvious that A wasn't going to make it, so I had to screw up my courage and swim the whole thing solo.  I started out super slow, popped my head up a lot to sight (note to self: scratched up goggles suck in open water), and swam a lot of breaststroke so I wouldn't go off course, but I never had to flip onto my back (which is a sign that I'm either super tired or super freaked out)!  My reward for surviving a solo open water swim was a close encounter with a flock of ducks and dinner with Little Brother!

While I was thrashing around in the water on Monday night, Mr. R&R took his bike to Emery's in hopes of figuring out what has been causing him so much knee pain every time he rides.  After some adjustments to his pedals and cleats, he was sent on his way and told to come back if the problem wasn't solved.  We decided to go for a ride on Tuesday night to test it out.  We arrived at the Rail Trail just as a light rain was beginning to fall and decided to ride anyway. The 7 miles out wasn't too bad. My biggest complaints were low visibility (my glasses kept fogging up), road grit accumulating on my water bottle spout (If you want to experience it for yourself, roll your water bottle in a sandbox and then try to take a drink.), and water running down the back of my shorts!  The ride home was just an exercise in misery, but it was good practice both mentally and physically.  There's always a chance that it will rain on race day.

Not too bad for pouring rain

I think I'm doomed not to make it to track practice.  Once again, I found myself still parked at my desk when I should have been warming up.  The night wasn't a total loss though. Mr. R&R and I took a nice walk on the Eastside, grabbed dinner at our favorite Greek place, and stopped at Whole Foods to pick up greens for Walter and Spot.

Villa Terrace Museum at Sunset

And since it was the last day of July, I also tallied up my mileage for the month.
Swim: 5,720 yards (3.25 miles)
Bike: 59.31 miles
Run: 25.94 miles
Total Distance: 88.93 Miles
Total Time: 11 hours, 30 minutes

I wasn't really in the mood to run when I made it home on Thursday night, but eventually I talked myself into an easy 3.  I wore my Mirage 3's and had a great run as far as mile splits go. Unfortunately, I kept getting shin splints in my right leg (usually a rookie problem) and my right ankle was a little sore when I got home.  An icepack helped a lot.

The plan for Friday was to leave work (summer hours), hit the pool for a while, and meet a few of The Usual Suspects for drinks. What actually happened: I got sucked in by the gravitational pull of my bed and ended up taking a 2 hour nap before I met The Suspects!

On Saturday, the Newbie Herd celebrated our "graduation" at the Iron Cheerleader's house.  There were burgers, beers (so many varieties of beer, far too much fruit (this is what happens when you generically say 'bring a dish to pass'), and a few tears.  The first tears belonged to the Iron Cheerleader and then to the rest of us!  We all chipped in for a little "thank you" gift and it turns out that it couldn't have come at a better time for him.  He told us a the story of what had transpired the night before the party and by the time he was finished, there wasn't a dry eye in the place. It turns out that the Iron Cheerleader's Ironman training isn't going well at all.  He's drastically under-trained and the race is in 5 weeks - that's the blink of an eye in the scope of Ironman training.  He met with his life coach on Friday night and unburdened himself  to her about how badly things were going, how overextended he was, how he wasn't sure if he should continue leading the tri club's Newbie program next year, and that he was having serious doubts about his ability to finish his final Ironman, much less to break his PR - which was his goal from the outset. The life coach worked with him to evaluate and revamp his goals. Instead of chasing a monster PR, his new goal is to finish the race 1 minute faster than his current PR - and if he doesn't pull it off, he'll still finish and be proud to hear Mike Reilly call him and Ironman for the fourth time.  Apparently the life coach decided that that was also the moment to spring part of our gift on him.  She told him that he needed to believe in himself - after all, his most recent pack of Newbies believed in him enough to pay for the session that they were having that night - and the next one.   By this point, the Iron Cheerleader had tears running down his face and he thanked us for inspiring him enough to keep at it.  We were all stunned - and a little teary eyed as well.  When he opened our other little gift, he was shocked.  It turns out that he's been having massive bike problems - and our gift card to the bike shop we all use will help alleviate some of the financial burden of the repairs.  

After all the emotional stuff, it was time for cake!

The bakery couldn't spell, but the cake was good.

While we were munching away, the Iron Cheerleader mentioned that no one has ever been at his 3 previous Ironman's to cheer him on. Sure, there were other people from the tri team along the course, but no one had ever come out specifically for him.  Oops...we made him all emotional again when we told him that 4 of us had volunteered to work a water station during the marathon portion (our shift will likely be during the time that the pros will be on the course) and that after our shift, we were planning to be at the finish line (and possibly at another point along the course - which we haven't told him yet).  We want to be there to push him - the way he pushed us - and to see him become an Ironman for the final time.

Long story short: If you do good things for others, eventually others will do good things for you.

Sunday was kind of a lost cause. I was up at 6am to take Mr. R&R to the airport, did some yard work, spent over 4 hours removing viruses and other little nasties from my mom's computer, and had absolutely no energy left to swim, bike, or run.  Instead, I settled for cleaning my bike. It desperately needed it after Tuesday night's rain ride. Between rainwater, chain grease, road grime, and sweat it was GROSS.

A mixture of chain grease and rainwater

I hosed. I scrubbed. I de-greased. I de-greased again while scrubbing with an old toothbrush and getting spattered with lots of icky stuff.

Nasty road grime in my rear derailleur and cassette

It took forever to get all the gritty crap out of the chain, cassette, and derailleurs. Every time I thought I'd gotten all of it, I found more.  Eventually, I deemed it "clean enough", reattached my front wheel, polished the bike, and hauled it back to the basement so I could put it in the trainer and re-lube the chain.  Normally re-lubing is a two person operation. One person sprays and wipes. The other turns the pedals and runs through the gears so everything gets greased. Since I was on my own, I did a lot of hopping on and off the bike, but so far I think it worked out.  I guess I'll find out the next time I take it for a ride!

Back At It

This week marked my return to formal training for a road race, which meant a lot more running and a lot less swimming and biking.  I have 9 weeks to whip myself into half marathon shape, which seems like quite the project since I royally slacked on running long distances while I was tri training.  There will still be some swimming and biking mixed in because a) I don't want to lose the gains I've made in those sports over the last few months. b) I've finally found forms of cross training that I actually like. and c) I still have 2 more multi-sport races on my calendar this season.

I got out of work much later than planned on Monday night, so making it to open water practice just wasn't in the cards.  I was pretty bummed since A and I had planned to meet up and swim together.  As it turns out, she got buried at work as well, so maybe we just weren't meant to be there tonight!.  Mr. R&R asked me to run with him tonight - or at least make an attempt at it since on my best day I can barely keep up with him on his worst day. He slowed down to my snail pace and we did 6 miles together.  The first 4 miles were good. The last 2 sucked.  My run endurance is a disaster and my speed is pretty abysmal, but I made it.  The next few weeks are definitely going to be a challenge.

My Tuesday plan was 3 miles, but I realized that I needed to go out to my favorite running store to pick up a pair of shoes that they'd ordered for me.  When I arrived, I discovered that Adidas did something awful to my shoe model (Adizero Tempo) this year!

They look like a freakin' flamingo exploded all over them!

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it here, but I. Do. Not. Like. Pink. - especially when it comes to sportswear. I go out of my way to not buy anything pink, but it's getting harder and harder since most sportswear companies have decided that 'all girls love pink and only want to buy pink things'. I had resigned myself to sucking it up and wearing these things if I had to, but in a last ditch effort to avoid the flamingo shoes, I agreed to try on shoes from a different brand that had a similar weight and stability profile.  Meet the Saucony Mirage 3.

Love the colors!

They felt really good when I tried them on - and really good when I took them for a tiny "test run", so I decided to give them a try.  There's definite learning curve involved since the drop (heel height) in the Adizero's is 12mm and it's only 4mm in the Mirage.  Essentially, I need to re-train my leg muscles to compensate for the 8mm difference. This is fine with me since I've been wanting to move to a more minimalist shoe for a while now. While we were there, Mr. R&R came across a pair of Saucony Hattori's on clearance and picked them up. Talk about crazy shoes - they have a 0mm drop. They're basically the next best thing to running barefoot.

They look like slippers!  Those really have a learning curve - as in don't wear them more than a mile at a time until you're used to them and then work up slowly from there.  Of course, this meant that we needed to take our new shoes out for a run!  1 mile was just fine by both of us.  I noticed that the toe box on the Mirage is a bit more narrow than I'm used to and my legs definitely felt every bit of that 8mm, but I think with a little time, I'll get used to them.  If it doesn't work out, I'll be ordering last year's Adizero online.  Mr. R&R, on the other hand, will be using his Hattori's very sparingly since his calves still hurt two days later!

Another crazy day saw me still sitting at my desk at 6pm - and track practice starts at 6pm.  This whole "stuck at work" thing is really getting old.  By the time I finally made it home, a nice, soothing swim sounded like the best idea I'd had all day.  I threw my suit, goggles, cap, and towel in my bag and hightailed it to the pool.  I hit the water and swam 1200 yards. I contemplated sticking around and swimming another 400 to make it another even mile, but I was getting pretty hungry, so I called it a night and headed home.

Thursday and Friday were spent on the couch. I've felt a little run down lately, and I decided that getting a few solid nights of sleep sounded better than ending up sick and sidelined.  That made the photo below seem like a good idea late on Friday afternoon.

I'm pretty sure it's acceptable to drink at your desk when your boss hands you the beer.

On Saturday morning, I woke up and thought it was early September based on the weather!

There went my plans to take my bike out to the rail trail for a nice easy ride!  I ended up back out at my favorite running store this afternoon in search of shorts that actually look decent with my tri top since I plan to wear it to a couple of road races later this summer. All of my running shorts are pretty loose-fitting and they look absolutely ridiculous with the tri top - which is pretty much a second skin.  It looks fine with my tri shorts, but I don't particularly relish the thought of wearing anything with a chamois (the padding in bike/tri shorts) unless I'm going to be on my bike at some point in the race.  I ended up coming home with Moving Comfort 7.5" compression shorts.  The fit is nearly identical to my tri shorts and they have a small zipper pocket on the back of the waistband. So far, it seems like this company realizes that women might like to have some place secure to stash a key, and id, and a couple of dollars when they're out for a run!  I look nothing like the model below in them, but I'm kind of over caring if someone wants to judge the way I look in spandex. I look forward to trying them out soon - probably tonight!

While we were there, Mr. R&R noticed that there was a pair of women's Hattori's in my size sitting on a clearance table.  I tried them on and considering how cheap they were, I had to buy them.

Of course I had to try them out.  I knew going in that trying to run a mile in 0mm drop shoes with absolutely no cushioning whatsoever was a recipe for injury, so Mr. R&R and I did a nice little half mile loop around our neighborhood.  Running in these shoes was a very different experience. They forced me to land on my forefoot every single time and the impact of each stride was absorbed by my feet rather than being dispersed through the cushioning of a traditional shoe.  It wasn't painful per se, but I can definitely see why the kind of shoe you ease your way into wearing. My right ankle (the one that tends to collapse at the end of my stride) was a little sore about an hour later, so I did a little preemptive icing and it felt much better.

The unseasonably cool weather stuck around for Sunday and helped me have the most perfect run I've had in a very long time.  I ran 7 miles, never felt out of breath, never felt tired, never wanted to stop and walk. By the time I was done, I felt like I could probably run another 3 miles with no problem.  If all runs were like this one, I would never have to convince/bribe/bully myself out the door.  It was exactly the kind of run I needed to remind me why I run - I even managed a negative split!

That average is only 1 second per mile over my half marathon PR pace!

Weekly Totals:
Swim: 1200 yards
Bike: 0
Run: 15 miles
Total Time: 3 hours, 8 minutes

The Next Thing

I have to say, it was a little sad not having a workout waiting in my inbox on Monday morning. I felt a bit...lost. For the last 11 weeks I ate, slept, and breathed triathlon courtesy of the Iron Cheerleader's structured workouts. Now that my first triathlon is behind me, it's time to look forward...to the next thing.  In this case, the next thing is more like the next things.  It's time to start training for a half marathon (lucky #13) and a sprint tri - on back to back weekends in September.  And I may throw in a duathlon in August - just for fun.

I spent Monday on the couch recovering from the Pewaukee Tri.  I guess the 4 1/2 hour nap on Sunday afternoon just wasn't enough!  Monday was also the start of a really miserable heat wave around here, so I was perfectly content to be inside.

By Tuesday, I was itching to do something - anything really, so I headed for the pool at 9:00 at night for a quick 500 yards. I wanted to go longer, but time was not on my side.

Wednesday was track practice with the tri team. I made it about 1/2 way through the workout before I was ready to melt into a puddle on the track.  I'm kind of looking forward to making Wednesday night track practice part of my routine.  One of the guys there told me that these workouts helped him shave a minute off his mile time - in a month.  After dinner, I went for another 2 miles - they were tough, but good miles.  

Thursday seemed like a good day to sit on my booty and do nothing - so I did.

Normal people go out for beers/dinner on Friday night.  I went to the pool.  I started out with the intention of doing about 800 yards - and ended up doing 1600. A full mile...50 yards at a time...took just under an hour to finish I think I'm really starting to like this whole swimming thing.   Oh...and I registered to do this:

I'm volunteering at a run course aid station at Ironman Wisconsin

I've also been talked into volunteering at the USAT Nationals here in Milwaukee next month.  I've been racing for a long time and I've never volunteered at one - time to give back.

Saturday was Yada Yada and Texas' combined 50th birthday party - complete with a full on Texas bbq, lots of yummy beer...and a fondant armadillo!

Sunday should have been long run day, but laziness and then pouring rain kept me inside.  Originally I had planned to drive down to cheer people on at IM 70.3 Racine, but the thought of rolling out of bed before sunrise 2 Sundays in a row just didn't sound like fun. I wasn't too unhappy about it since I'm throwing myself back into full on training mode again on Monday.  I read a couple books, watched a movie, and spent time hanging out with my three favorite guys: Mr. R&R, Walter, and Spot.

Mom and Dad let us play in the kitchen today! We're never allowed in there!

Pewaukee Lake Sprint Triathlon

PSA: You might want to go find a snack and a drink before you read this...it's going to be long!

The alarm clock went off at Stupid O'clock this morning (3:45am) and we were on the road to the race venue by 4:30am. We arrived at the finish/parking area around 4:50am, quickly unloaded my bike and all the necessary gear and walked the 1 1/2 miles to transition.  I actually didn't mind the walk since it gave me something to do with all the nervous energy I had worked up!

It took a while to find my spot in transition, but I got everything set up pretty quickly (and discovered that my friend T's sister had the rack space next to me!) and spent a little time walking through the area, memorizing the path from the swim exit to my rack and from the bike-in back to my space.  A lot of people mark their spots with balloons of some sort, so I was able to use a bumblebee balloon and an Elmo balloon as landmarks.  That would definitely prove to be useful later on.

After going through body marking, I met up with the Iron Cheerleader and the rest of the Newbie Herd for a group picture and a pre-race huddle/pep-talk. I also bumped into Yada Yada and Texas. Yada Yada was racing this thing in honor of his 50th birthday and both he and Texas offered a little last minute advice and encouragement as well.  Before I knew it, I was saying goodbye to Mr. R&R and walking toward the swim start with some of my fellow Newbies. It was really calming to be around the same people I'd trained with all along.

L to R: T's sister, Me, A, D, and T

We filtered through the time trial gate and T1 and I entered the water together and stayed together the whole time - just like our Monday night swim practices.  The swim really blew me away. I knew I was swimming very slowly, but I didn't care. I was calm and in control the whole time.  I only took one kick to the back, the water was much clearer than normal (I found out later that the city of Pewaukee actually sent people out twice during the week to cut down the weeds), and I. Didn't. Freak. Out!  Before I knew it, my hands were touching sand and it was time to stand up!  I ran up some pretty nasty rocks, while simultaneously stripping off my wetsuit and flashing big smiles at my mom and Mr. R&R.  I also saw the Iron Cheerleader on my run to T1 screaming "Yes! Yes! Yes! %*#@-ing Yes!" at T and I.

 Official Swim Time: 12:51

I ran across the street to transition, finished stripping my wetsuit, rinsed my feet, threw on a bike jersey and shoes, and ran my bike to the mount line.

T1: 5:33 (Ouch! Must. Get. Faster.)

I settled onto my saddle and prepared to power through the 14 miles of hills.  Last weekend's course recon ride definitely worked to my advantage. I knew where all the big hills were and where the (very few) flats were, so I knew when to switch gears and when to spin faster.  I felt really good the whole time. I ate a GU around Mile 5 and again around Mile 12 and managed to polish off most of my water, so my fueling strategy was spot on.  All that climbing was worth it for the downhills. I hit 32.8mph at one point!

Official Bike Time: 50:52 (16.5mph avg.)

I didn't even bother trying to run my bike back to the rack in T2 since my legs were already toast.  I swapped my bike shoes for my running shoes, added another layer of sunscreen, clipped on my race belt and jogged toward the Run Out.

T2 Time: 2:54 (ugh)

I hit the run course with one goal in mind: Finish.  I anticipated, from last weekend, that this run was going to be nothing but steep hills and pain - and it didn't let me down.  After waving to Mr. R&R and my mom, I fell in next to a guy I'd been leap frogging with on the bike and we ended up covering the next 3 miles together.

As my new found buddy and I were climbing one of the wicked hills, we passed none other than Fireman Rob!  I didn't even know he (and a giant M&M-looking thing apparently) was going to be racing here today.

My new partner and I worked our way through the hills as the temperature began to climb.  The only way to describe the run is brutal. I walked more than I wanted to, but honestly I feel like I did the best that I could with those hills. The water stations were very welcome sights and I greedily gulped down water and squeezed ice cold sponges over my head.  Finally the finish line came into view and we both broke into a sprint down the final straight away.  I think I beat him by a nose!

Official Run Time: 31:49

Official Finishing Time: 1:44:02

I was greeted with hugs and congratulations from Mr. R&R, my mom, the Iron Cheerleader and Yada Yada.  I collected my medal, scarfed down a banana and the best damned cookie I've ever eaten. I was also a pile of raw emotion - ready to cry at the drop of a hat.  I haven't cried after a race since 2011!

The Newbie Herd met up for one final official activity: a champagne toast courtesy of the Iron Cheerleader!

We Swam. We Biked. We Ran. We are TRIATHLETES!