Racing is Fun

I had my first races this weekend after 7 months. I missed two big races in January and March and was beginning to wonder if I would ever actually make it to the starting line again. But YES! and this was a special weekend. Special because I got to run a 5k with my very dear friend Brittany, got to visit with my family at my cousin Lincoln’s first birthday party, with Luke and Elissa after that, bopped around with Anna, and then on Sunday, drum roll........ I got to race with my Dad at his very first triathlon!! It was the best. I looked at Anna on Saturday and thought, she is big, she can handle it. We woke up really early and I loved that she was with me. This was an indoor tri and I had never done one before. Hardly any gear! We got there at 6:30 and after checking in, found my dad sitting by the pool. Not too much to do other than warm up and get started. I did make a request to the race volunteer to adjust my lane, wasn’t super excited about sharing the end lane with someone who may have a very different pace. She was nice and it worked out that he and I both got our own lanes. The swim went well. I had warmed up 400 or so, and didn’t feel super heavy in the water. I imagine I only would have increased my distance by a length or 2 if I was in swim shape. I wasn’t sure when the time was running out so I could kick it up for the last bit, but I hear it’s not because they weren’t yelling at me! I just don’t hear that well :) The funniest part of my race was in transition 1. I have never tried to change into my tri top with race number attached to the back when I am wet. It is a 10 minute break between the pool and the spin room, so I figured I would just change. I got stuck and actually had to cry out for help. Flashback to four year old ballet class. After that was settled, I headed to the spin room, adjusted my bike settings and hopped on. I began to question how they are going to measure distance. I misunderstood, but should have known better—I had heard how it was before from friends. Anyhow, at about 6 min. I realized that I needed to take all of the resistance off my bike and just tried to keep spinning my legs as fast as I could, sort of bouncing all over the place. I saw my dad come in and start his bike right before our wave wrapped up. He looked good. Anna followed us wherever we went. I went up to the treadmill and I was hoping that I would be ready to hit it hard. Eh, it didn’t come that smoothly. I had to back it off a bit at the end of the first mile, but then I was able to pump it back up harder for the last quarter. You want your eyes to roll into the back of your head for at least a little bit of it. and Done. That’s when I got to watch my dad on the treadmill. I was probably a little obnoxious sitting on the floor right in front of him, but then I grabbed Anna and we watched him finish in a RUN. It was GREAT! but we didn’t get to talk about it because he had to get to his church to teach a class. Later in the evening, we celebrated him with burger buffet and it was fun to get all the details. HE BEAT ME ON THE BIKE! Congrats to my dad who conquers all wholeheartedly and with a smile. I want to be exactly the same and I hear his voice in my head when I race. Among many other things, he is my hero of sport!