Saturday morning I woke up early, walked over to the transition area (about 100 yards from my tent and 50 yards from my car), and set up for the race. Then as I tend to do, I realized over the next hour I had forgotten about 500 things so had to keep going back.
The race itself was great. It's a hilly course, but it is BEAUTIFUL. Luckily, the lake was cool enough that we could wear wetsuits (a real rarity for Luray). The course is pretty hilly, but the slowest parts are also the most scenic. I was happy to not get passed by many women on the bike, and then enjoyed saying hi to people on the run. To be honest, I don't remember too much about the actual race itself, just that overall I enjoyed it. The best part was meeting up with my friends Graham and Parisi at the end (I didn't realize they'd be there)! My time was pretty consistent with two years ago when I did it, but the splits varied. I love this race and hope to do it again next year.
With the hard work for the weekend done, the rest of the day was spent hanging out in the lake (NOT swimming in it), going into town to get ice cream (Yum!), eating dinner at the tents (fajitas and cobbler!), and just hanging out with the Team Z folks, some old friends and some new to me. It was nice and relaxing, just what the doctor ordered.
I volunteered to man a water station for the sprint race on Sunday with some other people on Team Z. My aid station all dressed up as Superheros and it was so much fun seeing all the racers pass and chatting with the other people (and dogs) at the station. The best part of the sprint is it is a lot of people completing their first triathlon and it is awesome to be able to offer them encouragement/aid. One of my favorite moments was when a woman (towards the back) spotted one of our two dogs, stopped, said "you know I don't care about my time," and came over to pet the dog. The other highlight was having my aid station burst into laughter (me included) after a 50+ racer told me in addition to water, he would "take my home number as well." Sadly, we were only authorized to give out water. Unfortunately, it POURED on us at the end and I had to walk 1 1/2 back to the race site in order to avoid hypothermia before a shuttle could come get us. After some more food and chatting (and trying to get warm), I packed up my tent and headed home, refreshed and happy.
This was probably my favorite weekend of all summer. The triathlon was beautiful and just plain fun. But more importantly, I really enjoyed just hanging out at the campsite and relaxing. It was a great weekend to remember why I got into triathlons in the first place and what an incredible community it is.
This weekend was a 50 mile ride and a 12 mile run. I apparently have forgotten how to prepare for a long ride because while I remembered to go back to my house to get sunscreen (and apparently the GPS watch and salt tabs I forgot), I failed to realize I didn't have my bike shoes. Luckily, a woman on the team (Tamara) had a spare pair of running shoes so I rode 50 miles in sneakers which is a lot more difficult than with normal bike shoes (which clip into the pedal, allowing you to "pull up" through the stroke in addition to just pushing down on the pedals). It wasn't that But it was also another great ride with some more great people (again, some old friends, some new). I also scored some "badass" points by the rest of the riders. I love this life :)
Now for some pictures:
Team Z campsite
Picnic Tables aka Bike Racks
Team Z tents, professional massage therapists included
Swim Start! - Sadly the weather for the sprint was much gloomier than for the olympic
The most important member of Team Z - Iwan kept the grill going ALL WEEKEND
They kept spilling the water so we stopped letting them try to hand it out
the other aid station was 80s
I think he actually owned most of this outfit?
Why yes, Wonder Woman was at our aid station
First racers! We dubbed them serious guy (red) and fun guy (blue). Not sure if either won. This is when the pictures ended because it was time to work.
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