Hot Race and H-O-T Becks!!

What a day!! Here is my race report for

My alarm goes off at 5, the second at 5:15 and I crawl out of bed. Marcus is packed and I am ready to go by 5:45.
I arrive at General Smallwood State Park and notice 2 cars in front of me looks like Brooke. Sure enough, it was.
Pick up my number (231) as Shane holds Blain (Shane is Brooks Sherpa - holder/protector of stuff, and good guy).
Set up transition and talk to other DC Tri Club people.
7:45, head to the swim start, starting to worry about the heat.
8:10, the first wave FINALLY goes off.
Hop in with the 4th wave, wish Brooke good luck, and start to swim when the horn goes off. Now, the swim - the lake looks beautiful from the outside, but as my mom always said, it's what is on the inside that matters. What was inside this lake was like swimming in a jungle!! At one point I had to stop and pull the weeds off my shoulders and goggles. Also, they got tangled around my leg - not a fun feeling.
T1 took forever as the lake and trans are were not close.
Gave Blain a quick pep talk and head out on the bike. What I should have done was give my legs a pep talk. They were SOOO not happy with me to be back on Blain, especially the first few hills. I started to think a 64 ride followed by an International tri was not the best decision.
But, I peddled along and tried not to let everyone passing me get to me mentally.
Finish the bike and do a quick T2, start my run. Something feels off and I realize I didn't take off my bike shorts. Yes, I add bike shorts over my tri sorts - I like/need the padding.
Man, this run was HOT. Very little shade but I tried to stick to my 1:1, 2:1, 3:1. It didn't quite work. Up hills I went cone to cone, downhills, I did 3:1's.
Eventually, I hear "YAY Amanda!! Finish strong!" It was Brooke and Shane - they waited for me which was so great, especially because they were not longer announcing names of finishers and giving out awards. Yup, I am that slow.
BUT - I have to say the best thing about today, the fact I got my self to do the race after biking 64 miles the day before. And a bad 11 mile run on Wednesday. That makes me happy. Now the results say I didn't finish and I sent an e-mail requesting it be changed. Wrong time is 1 thing, not finishing is another!

I rushed out after the race to meet Arin at the DC United game to watch DAVID BECKHAM!! I got my time line for the day all screwed up when I signed up for the race and saying yes to the game. But, I made in right at the end of the first half (I won't mention how fast I was driving to get there). SOOO worth skipping the food and stretching after the race. I have a picture of him bending over, but thought I would go with this one instead.