Wow, That Was Unexpected

I actually had a great day, I don't even know where to start...

This was probably the closest I have come to backing out of a race, I still felt like poo in the morning. But I got up and Jess was a sweetheart and was at my door at 4:45!!! We headed up, parked, I was body marked and went to set up my stuff. After lingering around, the PROS started at 6:45 and we stuck around the swim finish to see them get out of the water. Wow... That is all that can be said.

I was feeling pretty good, but when you have to be out of the trans area around 6:45 and don't start until 8:03, it gives you plenty of time to get in your head. Not good. I finally got my (new) wet suit on and got in the cold COLD lake - 71 degrees, yeah right!!!

The gun goes off and I start. It takes me some time to warm up and there is some pain in the right shoulder, which is odd because it's usually the left on that hurts swimming. Anyway, I just keep thinking about long strokes from the back. When I got out, I looked at my watch, a good 4-7 minutes faster than I expected! Who Knew???

I was a bit dizzy and took my time at T1. Headed out just trying to get into a rhythm, slow my breathing, and have a low gear with higher cadence. And not let all the people passing me affect my race.
I was feeling surprisingly good, until the rain started! That just makes me uncomfortable. But, it didn't last too long and just kept going. About an hour into it, I was feeling really good. I started pushing a bit the last 10 miles and it paid off, I was about 6 minutes faster than the last time I did the course!!

Being a slow runner, I wasn't expecting much. I had my plan of a 1:1 until I got my legs back and nothing more than a 3:1. Also, no more than walking 1 minute, even if I was going up hill. I kept up my plan and had a decent run on a really hill course!!

Total, about 3 hours 38 minutes. I was aiming for anything under 4 hours so I was very happy with how I did. Overall, I have a bit of foot pain, my right shoulder hurts, knees are a bit twingie, I am very tired, my throat still hurts, the head is stuffy, but really - I feel great. I couldn't have asked for a better race and the support awesome.
Rose kicked some serious butt on that course too!!