Double Event Weekend--> December 3-4, 2011

Oh, how do I begin to describe the fun.  I have to tell you naysayers, I will absolutely be doing this sort of INSANITY again.  What sort of insanity.... read on.  This was my double event weekend. I had the Polar Bear Triathlon at White Sands Missile Range (7K run, 35K bike, 500M swim) on Saturday the 3rd and then the City of Las Cruces 1/2 Marathon on Sunday. 

Normally weather in southern New Mexico in early December would be in the 40s, not this weekend. The forecast was for severe winter storms all across the state, and the doubters among my friends and family were quite concerned about my pressing on to finish this adventure. Even my local triathlete friends were telling me I was an idiot; hey, I'd paid my entrance fees and unless the race directors were cancelling the events, I was showing up. I did decide that if there was snow on the bike portion of the triathlon I would not do it because I have no idea how to ride a bike in snow and no desire to risk my beloved bike, Grace, to that sort of wreck. I do understand that there are tires that people in the northern climes use for riding bikes in the snow that have little bits of knobby metal on them; I was not purchasing special tires for the triathlon.  It was hard all week hearing gloomy weather forecasts read with a cheerful voice from my husband who thought the whole idea of this was pretty disastrous from the get-go.  It isn't that Les is less than supportive, it is just that when he finds out that even my triathlon friends respond with, "You're doing what?  You're an idiot," he feels vindicated.  Now I did tell him that my Outlaw buddies, and my Ontri buddies all said that I should go for it because you never know what you can do unless you push yourself, which I thought was eminently wise advice. 

The forecast for our County, as I left that afternoon, was for 3-6 inches of snow that evening.  Yeah, snow all over the 5th largest state in the Union.I arrived in Las Cruces to a freezing rain on Friday night, but while it was foggy and freezing on Saturday morning, the was no rain.  I gave myself plenty of time to get a coffee and egg McMuffin (no cheese with a Z please) and get through the base gate on to the White Sands Missile Range.

The snow on the mountains was absolutely lovely and enhanced the beauty of the venue. I was the first one to set up in transition and my timing and getting out of the bathroom was impeccable, so I was also first in line to get my packet picked up.  We got the bonus of an extra t-shirt from another event (cool) and I had plenty of time to use my nebulizer since my asthma is not too happy about running in the cold. We took off on the run, and while it was cold, it was not bitter. The bike course was dry enough, but the wind picked up to have a steady 15 mph with gusts into the 20s on the way back, so the return to transition was tough going directly into the headwind.  Getting into the pool felt like a warm bath once I got back and stripped off my layers to get down to my tri-suit.  They always host a nice luncheon for the athletes after the race and it was good to get a bite and collect some swag.  It was gratifying to get first in the Athena category. It pays to be a big girl who isn't afraid to brave the cold weather :-)


The rest of the day was playing around town and doing errands with my daughter and son-in-law, and we cooked dinner.  I did get a nice warm shower first though because it took a while to get the deep chill out of my bones, and I spent some good time hydrating all the rest of the day, making sure that I had a cup of herbal tea or bottle of water most of the time.  I had a great night of rest and planned on getting up at about 6:15 so I could have a repeat of the previous day's successful breakfast of champions; you've got to love McDonald's skinny latte's and McMuffin's without the cheezzzzze.  I just toss away half the muffin and I am good to go.

Sunday for the City of Las Cruces 1/2 marathon the sky was overcast and it was also freezing (literally) and it was raining. Everyone was staying in their vehicles as long as possible. Frankly, I am a pitiful runner on my best day, so I was pretty sure I would be one of the last ten finishers, but I really didn't want to be the absolute last person to come in on the race. I didn't have rain gear (poor planning on my part) and it was breezy, so the damp and the cold made for less than wonderful conditions to run, but there was no ice on the road. The course is a nice one in that it takes you out into rural Dona Ana so while you are on pavement it is still scenic and bucolic. I was quickly relegated to the back of the pack. When it started raining the second time, and I was getting pretty damp, I was not quite as optimistic.  My internal communication was, "Really, this is the way it is going to be?"  The whinemeter was getting going, and that is not how I usually function, so I was trying to STOP IT RIGHT NOW, when I looked down and there was a beautiful gift from God. You know how they have two pair of gloves for $1.99 at Walmart?  One pair is solid and one pair is striped?  Well, there was a pair of rainbow striped gloves on the side of the road.  I looked at them and knew that the Lord was gifting me a pair of rainbow gloves to give me warmth to make it to the end of the race :-)  I thought for a moment about whether anyone was coming back to get their lost gloves, and decided there was absolutely no way anyone would drive the route looking for their lost gloves.  I put them on under my other gloves and my hands, while not warm, were bearable.  Les could not believe I STOLE gloves and would be telling people about it.  I told him when God give you rainbow gloves to shut the whinemeter up, you had better tell people about it.  So, if I owe you some rainbow gloves, send me a message, and I thank you very much. 

At this point in the race, I was not seeing anyone but volunteers at the water stations, and some of those were now unmanned.  They were all quite encouraging and solicitous.  I was fairly confident that I was securely in last place.  I tried not to get too grim about that and just kept reminding myself that I was doing things that I NEVER imagined would be possible even three years ago when I did my first triathlon, when that seemed like a huge accomplishment. 

The last four miles, I found I had to give up on my "Galloway Gallop" method and just walk. My thighs were pretty seized with the cold and effort, and pain was with me as my companion, so we chatted. Some friends (Marcy and Grady Oxford) who'd done the race came by and offered to just take me back as a DNF, but I told them I wanted to finish. I am pretty much a "plug away" kind of person, and while my pace was stupidly slow, I wanted to finish. Of course as soon as they drove away and I could smell the lingering aroma of the heat from their car, I wished momentarily that I was more of a quitter.  They were going to get coffee.... Hmm coffee.  I would get some when I finished.   I ran the last 1/2 mile because I have enough pride that I didn't want the anonymous timer guys to see me trudge across the finish line. You would of course wonder why I care about the anonymous timer guys unless you've done a race, and then you would understand.   My dear treasured friends had come back, and they cheered me across the line. I apologized to the timer guys for being so incredibly slow and pokey.  I thrilled to discover that there were still people on the course, so I was third from the last in the 1/2 marathon. Yes, I know you would like to drum me out of the athletic corps that I am celebrating how far I am from the last, but that is just what I have to do since I am such a lame runner at this point in my life. The timer guys needed my timing chip, which I'd cleverly laced INTO my shoe laces.  I no longer had the ability to bend over, or sit down and get up, so Grady ever so graciously sat down and unlaced my shoes for me so he could take my timing chip off and then relaced my shoe.  Then he and Marcy shared snacks, I was famished from running four hours in the rain and cold, and drove me around to my car.  Yes, I was too worn out to walk to my car.  How stupidly tired does that sound?

I headed to Mary and Dave's for a shower and then we were able to go get lunch.  I had to "celebrate" when we got back with a thirty minute nap.  Oh, my, the exhaustion.  Then it was off to Target.  I told Mary I needed to use the cart as my "walker".  She asked if I wanted to use one of the electric carts.  I told her, to my shame, I was actually considering it and the only thing keeping me from doing so was that there might be someone who genuinely needed it who had not self-inflicted their pain.  I'd had to borrow flip flops from Mary because I could not get my feet into my boots.  My toes, feet and calves were so swollen that there was just no way to put my boots on my feet and zip them up.  Who wears flip flops in the rain and snow?  Me after a 1/2 marathon.


After shopping at Target, I felt pretty good, so I packed up my gear and got on the road to head back to Fort Sumner.  Of course when I got on the road, just past Ruidoso, it was clear I was driving into a nice winter storm.  By the time I left Roswell, it was a serious snow storm with white out conditions, and when I made the turn on to Highway 20, there were no other cars on the road.  I was going 20 mph and it was truly winter driving conditions.  I just called Les and told him it would take me two hours to cover the 45 miles. Excellent planning for me.  Here I was exhausted, and driving in a snow storm.  I did have a sleeping bag and I really sort of wanted to just pull over and go to sleep, but it was 22 degrees.  I kept thinking how VERY cold that van would get and how fast it would get that VERY cold.  I kept driving and got home at a little after midnight.

I am telling you that I would definitely do a double event again. It is so worth pushing myself this hard. I like it. I kept telling myself how blessed I was to be able to do something I would never have even fantasized this was possible years ago when I weighed 405 pounds. Shucks, I would not have believe it was possible to do two events back-to-back even three years ago when I did my first triathlon.  The only more amazing thing that my body has done was maintain the pregnancies that brought Stephen and Mary into the world, and in those cases that felt more "automatic" because I think God set my body up to know what to do along the way.  Here I have to be much more involved and must train and learn how to be an athlete.  All of this is new.  In this case I feel more participatory, and I know that sounds funny since you are REALLY involved as the pregnant woman, but so much of pregnancy is just magic.  These endurance events amaze me because I can do more than I ever dreamed or imagined.  I keep thinking, "Well, can I do XXXXX" and then I try to fill in the blank. What if I really can live a life where I keep growing and expanding the limits of what my body can do?  It is working so far, and I am so very happy.  Thank you all for being with me and sharing in my adventures.  I know some of them may seem crazy to you, but sometimes joy is sort of on the edge of crazy.

Duke City 1/2 Marathon--> October 23, 2011

Duke City 1/2 Marathon
A year ago I did my first 1/2 marathon in Albuquerque, so I was nurturing some fantasy that I would have a faster than light transition and become a runner in the past year and do this repeat race in less than three hours.  Last year it took me 3 hours and 47 minutes, this year it took me 3 hours and 48 minutes.  Yes, you read that right.... I ADDED a minute to the 13.1 miles.  Grrrr.  Now I realized at about the five mile mark, because there is plenty of time to think while you are running at an incredibly slow place (my excruciatingly slow pace) that the IT bands I've been working so diligently to stretch were not just murmuring, they were actually arguing across my pelvis with each other.  There was an actual IT band shouting match as they vied for which one would get the most attention for most painful on this run.  The pain escalated with each step, and it was one of those pains that actually increased if I walked.  You would think this would spur me to an enhanced pace and thus a better time, no such luck.  You see, the pain just shortened my stride, altered my gait, and reinforced that I need a much more intimate relationship with my foam roller. 

It was a beautiful day, and I had a wonderful time.  I also realized that this was an absolute case of "training fail" on my part.  I spent a lot of time getting ready for Elephant Man, so I did not log very many long runs getting geared up and prepped for this 1/2 marathon.  My longest run going into the 1/2 was 8 miles, and I should have had several runs of 10 miles going into this race.  Another possible, okay, probable issue is that on Friday I had synthetic cartilage injected in both knees.  The doc said I was okay to run, but I do know both knees were 'stiff' feeling and it probably would have been a bit better if I'd had a week more to let everything get settled.  I am pretty bullheaded, and the nice thing is that now there is only greater success ahead :-)

We had our Halloween carnival at school on Saturday, and I went as Hit Girl.  How can you go wrong with a super hero who has purple hair and a purple skirt? When I saw the movie Kick A** I knew I wanted to be Hit Girl when I grew up!  She has an awesome facility with weapons and takes care of the criminal elements.  Hit Girl was a great costume too because so many of the kids didn't recognize me until I called them by name and then only because they recognized my voice or they heard me laugh. It was an delightful costume, and it was a terrific carnival and the dance afterward was so much fun for the kids too. 

My next athletic adventure is the Aggie Autumn Triathlon in Las Cruces at NMSU on November 13th.  I am jazzed about that tri.  After that I've got a double-header weekend planned.  Now what is a double-header weekend, you may ask?  Well, on December 3rd there is the Polar Bear Triathlon at White Sands and on December 4th there is the City of Las Cruces 1/2 Marathon.  I am planning on doing both events.  A smart friend told me to think of it as "a catered training weekend with t-shirts" and I love that thought.  Yes, I know it will be some serious endurance work, but it will be a load of fun.  I will make sure and hydrate extremely well the week going into the double events, and will have to do some good hydration on Saturday afternoon to try to make sure I am as prepped as I can be for Sunday's 1/2 marathon.  I've not done the Las Cruces 1/2 before, but I know it is a well supported race, so there will be plenty of water stations along the way.  I always used G-2 when I run, and take the powder with me so I can fill my water bottle with me along the way and mix my own.  Regular Gatorade has too much sugar for me to tolerate it. 

Running events fill the gap before the triathlon season begins again, so I've got the Pecos Valley Stampede 1/2 at the end of February.  On the 5th February there is the El Paso Marathon, and I am considering doing the full distance..... yikes.  They've changed the course so that runners start at the top of Tramway, and this will make it a super fast course.  I will see how training goes between now and Christmas and make my decision.  The half was great last year.  I am also thinking about doing the Bataan Memorial Death March on March 25th too, but just the 15 mile, not the full distance due to the rigors of the terrain. 

So you know I was truly scared about the Elephant Man Triathlon.  I wrote verses on the palms of my hands because I knew I needed every reminder that I was not alone on the journey.  It was a tough tri, and I had such a good time doing it.  My friends made such a difference encouraging me along the way.  Having people to encourage me was just a lovely gift from God along the way.  I am thankful. 

Marcy Oxford and Patricia Miller before Live, Love Tri

Elephant Man-->September 25, 2011

I have been eagerly anticipating this event, and even dreading it as the time grew closer.  Much of my anxiety revolved around the discovery that the swim would have a limiting time; we would be allowed in at some time after 8 AM based on our scheduled waves and put out of the water at 9:15.  For an accomplished swimmer this should not be an issue since a mile swim should really only take around 30 minutes.  Let me clue you in.... I am not an accomplished swimmer.  I know that in a pool, where I can push off on the ends of the pool, I can do a mile in just over an hour.  In the open water, where I am zig-zagging all around the place and getting scared when people swim over me, it will take me about an hour and 20 minutes to do a mile.  Those are just the swimming facts for me.  I sent a frantic email to the race director asking if there was any way for me to start the swim with the long course (1/2 iron distance) athletes at 7 AM, but she said no way.  I understand why, but it was a desperate situation, so I thought I would ask.  Frequently I figure it is best to ask because not asking is always a "no" and asking might get you a yes.  Sigh.  She sent me an encouraging email that I just needed to swim hard and she was sure I could do it.  That made one of us. 

Saturday morning I headed off to Elephant Butte, NM.  It is a long drive from Fort Sumner, about four hours, so I got to Marcy and Grady Oxfords about 3:30 that afternoon.  That meant I missed the first of the packet pick up opportunities, so Marcy had to stand in line with me at 5, and it was a LONG, wait.  Fortunately we have the ability to stand and chat at the same time, so fun was had.  It was also a great time to visit with other friends all around.  I got to meet Dave S, an online triathlon friend from Colorado, and his wife Michelle, and that was fun.  Once packet pick up was done, we headed back to Marcy's for sandwiches and a great evening on the porch; it was so beautiful and I was in awe of the world God created for us to enjoy.  A host of the NMSU triathlon club athletes were there too, so all of the available floor space was taken up by college-aged athletes, and as I've mentioned before, nobody knows quite how to party like triathletes:  we were in bed by 9:30 and up the next morning by 5 AM.

Transition had assigned racking, and that worked out okay for me.  I got an end spot, and you know how I am about my end spots because I need room to spread my gear.  It was good and I got my stuff organized and set up.  I waited until 7 to go find the ambulance to use their electricity to get my nebulizer going.  It was the same crew that I'd bugged for Dam It Man, so that was nice since the EMT's mom is an asthmatic and he is always so encouraging.  I got my gear stowed back in transition and met up with some more of the NM Outlaws, and that was fun too.  This was my first race wearing my Outlaw tri jersey, and I am so thankful to my friend Deb for sending it to me so I can proudly race as an Outlaw.  The race officials did decide that this would be a wetsuit legal race once they checked the water temperature, and I was so glad because I needed the security of the wet suit for the long time in the water.  I was drinking lots in order to hydrate, so a couple of trips to the port-o-potties were needed, but the lines were non-existant for me and they were not stinky and were equipped with TP.  YEAH for the necessities of life.  Grady was capturing the moments on digital "film" and I'm glad since I didn't think to get the cameral out of my tri bag, and then we were off on the swim.

You may remember that last year I DNF'd at the 12.5 mile mark on the bike course due to dehydration, so I was highly motivated to make it this year. I am an extremely slow triathlete, but I plug away very well, and I see myself making improvements between years that do bring me joy.

It took me 1:18 to slog through my mile swim. I usually alternate between the breast stroke and the freestyle, but whenever I started to freestyle I would be called down by the kayak folks that I was getting off course, so I ended up doing the entire race in the breaststroke. There was one other woman behind me getting out of the water.

I had not been feeling well for a couple of days before the race and had put it off as pre-race digestive upset. I was nauseated the entire bike race, and figured it was the heat. Looking back, and seeing that I was sick the entire week following the race, I think I had the stomach flu. Usually I rock the bike portion of the race, but I was only mediocre, and that surprised me, but I plugged along. In the last four miles I was really stunned to realize that I could not look forward on my bike and apply my brakes at the same time. My trapezius muscles were completely locked up. I am assuming that the long breaststroke and then the long bike, something I'd never done before (can you say training failure?) were impacting me. The bike course finshed with a steep incline back down the boat ramp into transition. I knew that unchecked I would come screaming into transition at 25-28 mph, and that was not going to work. I just got off my bike at the upper parking area and ran my bike into transition. Of course my friends who had finished the race at that point and were cheering me on thought I'd lost my mind. My friend Marcy knows my dehydration accuity check is to do multiplication in my head, so she asked me to multiply for her, so I did. She was eating a snow cone, and it was HOT, and I really wanted to snatch it from her, but I needed both hands to change shoes to get out on the run. She did give me a bottle of cold water to dump on my head, and off I went.

The first 1/2 mile on the dirt trail felt good, even if it was churned and sandy, then the hills started. That was when the heat really hit me. I used the old fall back advice of walk up the hills and run down them. The heat was bad, about 95 at this point, so I did the best I could and kept plugging away. At the 3 mile mark I started seeing snakes on the road. I was pretty sure there were no snakes, so I cleverly constructed a question of one of the high school volunteers, "Are you guys having much problems with snakes on the road?"
"No, m'am," he replied, "We haven't seen any today." I figured that if they were just heat related snakes, I really didn't have much of a problem. I was not throwing up, I was only dizzy when I ran, and I would just get hosed down at the next water station. I got to the next station and there were two little boys with weed sprayers full of water. I told them to spray me down like they had sprayed nobody down all day. The look of joy in their eyes was completely worth it. I was soaked, much cooler, and did much better on the way back. Once I finished the race, I asked Marcy to help me find some ice, and I packed my bra with ice, and in five minutes I felt much more myself. I was the last person to finish the Oly course. I did get third place in the Athena category. At this race they also have a drawing for a male and female winner of a beach cruiser bike. I won the female bike and a friend from my triathlon club the NM Outlaws, Carl (won his age group in the long course) won the men's beach cruiser.

I figure that now I have to do a 1/2 iron distance race next year. The difference between a mile and a 1.2 mile swim is not that much, and since that is the part that terrifies me I can do that and enjoy the rest. Of course the bike portion will be 54 miles instead of 26.5 and the run will be 13.1 miles instead of 6.2, but who is counting.  Marcy has said she is in too :-)  It is good to have friends who are crazy right with you.  Of course we also have decided we want to go beyond the 1/2 marathon distance, so we are looking for a good destination to do our full marathon.  We think we would like to go to a place with LOTS of oxygen and not much hill, so right now San Diego sounds fun.  Another reason San Diego would be good is that Southwest flies there for $49 each way, so it could be a fun girl's weekend.  Another wickedly fun thing we are thinking could be a blast is one of the major relays where you get a team and do one of the ultra marathons and you take turns running through the night to cover 122 miles or something absurd like that.  Uh huh, I know what you are thinking, and you are right....... you want in on  this fun....... yep, that is what you are thinking.  I know it <grin>  You are as insane as we are.  That is what the voices are telling me anyway. 

I work hard, I just have so much ground to cover since I am coming from a place with absolutely no physical skills or ability. I like seeing the growth though. Participation in triathlon does bring me a great deal of joy.

Next up I've got the Duke City 1/2 Marathon on 10/23/11 and then the Candyman Triathlon on the 30th of October.   On November 13th we have the Aggie Autum Triathlon at NMSU, and you should plan on joining us.  It will be a great race, and you will have so much fun.  Registration is available online at www.nmsportsonline.com.

Patricia

September 10, 2011--> Yucca Triathlon

This Saturday I did the Yucca Triathlon at White Sands Missile Range. It was an odd distance race with an 8K run, 45K bike, and 400M swim. I wanted to do it for a couple of reasons: it was my birthday, it was a great tune up distance for the Olympic race Elephant Man in a couple of weeks, and the base is just 30 minutes from my daughter and son-in-law's house so I could spend the rest of the weekend visiting them in Las Cruces.

I left Fort Sumner on Friday afternoon at 4 and went to the school football game at Capitan and stayed until halftime (I had to do my duty as the school superintendent). The Foxes were winning, so I didn't feel to bad about being a ditcher, and I still had an hour and a half drive to Alamogordo (NM is a big state). I got up at 4 AM in order to make the next leg of the journey to get to the military base and was at the transition area and set up by 5:45 AM. I visited around transition and that was fun. There were a lot of college students from NMSU's triathlon team there, and I am helping them organize a triathlon for November 13th (put it on your calendars), so it was fun to chat about that race too.

We took off at 7:30, and I was really pleased with my 8K time of 58 minutes. I know most of you runners are much speedier than I am, but for me, this 12 minute mile pace is a SIGNIFICANT improvement and really surprised me. Frankly, I didn't know I could do five miles that fast. I guess it must be the gift of birthday magic and my new birthday orange Newtons. I was only three minutes behind this other Athena that ALWAYS beats me. I kid you not, she always comes in ahead of me. She went to nationals in Athena last year, and she is a great competitor.

I jumped on the bike, and took off, and the first four miles of the bike are an gradual decline, so I knew I would be crying on the way back to transition, but I cranked it pretty hard. At the six mile point, I passed her, and I know that caught her quite by surprise. I realize I am a pretty aggressive cyclist, and I know from looking at my bike splits in races this year that I am usually in the top third on bike times in races. I just pushed it hard because the swim is her best portion in triathlon. I saw her once more after the turnaround, and then beat it back to the transition point, and yes, that long slow incline was a beast. I did the bike in 1:33 and then my usual pitiful swim of 17 minutes. The great news was I still beat her by 11 minutes overall, and it feels AWESOME.

I have had other wins this season, but not over someone who is a recognized, regular winner. When they were giving out the medals, the race director just started to hand her the first place medal, and she had to say, "No, I got second, she got first." Yes, that is the sound of my head swelling. Yes, I am being little miss braggy pants. Yes, I have stapled my medal on my bulletin board in my office with all of my bib numbers. Yes, I wore my medal to lunch with my daughter and son-in-law. Yes, I know it is silly, and yes, I don't even care. I realize this is unseemly in a 52 year-old woman.

This strong competitor and I will both be in the same sprint race on Saturday, and I am sure she will be looking to redeem herself. I am going to try to keep her from doing so :-) She is not doing Elephant Man and that will be the last one I am doing in the Southwest Challenge Series. Right now I am third in that series and she is second. I don't know that I can unseat her from that position given the current points, but there is always next year <grin>

Patricia

Live, Love Tri-->August 27, 2011

Live Well, Love More, Tri Harder.  So say the women who organized the Live, Love Tri held this weekend in Rio Rancho, NM.  The race filled and we had a WONDERFUL time.  I've not done any other women only events.  When I saw that they were organizing this early in the spring I signed up online right away, as evidenced by my bib number 3.  I sent an email and a text, no reason to trust only one form of electronic communication, to my dear friend and fellow triathlete Marcy Oxford, and she also signed up immediately and she was #5.  Now this matters because we ended up with assigned racking and we were assigned by bib number, so we were rack buddies :-)  and now I am waaaaay ahead of myself in the story.

I arrived in Albuquerque in time to go to REI on Friday night to get my packet about 6:45 and ended up waiting in line until 7:30.  Now I know people usually gripe about waiting in line, but this was just a lovely time to visit with fellow triathletes and get to meet new friends.  It was really fun when I got up to the check in station and the organizers said, "Oh, you are Patricia Miller, the AMAZING Patricia Miller that we've heard so much about." and we all had a great giggle about that.  I guess Angie from Chasing3 Race Productions had been telling them about our Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon that we had in Fort Sumner, so that means we may get some more good entries next year.  Of course now I will owe Angie some payment for the good publicity <grin>.  After packet pick up  it was off to VietQ Grill to meet Marcy, Lisa and Lisa's daughter for supper and great conversation. 

As per our usual athlete ethic, we were in bed by 10 and up at 4:30 AM so we could hit Starbucks for skinny lattes and be at the race venue by 5:45 AM.  We even got to park in the parking lot and had no problem getting everything set up in transition.  The body marking and race organization were great.  The event was held at the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center and was set up as a reverse sprint triathlon.  We started with the run and went off in waves separated by three minutes.  Marcy and I were in the first wave.  The course is the same as the Patriot Triathlon and we start of going uphill and then we go off the paved path and go into the desert and run more uphill in the sand.  I don't really mind the sandy trail running because it is easier on my knees, but the sand is challenging.  I did love the downhill portions though, I felt so FAST.  My pace was nice for this run and while it was not my best 5K time, it was not bad at 42:41. Last year when I did the Patriot Triathlon on the same route my time was 52:53, so that is a 10 minute improvement.  Of course in the Patriot the run comes at the end, so a direct comparison is not very fair. 

T1 was great, as always in a reverse sprint, and then it was off on the bike for a great hilly 12 mile ride.  I passed so many people and it was hugely rewarding.  I got to say, "On your left" to so many people.  There were a number of folks who had not done triathlons before, so there were some folks who didn't know basic things like not riding two abreast or not to pass when someone is already passing someone.  Since I am a fairly aggressive cyclist, I paid close attention to everyone else and did really well and was extremely happy with my bike split time of 43:15.  The bike route does not compare to Patriot's route, but Chili Harvest has a 12 mile bike route and is much less hilly and it took me 45:45, so I am happy.  I should be happy because I am really sore today, so my legs worked hard yesterday.

T2 went really fast too since it is just a matter of stripping excess items off and running to the pool.  I did forget to take my inhaler out of my short pocket, and lost in the pool.  The pool was a bit of a battle zone.  I did a combination of backstroke and breaststroke and my time was 14:08, again an improvement and I passed some folks in the pool, and that is a novel experience for me.  I am still a super poor swimmer and I am freaking out the closer we get to Elephant Man.  That mile swim at Elephant Butte is making me tense, but I will just plug away because I know that I am a good plug away person.  Frankly, the kayak people are always great about shadowing the last person in the water, and since I have LOTS of experience being that person, it will be okay.  That is the positive self-talk I am using every time I begin screaming in my head anyway.

Overall, my time was 1:43:53 and that is 10 minutes faster than the similar distanced race in Socorro held just a few weeks ago.  I was 202 out of 265, so that means I can in ahead of 63 other competitors, and that is the most people I've come in ahead of in any triathlon.  Dance of joy moment!   We all got great necklaces as we finished.   My triathlon friend Paula gave me this really cool (operative word) neck bandana that I can use when I do the Yucca Triathlon and Elephant Man.  It has gel crystals in it and it will help me not to get overheated.

Next up on the fun list:

• Hearts on Fire Youth Retreat with our FCA students on Sunday/Monday of Labor Day weekend
• Yucca Triathlon at White Sands on 9/10.  This will be a different distance because it is a 7K run, a 45K bike, and a 400M swim.  After the triathlon I'll head to Las Cruces and spend the rest of the weekend with our daughter and son-in-law.  It will be great to see our friends in Las Cruces at the church there too. 
• Cotton County Triathlon at Levelland on 9/17.  I will drive over to Clovis and ride to Levelland with some of the Clovis triathletes.  They tell me that this is a great triathlon, and I am looking forward to it and have never done this one before.
• Elephant Man at Elephant Butte on 9/25.  This is an Olympic distance race, so that means a 1 mile swim, 26 mile bike, and 10K run.  At the recent clinic they told the attendees to power walk the first mile in the sand up the hill on the run rather than to try to run it, and then when we get to the paved road surface we can start running.  So glad they gave me permission to walk, giggle.  Heat can be an issue for the slow pokes like me.  Now the good news for me this year is that they are also having a 1/2 iron distance race, so my finishing time will be about the time that the finishers of the 1/2 iron distance folks are finishing--- yeah, I am truly that slow.  Oh well, it will be my race and it will be in my time. 

School has started, and I am so glad.  We are having a great time with the kids back on the campus.  My schedule of races is set up around the schedule of games, so there are relatively few conflicts.  Some of the triathlons are even set BECAUSE of the game schedule.  For example, the Yucca Triathlon follows a game at Capitan on the 9th, so I can drive to Alamogordo after the game and spend the night there and then be up at 4:15 the next morning so I can be at the White Sands gate by 5 AM for entrance to the base for the triathlon.  Training is early in the morning, and I'm logging lots of time in the weight room and have been getting in significant time on the elliptical or on the stationery bike.  For long runs I've been going out on the weekends that I don't race and leave the van parked at the top of seven mile hill and then I run home.  Later I have Les drive me out to pick up the van.  It always amazes me how far it seems when we drive out there.  It never seems that far when I am running, but when we drive, it seems like a long way.  That always seems like it should be reversed. 

October will bring a duathlon at Santa Rosa, the Candy Land Triathlon in Albuquerque, and the Duke City Marathon, so it has some fun ahead too.

Living Well, Loving More, and DEFINITELY Tring Harder,
Patricia

Chili Harvest Triathlon--> August 6, 2011

Oh, this was as GREAT triathlon in Socorro.  I had so much fun and improved my time by 12 minutes over last year.  I have to do the celebration part right at the beginning.  Three years ago I was the last person to finish this triathlon by 30 seconds.  It took me 2 hours and 24 minutes and 34 seconds to do this course that year.  This year it took me 1 hour and 53 minutes, so I've cut 31 minutes off my overall time in those three years.  It feels so great. My swim time was pitiful at 15 minutes and my run as sadly slow at 47 minutes (I'm not sure why either), but I was thrilled with the bike time of 45 minutes.   I finished the race ahead of seven people and was 8th in the Athena division.

Details of the Race

There was really no incentive to do packet pick-up on Friday evening or to come particularly early on Saturday since racking in transition was assigned.  Transition opened at 5:30, so I had a wake-up call for 5:00 and was at McDonald's for a big coffee and an egg McMuffin (no disgusting cheese with a 'z').  I toss half the muffin away and it is "just right" as Goldilocks would say.  There has been such a lot of dialog on some of the web blogs about the evils of caffeine in endurance events, with the recommendation that athletes limit themselves to only 200 mg of caffeine before competition or long training events.  I have decided that this is based on spurious and anecdotal evidence. Bring on the caffeine. Evidently they have three national cases of marathoners that had cardiac incidents in the last few miles of a marathon that they were able to revive.  All three had significant caffeine intake. There have been numerous others who have not been revived and they were not able to determine caffeine intake or any other reason for the cardiac incident.  I have determined that three is a mighty small number for this sort of recommendation, just my opinion and if you die, well I will be sad. Ranting will now cease. 

Well, even though assigned racking usually makes me want to growl a bit, I got a spot I liked just fine on the end of a rack and I was a happy triathlete.  I was able to hook up with some of the Outlaws and that was great fun and then the Oxfords from Las Cruces were all racing too, as were a whole host of folks from the Las Cruces triathlon scene, so it was fun visiting around prior to the race.  We lined up based on our pre-entered swim time.  I turned in 15 minutes, but ended up with people who turned in 12 and ahead of people who turned in 10, so I don't understand how that worked out.  I can tell you that the pool ended up being okay.  I had to do the back broadstroke most of the way, and so I hugged the lane line and stayed out of the way so folks could pass easily, so it was not a huge issue.

Once I was off on the bike, I was a passing maniac.  I LOVE the bike portion of the triathlon.  I may need to sign up for some bike races.  They'd paved some portions of the road recently and Grace (my bike) and I fairly flew along the way.  It was a dream bike ride.  Right after I made the turn on the way towards the first turnaround I was passed by a 12 year old boy.  My first thought was, "What!  How can that happen?  I'm having a great ride and no 12 year old boy can pass ME, no today."  Well, I calmed myself and reminded myself that I was doing my race, not his race, and that he was not my competition anyway...... chattering monkeys in my head continued to converse.  Well, he slowed down, so I had to say, "On your left," and pass him.  He could not stand it, and he immediately passed me.  I guess he had his own chattering monkeys in his head telling him that the 52 year old woman (ages on our legs in triathlon) could not pass HIM.  He almost immediately slowed though, and  I am really good at maintaining a consistent cadence, so I knew I needed o pass him back; yeah, you can see where this is going, can't you?  Anyway, we were close to the first turnaround, and that is a poor place to pass, so I hung back until we finished the turn, and then it was a slight downhill.  Well, my "superior mass" (shall we say weight) meant that gravity was certainly my friend and I blew past him.  After the next turn though, I knew he would have his chance because there was a long uphill and he would almost certainly pass me.  All along the way I was passing a good number of people.  The bike was good to me and  made great time.  Going up the hill my 12 year old nemesis did pass me, but that was okay because after the last turnaround, I passed him and he stayed passed.  It was 30-35 mph all the way back to transition and it was AWESOME.  I love the bike portion of this triathlon.

Okay, the run was not hideously hot, so I  have no explanation for my slowpoke time. I like the route, we get to run on an irrigation ditch for part of the way and that feels good on my legs, so I can't really tell you why it was slow.  No asthma issues, so it was just me having no gas and no go.  It was only 2 minutes faster than last year and I should have been 45 minutes or faster this year.  If it had been really hot...... oh well, it is done.  I just hated being passed by EVERYONE that I passed on the bike.  That made me sad to lose the lead I built up. Grady Oxford got second in his age group, Jeffery got 4th in his, and Marcy got 4th in hers, and the NM Outlaws were second in the team division.  

F1 Triathlon was cancelled this weekend because the fish have died in Bottomless Lake.  Mary was mocking me and said she is surprised they didn't just say, "Hey, this is an endurance sport, keep your mouth closed."  Evidently the Health Department takes a dim view on people swimming in decaying fish.  That makes the next event the Live, Love Tri at Rio Rancho, NM on August 27th.  After that I've got a 1/2 marathon in Roswell, NM on Sept. 5th and three triathlons in Sept., so the season is rolling along well into the fall.

Tri-ing Harder Every Day,
Patricia

Dam It Man Triathlon--> July 24, 2011

Dam It Man was on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at Elephant Butte Dam Site.  The packet pick-up and transition opened at 5:30 AM.  I'd arrived the night before and stayed at Marcy and Grady Oxford's lake house in Elephant Butte.  Marcy and I got up at 4:40 and killed a 10 cup pot of coffee between us, don't try to tell me that caffeine is not a good pre-race breakfast food!  Okay, we each had a banana too.

Open racking (personal favorite) and we each took an end spot so we had easy in and out and no crowding.  I needed to use my nebulizer.  You may now note that I am attempting to live in peace with my asthma.  I am not railing, whining, or complaining, I am coexisting with my asthma, my companion in triathlon.  This was a rural location with no outlets, so I went to the kind ambulance operators and asked to borrow a cup of electricity.  They were quite willing to let me hook up my nebulizer to their equipment and I got my duoneb ampule delivered to my lungs readily and in time for the pre-race meeting, or at least most of it.

There was a long walk down the stone ramp to the dock.  We were all talking about how long a run UP it would be after the swim.  There were two waves, men in the first wave and women and Clydesdales (men over 200 pounds) in the second wave.  I was good with that since I prefer NOT being in a panic when people swim over me.  It is bad enough when they start swimming into me head on in a loop swim like this on their way back, but usually the lifeguards stop most of the head-on collisions.  There was no ladder to get in/out, so we had to jump in and they had members of the Hot Springs High football team on hand to haul us out of the water.  That was the best news of the morning, okay, electricity for the breathing treatment was #1, but this was a very high #2 since getting out of the water with no ladder was not an experience I think I could handle.

I did the freestyle out to the first buoy and then got a little panicky when a woman swam back headfirst into me.  I thought, "What is up with that?  How did she already loop the course and then run into me?" Then she swam to the kayak near me and I realized she was in some sort of distress.  Now I am embarrassed to report my first thought was, "Good, now I won't be the last person out of the water," instead of, "Gosh, I hope she is okay."  Of course the knock on the head and the panic messed me up a bit and I could not calm down enough to breath right, so I had to do the backstroke for a while until I calmed down and could do the freestyle until the turn around.  Once I hit the turn around, I thought, "Is the swim EVER going to end?" I was seriously considering the stupidity of the idea that I am signed up for Elephant Man where I have to swim FOUR TIMES as long and I can't do it.  I flipped over and did the freestyle for a tiny bit and noticed that the lifeguard had to jump in and rescue a woman.  I am talking, jump out of the boat and take in her lifeguard fun noodle, and give it to one of my fellow triathletes.  Then she stayed in the water and swam with the woman.  That sort of perked me up, and I thought, "Wow, I am not the last person out of the water today for sure."  Then I began doing the breast stroke, and it felt pretty good.  I was moving slowly, but I was not scared, and it felt good.  I was catching up on this guy who was doing the backstroke, I was catching up on the drowning woman, and I even was able to encourage a woman who was struggling along beside me.  I was praying for everyone because I was so scared for them.  I've been the last one out of the water in most of the open water swims this year, this was a new experience.  I have no clue about why.  I know I was still SCARY SLOW.  The Hot Spring High boys were awesome and they hauled me out like I weighed nothing.  I ran up the boat ramp, but I did not run all the way up the stone incline. 

I know I am petrified when I think about Elephant Man in September.  I know I did the mile swim last year in an hour and twenty minutes, and it scary.  People swam over me and I thought I was going to be killed.  I cried in the water but I would not quit swimming. There were waves and I didn't know what to do about them or what to do with them.  Did I say I was scared.  Yeah.  I was scared, and I am still scared every time I do an open water swim.  I do them anyway.   There is a lot to be said about doing things that scare you  because when you are not scared you don't have to be brave.  I really like Nichole Noredeman's song Brave with the chorus that says:

So long status quo
I think I just let go
You make me want to be brave
The way it always was
Is no longer good enough
You make me want to be brave
Brave, brave

There is a line in the song where she sings about "fear ties me down" and I don't want fear to tie me down.  I am doing Elephant Man, and I am scared.  Just letting you all know.  I am scared. A whole bunch.  Back to the race.

Off on the bike portion of the race, and I knew immediately I'd made a big mistake; I left my bike in too big a gear and I could not get up the hill out of the dam.  I jumped off the bike and just ran up the hill and then got back on so I could pedal off.  The course was good, but I really brought the wrong bike.  I should have left Grace (tri bike) at home and brought Mercy (road bike) with me.  I needed more gears and I had very little time in the aero position.  There was a section on the course, about mile 5 where I was flying about 31 mph, that I thought, "I'd better get ready to brake, I have no clue about this route and it is a great place for a wreck."  I got up out of aero position and came flying around a corner to see the ambulance, state police, EMS truck and saw them loading a cyclist into the ambulance.  Evidently, I correctly assessed the danger of that particular section of the road.  Heavy sigh and prayers for the sad triathlete on the way to the hospital.  I did pass a few folks on the bike portion, uphill most of the time, and then off on the run.

I had to use my inhaler at the start of the run, and the run began with a good hill to just make sure our legs were aware they were expected to be active participants in the day.  There was a water station and then a turn to the left and a turn around.  Well, the early runners were not so fortunate to have volunteers there to tell them to turnaround, so a large number of them run an extra 3 miles, yeah, they did a 10K instead of a 5K, so they posted times that are either minutes before or after mine, but they ran twice as far.  Interesting turn of events.  In triathlon it is the participants responsibility to know the course, so nobody blames the event director, except that they do, if you know what I mean.  I realized this had happened when I was making the second turnaround loop and Marcy is coming up to the second turnaround.  I asked, "What are you doing?" and I was thinking she might just be getting in an extra workout.  She told me she was trying to finish the course.  YIKES.  After the race we drove the extra she and the group she ended up running with and measured it with my Garmin, and it was an extra 3 miles.  She still won her age group because all of the women her age were in her group.  Go Marcy!  Anyway, I was absolutely loving the run.  I don't know why my time was 46 minutes, because I thought I had a great run.  I was happy, springy in my step, I was slow according to the time, but I had an awesome time.  My overall time was 2:11:40, so this was a slow sprint race but I have no baseline to compare since I've never done this race before.  My individual times were Swim 400 Meters :  19:06  Bike 12 miles:  54:37  Run 5K:  46:16  

Yeah, I forgot to tell you, I got second place and a beautiful shiny silver medal.  I also accommodated my asthma and borrowed a second cup of electricity and did a second breathing treatment in the ambulance.  My lungs were grateful. 

Next up is the Chili Harvest Triathlon at Socorro on August 6th.  I like that race a lot.  The people do a great job and the bike course is interesting and fun.  The run has some dirt trail stuff I like too; it is easier on my knees.

I am SOOOOOO open to suggestions to deal with my Elephant Man fear.  You can certainly pray for me.

City of Santa Fe Triathlon--> July 16, 2011

Saturday was a beautiful day for a triathlon in Santa Fe.  I did my packet pick-up in Albuquerque on Thursday night, and then Friday night attended the mandatory pre-race meeting in Santa Fe.  Both the run and the bike courses were changed since the previous year, and the race director wanted to make sure we were all quite aware of the rules and the course.  There are so many great challenges to the City of Santa Fe Triathlon that I have no choice but keep it on my race calendar, PLUS it is a wonderfully organized and supported race.  This year was no exception to either the rule of challenges or support.  The C of SF Tri always starts at 6:30, and transition opens at 5 AM, so I decided to go to dinner early and head to bed so I could be up get up at 4 AM.  I am, as you know if you follow my RR, pretty obsessive if I have the chance to grab "my" spots in an open racking situation.  My preference is to be near the exit for the bike portion of the race.  This means that I am willing to dismount my bike and run into transition with my bike shoes clopping along.  In this particular race it also put me in a good spot to be able to run out and down the LONG sidewalk down to the swimming pool entrance.  Yes, I give transition location a lot of thought.  Now for the blow by blow details of my most excellent adventure in Santa Fe.

I got to bed by 9, and then woke up about 2:30.  I refused to get up, but I was just so excited about the race that I could not go back to sleep.  It is a reverse sprint, so that means we run first (my favorite) and the first mile is mostly downhill.  I love running downhill because the advantage gravity gives me is worth the stress on the knees.  I also have way better transition times in reverse sprint triathlons, so I was running things through in my mind.  I did doze off for about half an hour and then got up at 3:45 and was out of the hotel by 4:15, dressed and ready to go.  I drove through McDonalds, where I chatted with the nicest fellow who was quite cheerful for that early in the morning, and got a sugar free/fat free iced latte and a cheese free egg McMuffin.  Just a hint, if you get your egg McMuffin without cheese, you save about 75 calories of not so great cheeze (we spell it with a "z" because I don't think it is real cheese) and they have to make it fresh.  I toss half of the muffin away and have the perfect prerace breakfast.  I got to the parking area about 4:40 and loaded up my stuff and unloaded my bike.  I carried my bike to the road and there were already about 10 bikes (other obsessive compulsive triathletes) in transition, but fortunately no throwdowns were necessary since none of them were in "my" spot.  I got set up, and went in to get body marking done, got my timing chip, and then found an outlet to use my nebulizer for a breathing treatment for my asthma.

Back up to transition, borrowed a bike pump from the super nice bike mechanics and aired up my tires.  Chatted with a few folks, and then went for a pre-race bike ride warm-up.  Oh, the altitude was killer.  It did not take much to get the heart pumping and the lungs working.  There is not a lot of oxygen in the air in Santa Fe, compared to our elevation in Fort Sumner.   I was really gasping for air.  One of the challenges I like to embrace, hence one of the reasons I sign up for this race.  At 6:15 they closed transition and we all moved out to the road where the wonderful City of Santa Fe Police had closed off Rodeo Road so we could run down it unimpeded.  I ADORED the support in this race.  They are just so great about keeping us safe.  Yes, the bike course is open to vehicle traffic, but they have uniformed officers at every main intersection managing the traffic.  There are over 100 volunteers, it is terrific.  At 6:30, we take off, and I am running well.  The downhill is being good to me, I am keeping up with a group of people, and it feels good.  A little asthma problem, but I am working with it and am postponing the use of my break through inhaler.  We are about 3/4 of a mile into the run, when a woman in the group I am running with, falls and breaks her ankle.  She is running, and she just falls and breaks her ankle.  Amazingly, she does not cry, we just wave the police down and they call the ambulance and take her away (found out later she probably did break her ankle).  She is brave and she tells her friend to finish the race, so we all just leave her with the police and then we run on.  Yes, we triathletes are driven.  Our companion is down for the count, and we murmur in sympathy, and proceed to run our race. At least we summoned aid and made sure a responsible party was there to watch her.  I wait until the turn around and then use my inhaler and then finish the run ahead of probably ten folks, just guessing.  It was just the luck of the draw, but in my particular bike rack, I ended up being the first person back from the run.  I can tell you that has NEVER happened to me before, and it was fun to be the first one back from the run.  Now, drum roll, my run was 40 minutes!  Yes, that is only 2 minutes off my personal best at Jay Benson in May, and that is despite the altitude in Santa Fe.  This time was also FIVE minutes better than last year. 

Off on the bike, and I am cruising.  I love the bike and I love passing people.  I REALLY love passing people going up hill.  It is so sweet, so satisfying to push, and push and pass someone going uphill.  The route was primarily uphill going out, and into the wind, but I am pretty devil-may-care and just flew back in my biggest gears and crushed the return trip.  I did remember to drink plenty on the bike because I did not want a repeat of last year's dehydration episode.  I'd had plenty to drink on the run, and finished about 10 ounces on the bike.  The bike time included both the run into transition and the run down to the swim, both transitions, and it was 55:53.  This time was 13:43 faster than last year.  YEAH, baby, you read that correctly......THIRTEEN minutes and 43 seconds faster than last year.  My swim was laughable, as always, at 16:30.  This time was two minutes and nine seconds faster than last year.  I used my rescue inhaler as I ran down the LOOOONG sidewalk to the swimming pool.  I was finishing the 5th of 8 laps, when I knew I was in some breathing trouble.  I switched to the backstroke and tried to ease the tightness, but my lungs were being unforgiving and unyielding.  I finished and got out with an overall time that put me in 6th place for the Athenas.  Last year my total time was 2:13:33 and this year my total time was 1:53:13.  This means I cut 20:23 off this race.  I will take that any day. 

Once I got out of the water I asked a volunteer to go up and get my red nebulizer bag so I could do a breathing treatment.  Actually, my asthma made me more whisper it, but I got the message across.  They were good enough to go get it for me, and then got me set up by an outlet so I could use my machine.  The paramedics came to check on me, but I assured them that I knew what I was doing to care for myself.  Of course I had to sign forms for everyone, including the lifeguard that they had offered to help me and that I was stubborn and willful and did not want to go to the hospital.  Actually, the paramedics agreed with me that I was fine, but they still had to get me to sign the form that says they offered.

So after the race it was off to Starbucks for a fat free frappe, and I got a bonus free oatmeal (they'd made an extra and it was just my lucky day) and then to the hotel for a shower.  Then off to Sam's for groceries and then a small Schlotzsky's on wheat (celebration meal) to eat on the road.  While I was driving I was thinking about many things.  I was really happy about how well the race went, and I was also embarrassed/frustrated/angry about the struggles with my asthma.  While I was in the pool I was pretty angry at my asthma, like it was my enemy.  On the way home I started thinking that maybe I needed to change my perspective.  My asthma is part of who I am, like my eye color.  I did do the things I know I need to do to care for my asthma.  I did a breathing treatment prior to the race.  I took the inhaler with me. I used it.   I had the machine and meds available since I know that this has been a very bad year for asthma.  It has been a long time since I pretended I didn't have asthma, so maybe I should not be so angry when it flares up.  Frankly, my asthma is not keeping me from doing things I like to do.  I may not be doing them as fast or as fluidly as I wish, and it has been inconvenient to have asthma flare up, but I can work with that.  I do keep hanging on to the information the pulmonary specialist shared years ago; asthma has a six year cycle and that consists of 2 good years, 2 bad years and 2 years that can go either way.  This is one of the two bad year and maybe it will end soon and I will move on to one of the good years :-)  My change of attitude or perspective toward my asthma is not fully fleshed out, but I know I need to be prayerful about this and be open to looking at this challenge differently.

Next up, Dam It Man at Elephant Butte on Sunday the 24th.  Prior to that, I have Diva Night at Sports Systems on Thursday the 21st at 6 PM.  That brings it own challenges since I have to be a "Fastanistia" in my sportswear for that event.  I did get to pick out the outfits, and they are really cute and they are things I would really wear to run, bike or do triathlons in, so I feel good in them.

Merrily Training Along,
Patricia

Bottomless Lake Triathlon--> July 9, 2011

Okay, contrary to the name, you do get to wear bottoms at the Bottomless Lake Triathlon. I recently discovered that they do have naked 5K races, and I will absolutely be avoiding those.  Random.

Bottomless Lake is outside of Roswell, NM.  My weekend of fun started by meeting Mary (daughter) and Dave (son-in-law) in Roswell.  Dave is a screenwriter and his movie Roswell FM (comedy about a radio station and aliens) is being filmed in Roswell this summer.  We had a great visit and a yummy dinner, then off to bed because I had a race in the morning.  Like a wonderful family, Dave, Mary, and hubby Les all decided that they would come and cheer me on.  Now this is despite the fact that triathlon is really a HIDEOUS spectator sport.  They must really love me a lot.

Bottomless Lake is in a hollow, so the bike is hilly and you get to ride around it.  The tri started at 8:30, and by 7:30, when I got back from a warm up bike ride, I could tell it was going to be a scorcher.  I was sweating buckets.  Don't tell me ladies don't sweat, or that they glisten, I was pouring buckets of sweat and it was disgustingly hot.  Yeah, I know, no whining, triathlon is an endurance sport and that means we endure the heat too.

Two waves in the swim; women first so the men could swim over us.  We took off, and if I had ANY swim skills I would have been out of the water before the men got in the water, but no, I was meandering all over the lake.  I don't know what was wrong.  My usual pitiful swim attempt was lamer that usual and I thought I would never get out of the water.  The poor kayak lifeguards were desperately worried about my safety and kept shouting encouragement to me like, "Lady, you're going the wrong way." and "Lady, the men are going to run over you if you don't move over this way."  When I finally drug my sorry carcass out of the water they were so relieved they were cheering for me.  I did beat some of the men out of the water, and they started 12 minutes after the women's wave.  Yeah, you read that correctly.  The swim took me 18:31 and that was about 1.5 minutes longer than last year.  This was  a 400 meter swim.  Yes, you may gasp and mock me.  I can't hear you.  You may laugh out loud.  I am okay with that.

I ran up and in to transition, and did a great job on the bike course.  I finished the hilly route in 36:44, and that was 9:12 faster than last year's time.  Super pleased with that, and the passing people part was good too.  Off on the run, and I did that in five minutes faster than the previous year.  Overall, my time was 11:36 faster this year than last year and I got third in my division; I will take it.  I think I've mentioned that I am racing in the Master Athena division in all of my races this year, and so far I've received points in the Southwest Challenge Series in most of my races, so that is good.

Now one of the nicest things happened.  I was chatting with another triathlete, and she complimented me on how great my run was.  Now my run was almost 42 minutes and this was a 4K race.  For most triathletes I know I am posting lame times.  I console myself that I  getting better and I keep setting goals.  I never really thought that for some starting triathletes, I am doing great and I am where they hope to be.  I keep beating myself up because I can't get my 5K time down to 30 minutes (my best time is 39 minutes).  This conversation is giving me a bit of a perspective shift.  Maybe I need a bit of celebration attitude.  Goals are good, but somehow I've been forgetting to savor the sweetness too.  

One of the other athletes, Greg, had a tough thing happen.  He lost a tire and had to run 5 miles of the bike portion in his bare feet (no socks) on the 100 degree pavement.  He then put on his running shoes and did the run.  He had horrid, bloody blisters on the soles of his feet following the race.  That is a can-do spirit. 

It was really hot on Saturday in Roswell, so that afternoon Mary and I celebrated my triumph by going to get manicures and pedicures.  Nothing like a good girly thing after a great tri event :-)

Next up, the City of Santa Fe Triathlon on Saturday the 16th and after that Dam It Man on Sunday the 24th (not too late to register).  How did I manage to make myself compete three weekends in a row when I decided in June that was really tough to do?  I think it must be that I just like it so very much.

On a fun note, if you are going to be in Albuquerque on July 21, come to Sports Systems from 6-8 PM.  They are having Diva Night, which is a women's fashion show.  I will be one of the sports clothing models.  I think it is funny and appropriate that they want to have an Athena model in the show.  I like it that they realize that larger women are athletes and like to wear great sports wear too.  


Yours in Trying Harder,
Patricia

Biking in California-->June 25, 2011

Motorists in CA are nice.  They know how to be respectful of cyclists.  It is the law in CA that motorists give cyclists 5', just as it is in NM, and they know the law.  We are visiting in Ridgecrest (think Mojave Desert) and it is HOT even early in the morning.  It is hot and WINDY in the evening, so I opt to ride in the morning because windy is not my favorite addition to riding option.  I had a great ride up this long, slow hill this morning that if I lived in Ridgecrest could quickly become one of my favorite routes.  One thing I did notice is that cyclists do not appear to be quite as friendly in CA as they are in Albuquerque.  I said hi to everyone I saw and not everyone said hi back to me.  Now having come back down the long incline at a blisteringly fast pace, it could be that they were white knuckling the ride down the hill and did not feel comfortable with even a finger wave salute or a breathless "hey" to respond to my cheery, "Good morning" as I ground up the hill.

Les and I did the trip to CA by leaving Fort Sumner on Wednesday night after work and driving to Gallup where we stayed at a less than lovely Rodeway Inn.  The AC didn't work well and the bed was quite likely a refurbished billiard table.  We got to bed about midnight and were in Walmart by 7 to get some frozen chili and tamales to take to Stephen.  He lives in the land of no chili or Mexican food.  Since we are loving parents, we take him frozen chili products when we visit.


I could of course make tamales, but we are having a vacation and making tamales is not a vacation task and it is over 110 degrees in Ridgecrest and they use swamp coolers in Ridgecrest; I am taking frozen tamales; that is sufficient motherly affection. 

There is loads of BLM land around Ridgecrest, so one of our favorite things to do while we are there is go shooting.  I took my Smithfield XD 9mm Subcompact, my favorite concealed carry automatic and a bunch of ammunition, and Les took his coyote rifle and the shotgun.  For his birthday I'd ordered him a modification kit for the shotgun, and he wanted both of us to have a chance to shoot it.  Stephen had recently purchased a new Colt 1911 45 automatic, and I wanted to try that out.  I've had my eye on a Kimber 1911 model 45 for a while, and that will probably be my next handgun purchase.  I like Stephen's Colt a lot, but the Kimber is such a nice gun.  We played a fun shooting game using a dartboard target and teams.  The game is called "Around the Clock".  Stephen and I were teams against Les and Dan.  It is a common dart game were you have to get all of the numbers in sequence and then finish off with the bulls eye in the center.  Stephen and I won and it was fun to shoot for a couple of hours.

Another thing we always do when we visit is mess with computer stuff.  On Saturday I moved the church web site over to Concrete 5.  That means some different sort of html and php programming than I am used to and with Stephen's help the migration of the web site went quite smoothly.  I like messing with the technology aspect of this, but only when I have the time to do it.  Most of my schedule is too jammed with the daily tasks of life, but on these little holidays I have time to mess with new learning, and it is fun to acquire some new skills and dabble in stuff that is not routine.

Sunday Les and I will do the Road Warrior trip back to Fort Sumner.  We will get up early and begin the 14 hour journey back home.  A week from Sunday, July 3rd, I head off to church camp at Pine Springs and I am so excited about that week.  Six of our high school girls are going with me and I know we will have an awesome time. Training there will be interesting since I never get more than about three hours of sleep a night.  We are up until midnight or one with the kids, and then it is like a slumber party in the adult cabin; we just stay up and chat like teens until early morning.  I still try to maintain some semblance of a training regimen, so I get up and run or bike in the morning and then get out to serve breakfast at 8.  I teach class for the girls who are going on to college and class time is from 9-10.   This year we are studying I John and I love that book.  This week is my favorite of the year.