Now for the long version, if you care for the details.
Les, and Stephen, Mary and Dave, had decided to celebrate Mothers' Day by joining me in the Albuquerque. They had never gone with me to any of the triathlons, and I'd warned them that triathlon is not much of a spectator sport. Les and I got to Albuquerque on Friday night, and we got a great night's sleep. We picked up Stephenn at the airport about 10:30 and then it was off to packet pick up. Chasing 3 had it well organized and we did body marking them as well. Off for some lunch at Schlotzsky's and Mary and Dave met us there too. We'd planned a little hillbilly fun and went to an indoor shooting range since I am doing my concealed carry certification class next weekend and I wanted a little practice.
Since we live in rural Fort Sumner, a trip to Albuquerque necessitates a trip to do all of the errands of the world while we are in the big city. Special coffee, a trip to Sephora for some new waterproof eyeliner, books at Barnes and Nobles, then we went downtown for a special dining experience at Toucano's Brazilian Grill with the 1.5 hour wait because it was prom night. We decided that we didn't need a 1.5 hour wait for meat on a sword, so off to eat tasty Vietnamese food and back to the hotel to visit. Since I am an athlete, I did have to kick everyone, except for Les, out at 10 so I could get to bed since 4:30 was coming so VERY early. There was minimal mocking from the twenty-somethings about my need to go to bed early; I think they are pretty proud of me and my efforts :-)
Since this race is on a military base, and since security is at a high level, we had to be in line at 5:45. Les and our son went in our van, and Mary and Dave were coming later in their car so they could bring coffee and fresh bagels. We had no drama getting through the gate, but Stephen had to go help charm Mary and Dave through the check point later that morning (not sure what happened).
There were over 600 triathletes competing today. This race sold out in 2 hours when it went live on Active.com. They had over 160 people on the wait list hoping to get in to the event. Crazy. There were two triathlons last weekend, and both combined had about 500 participants.
The waves got off right on time, and it was a pretty good run for me. Still some asthma problems, but I was more successful at running though it than I had been in other spring events this year. I was pretty surprised to see so many folks still in transition and/or coming into transition when I got there because that is NOT my usual experience. I ran out of transition and there was another triathlete also running her bike out at the same time. I was not sure of the protocol, so I let her "go first" but she was having a hard time clipping in and so I ended up moving around her and taking off. The bike leg was GLORIOUS. I was having a great time passing folks and the bike portion only got better when I got into the hills and I could crank up the hills and really power past folks. I just love passing people going up hill.
Back at transition, I ready for the pool, puffed on the inhaler as I ran in to the pool and then jumped in at the deep end (I don't like jumping in to the deep end feet first, but those are the rules). The swim was better than most have been this year and I had to just go off my Garmin times since the official times have not been posted on the race site yet. I was so jazzed when I got out of the pool and saw that there were still lots of people in the pool, there were still people coming in to transition, and all of this is new to me. Wow. i feel like I'm entering into a whole new era of triathlon, and it is just so exciting.
It was totally fun and exciting to have my family there. I didn't realize how much fun it could be to have my personal cheering squad there. I think they were contributors to my personal best, and I thank them for helping make my Mother's Day spectacular.
The next triathlons are:
- June 4th, Milkman Tri in Dexter, NM
- June 11th,(Billy the Kid Tombstone Tri, Sumner Lake State Park, NM
- June 18th, Chick-fil-a Tri, Amarillo, Texas
- July 9th Bottomless Lake, Roswell, NM
- July 16th City of Santa Fe, NM
- July 23rd, Dam It Man, Elephant Butte, NM
- August 6, Chili Harvest Tri, Socorro, NM
- August 27, Live, Love, Tri, Rio Rancho, NM
- Sept. 17th, Cotton Tri, Levelland, TX
- Sept. 26th, Elephant Man, Olympic Distance, Elephant Butte Lake, NM
- October 1st, Warrior Tri, KAFB, Albuquerque, NM
- October 9th, Holloman Tri, HAFB, Alamogordo, NM
- October 16th, Duke City Marathon, Albuquerque, NM
- December 3rd, Polar Bear Tri, White Sands, NM
Patricia
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