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
I don't think I've ever done a race where the men start after the women. Generally men are just faster, and I bet their activity didn't help your swim time. The swim is such a miniscule part of the day, and it sounds to me that in the end you PR'd! That's fantastic. I know for me, all I need to do is better than I did last time. As for the swim, it's so subjective to conditions. I mean, were they the same as last year? was it rougher? Did you swim a straight line, did you get off course? All these things come into play. The big question is, how did you feel going into the swim? Did you feel more confident? That, to me, is more important that finish time. Good job lady!
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