Where Does the Time Go?!?!

Man, I have had so much to blog but haven't found the time to actually sit down and write it out. It's been a week?!?! Sorry to my 3 readers I have left...

Let's see, a week in review.
Tuesday for some reason I got up BEFORE the crack of dawn for a bike ride. I only got up because Brooke said she would meet me, and Janel and M.E. said maybe... so I had to go. Sure enough, all 3 of them were there and we had a really good ride. And there was no way I would have gotten out of bed if it wasn't for meeting them. Yay friends!!
And that wasn't it for Tuesday. For some reason, I decided to do a double. After work, went for a run. It was a run where I thought I was moving, ran pretty much the entire time (51 minutes) and still went a 13:30!!! BOOO!! No matter what... I am the same speed. Blah!

The rest of the week was 'tapering' (aka doing nothing) for my sprint tri on Saturday. I don't know if you can taper off of a break, but that was my theory.

Arin (my brother) and I went head to head on a sprint tri. I knew if he beat me, I would never hear "Remember when I beat an Ironman..." for the rest of my life. I was a bit worried because Arin was working out a ton and very dedicated. I thought we were about the same for swimming and he is a faster runner, so I had to work the bike.

Mom and Dad flew out Thursday and early Saturday morning, we headed to Lake Anna. Arin and I were in the same wave so it made things easier. We set up our trans areas, met some really nice people, and headed to the water at 10:18.

The swim - felt good, and fast. I wanted to push and see how it felt to go faster. When I finished, Mom and Dad yelled "You are losing!!" and "Your brother is BEATING you!!" Arin was out about 20 seconds ahead of me! WHAT!?! And I looked at my time, about 1-1:30 than other 750 swims... I think the course was a bit long... (NOTE - according to the results, I was 1st out of the water for the Athena's! Woo-Hoo! Even if it was long, I was still first, even though Arin beat me out)
T1 - See Arin, chat as I get my shoes on and Carlos and I are out before him - I gained my time back. Ha!

Bike - I knew I had to keep my lead on Arin so he wouldn't catch me on the run. It was a pretty flat course, but some bumps to make it interesting. Great roads and pretty sights. Before I knew it, it was over. L-O-V-E only having to bike 12.4 miles and I tried to push, but not too hard. 44 minutes! 16.9 MPH! By far my fastest bike ever!
T2 - Had a conversation with a girl by me so took a bit longer than it should have.

Run - Only 3.1 miles, and flat, but still couldn't get my self to 'run'. Started with the 1:1, 2:1, but mentally had a hard time 'running'. It was an out and back so kept my eyes pealed after the turn around.
Arin wasn't too far behind me so I needed to get my butt moving, and I did. So much so, I had a negative split! HA! AND, I FINALLY went faster than 13:30 minute miles, 11:45!! Once again, my fastest 5K!!
This was also my best finish, 5 out of 25. Apart of me wishes I would have pushed harder, I was less than 4 minutes from 3rd - oh well...

It was a great race and Arin finished strong. I am so proud of him! He was a bit to fast for my liking and think my winning won't last much longer. Especially if we both do the 4.4 mile swim next year... Oh well, have to love sibling rivalry.

Now, I am finishing up my packing for a week in Ireland. It was a present to my self after spending the year training for Ironman. Basically, it will probably be another week before I blog again... I know, my life is so hard.