Woot!!

Yay Me!! Today was an event I really needed, and I am very happy with the results.

Saturday
Tammy and I made it down to Richmond eventually, there is ALWAYS traffic on I95. We went to packet pick up, got last minute necessities at the bike shop, and checked into the hotel. All of this was right around the time the US started playing Ghana. I missed the first goal, and rushed Tammy (who, bless her heart, didn't really care about the game...) to the room to watch. Once again, bless her heart, she said we could go watch it somewhere. And do you know where the closest place was to watch (with beer of course)? No, not the hotel bar (it wasn't open), but Hooters. Yup, we went there to watch the second half. And I had a beer. And we had sliders and cheesy, bacon tater tots. Nothing screams pre race meal like Hooters! Needless to say, I was crying into my beer, and so was Tammy - but for a different reason. (EDIT - Tammy would like me to mention that there was also bikini car wash going on by the Hooters girls. Thank you Tammy, I am not sure how I forgot that part of the weekend...)

We did some shopping in the local mall, grabbed a quick bit at Panera, and were back at the hotel by 8 - to get ready for bed. Gotta love pre race day activities :-)

Race Day!
I think this was one of the first times I was so early to a race start. Races with 418 people are so nice. Different, low key, enjoyable. And, with a sunrise like this - it had to be a great day!

Swim
We knew the swim was a point to point with a slow current. 500M - sweet, I figured I would be out so fast, even though the water was 87 degrees!!! YUCK!

After treading for about 4 minutes (another props to my water polo days for treading not taking any energy), we were off. I had a good start, drafted for a bit, and finished strong. So that means when I looked at my watch, I was once again, pissed. 10 minutes! REALLY! For 500 meters! Blah! PLUS, there were stairs (which I may or may not have tripped on) and a short distance to jog before the timing mat - so my swim time was 10:55. I can't keep blaming my slow swim times on long courses, but something is going on.
(NOTE - after reviewing the overall results, it was the course. Or the warm water. Or both. I was 85/418)

Bike
Tammy offered to drive me around the bike course, but I said no, I like surprises.
My stomach was a tad upset to start off the bike, so I sipped on some water and munched on a snack, and hoped it wouldn't get any worse.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the bike. I would call it gentle rollers with one climb. I didn't realize it, but apparently I was doing a slow incline up to the turn around, because I flew back. I really wasn't paying too much attention to my time, but was feeling pretty good. It was pretty shaded, no wind. A very nice course.
And my time - 17.1 mph! I PR'ed (personal record) my bike split!!

Run
Well, if you read my previous post, you knew this was the big test. My goal was run a minute, walk a minute the best I could, and try to be under 45 minutes - which would be under 15 min/mile. It started off pretty well, the first mile was on a nice trail with hard sand. And shaded!! In the little subdivision we went through, Malissa passed me (she is a mulit Boston marathoner, so I was just waiting) and gave me a little up lift. After the turn around, I see Tammy from afar. We start doing a slow run, arms wide open, towards each other. This was followed by a slow motion run - with Chariots of Fire playing in my head (and later I found out, Tammy's as well). We had a quick chat about the swim (that it sucked) and continued our on way, but first -
Me "Come on Tammy, CATCH ME"
Tammy "Slow down"
Everyone else - strange looks
Us - hysterical laughter.

The rest of the run continued with my 1:1, and I was happy. I was moving, my right foot hurt only a tad, but nothing compared to what it has in the past.

And my run time - 44:36, 14:21 min/miles. Which for me, and my first run in months, I was really happy.

Overall time, 2:05:10 (and Tammy, about a minute faster :-)

So, I am really happy with the race. There isn't too much I would have done differently. And if I stay pain-free, I think I can slowly build in some running back into my workouts.

Woot!