Back on Top... Spring Sprint Tri!

My sweet bug at the start line.  She told me just
before this photo, "MOM... the jellyfish are still
there... I just saw a bunch of them..."  Great...

If you follow my blog, you know the past 6+ months has been tough as far as training goes... after 3 years of training and weight loss, I'm back to work and dealing with long work hours, I tried mixing up my training and found that I was gaining weight...

... and today, I finally put together a race that I am very proud of! :-)

I had a few new mental issues to deal with during this race...

First, I was in the same rack and wave start as the elites and military. I got to my AWESOME rack station (front and center) and found a guy, sitting on the ground with electronic stimulators attached to his quads. WOW, is this what elite athletes do to warm up? He was the nicest guy, but his warm up freaked me out just a bit.
 
Triatheletes are always so supportive, so I shouldn't be surprised, but racking with the "big dogs" was great! The conversation was fun, and I noticed that my racking was pretty much the same as everyone else... we had the same stuff in the same order... good... I was doing something right! :-)


We handed Anna the camera...
Jeff and me at the start. :-)

I always meet fantastic people during the race, and today, I met (and raced against) a gal who was 5 months pregnant!!! And this was her 3rd triathlon since she became pregnant!!! Of course I asked her about her story and she said this was her 2nd baby and that her training and racing was helping her with the pregnancy!!! WOW! What a total inspiration! She took first place in the under 40 Athena category! :-)

I am also always inspired by the challenged athletes... especially the guy with one leg and one ski that raced right by me during the run... and this race was about the itty bity racers... starting at 7 years old! You should have seen those kids crushing the finish line! 

Other challenges... all those jellies in the water... see the photos for that story... 
... the wind... yep, it started at 6AM while we were setting up transition, which meant that it would be howling on Fiesta Island... which it was!

I hope you enjoy the story... this season is now OFFICIALLY ON! :-)  The photos will tell the rest of the story..

We were the first group into the water, and Anna just told me there
were jellies everywhere.  Sure enough, I'm looking at a jelly
the size of my head as I have to jump in for warm up...
atleast the guy behind me is not too excited, either!

15 seconds to start... HERE... WE...GO!

Jeff got AMAZING photos of my swim today!  I decided to start
front and center and here I'm trying to see who is kicking me
from the front!

I'm coming around a buoy... and I really didn't want to get
hit...like I did... upside the head at buoy 4...

Starting the ride, and I see my sweet husband and Anna...
LET'S... GO!

Hard bike with the winds at Fiest Island are DONE!
Start of the run...

Coach Laura always says, "You're going to finish... so FINISH FAST!"

WOOOO HOOOOO... finish line!

Tom and I are Palomar YMCA Triathletes and challenge
each other... next race SDIT!

FINALLY... a win! WOOO HOOOO!