So, I actually have a race to talk about!
On Sunday, my friend Lauren and I did a sprint tri relay here in New Jersey. Lauren had actually signed up for this race months ago…and then found out she was pregnant! A few weeks ago she asked if I would join her in a relay because she didn’t feel safe completing the bike portion. We decided she would swim, I would bike, and we would run together. So, I was totally unprepared and hadn’t ridden my road bike in months. And months and months. I tested it out the Friday before the race and the plastic guard around the cassette (AKA the ring with the little teeth that the chain feeds through – that’s the official terminology) broke off. Great. I did some googling tonight (because obviously NOW it’s important) and found that some people call it a “dork disc” anyway so I guess it breaking makes me look less dorky. Fab.
I took my chances with semi-broken Penelope anyway and showed up on Sunday. When I woke up at 5 AM it was raining, but thankfully my willpower wasn’t totally gone. I was actually pretty excited about a TRI raceday! I got in my car with a big mug of coffee and drove a quick 15 minutes to the race start. I parallel parked in a tiny spot like a champ (still proud) right next to transition and met Lauren at our little spot on the bike rack. We were both super early so we sat in my car for a little bit and caught up. Since we were a relay team, Lauren started in the very last wave…so we had a while to wait. But before we knew it, it was time for her to line up for the swim start!
I kind of miss swimming. THERE I SAID IT.
You can’t tell in this pic, but I think there were about 300 people participating.
The swim was .35 miles so once she got in the water, I waited a couple minutes then went back to transition to wait. After her (and baby!) finished, I grabbed the timing chip and leisurely walked out of transition while all these intense people sped by me.
Transition 1: 1:19
It was still drizzling a little but I felt safe on the bike overall. Even though I was planning to take it easy, as soon as I started pedaling my competitiveness kicked in. Knowing we started in the last wave, I wanted to see if I could pass some people and get ahead. The course was pretty flat (THANK. GOODNESS.) so I tried to go as fast as I safely could. After the first loop (out of two) I was once again thinking about how biking always humbles me and how my legs were already tried. Whoops. Note to self: I seriously need to get stronger on the bike.
Bike: 9 miles, 33:27 (16 MPH)
After I exited T2, Lauren jumped in to join me for a nice little 5K.
Transition 2: :48
Because the bike was 9 miles, I figured my legs would be fine. Umm, no. My legs definitely took some time to warm up to running. Mainly because the first part of the run course had two huge, steep hills. And I just wasn’t interested in that. Lauren and I were chatting and laughing and decided to walk up some of the bigger hills instead of exert ourselves in the terrible humidity. Fine by me. It was much more fun that way. We crossed the finish line together super sweaty but smiling!
Run: 3.1 miles, 35:37 (11:29/mi)
Baby’s first tri! (Doesn’t Lauren look amazing?!)
MEDALS. YESSSSS,
And then, of course, we continued along to the BEST part of any raceday: going to get a bagel and iced coffee.
Are you a fan of relays, or would you rather do the whole race yourself? What’s your favorite post-race meal?
I think it’s really cool you did this with your friend and love that it had the medal- she can show the medal to the baby when it’s born and older and tell him/her about the race :). Looks like you guys had a lot of fun too, and you can’t beat running with a friend and refueling with bagels and coffee.
Fun!!! I have never done a relay tri but I bet it would be super fun!!