Kerrville Tri - 2016

This race is a staple on my race calendar. I've done it every year since 2011 and I really love it. This year was even more fun with Kris and Linda racing! It always seems like there's a threat of bad weather this weekend and this year was no exception. But instead of getting lucky like we normally do we had to deal with scattered rain showers pretty much throughout the whole race.

Also, this was the first year it was NOT wetsuit legal! That didn't really bother me since I really hate swimming in my wetsuit and I actually felt pretty strong during my swim and I ended up having the exact same swim time from last year when I wore my wetsuit. Go figure!

The drizzles started as I headed out on the bike so I knew this might affect my plan of going balls out on the bike. My goal was to try to match or beat my time from last year. I took the corners slow and safe and tried to hammer the straightaways and hope for the best. I stayed upright but I was 6 mins slower, so my goal modified a bit as I headed out on the run.

I had messed up my timer on my watch so all it was showing me was a total running time but no splits or pace. So I had to just use the running time and the mile markers to gauge my pace on the run. My new goal turned into how far under 3 hrs can I finish this race. I knew my goal of hitting 2:45 was gone after losing those 6 mins on the bike. I was actually pretty impressed with myself that I was able to have such a good run just going by feel. My run was only 2 mins slower than last year but I still ran a 8.49 pace.

So overall I finished in 2:55, around 7  mins slower than the previous year. But I'm still extremely happy with my race and how mentally I stayed positive and present throughout. Another plus of doing the quarter distance race on this day was the downpour that hit the half iron man athletes on the run. They basically had to run through mini rivers! Kudos to all those who finished!

I really love a race that lights a fire in me and this race did that. Gotta work on my 2017 race calendar and see what we come up with!