Kerrville Tri!

Kerrville with my girls 

I always have a great time at this race. I don't know if it's because I know it's close to the last race of the season, if not the last race, but I truly do enjoy this race. This year was no different.

Pre-race

Pre-race

Pre-race

I expected this to be a pretty low-key race with not much fanfare, but a few weeks out, Kris said her dad was biting the bullet and doing the race. And not just doing it, but doing the Quarter distance. It would be his first triathlon. He is 69 years old. Just awesome.

Thanks for the cheers Herb!

Kris decided to fly in to support her dad and then Aixa decided to go ahead and race on Saturday and stay to spectate with the family on Sunday. Linda and Shelly even made it in to cheer with their mini cheerleaders. Herb volunteered as paddle board support for the race. All of a sudden everyone was there!

Day drinking

Race morning came, along with all the nerves, but I knew I was ready. Physically, it felt like forever since I had raced, even though it was only a couple of months ago. Mentally, I knew I could do it and wanted to go out and give it all I had. I knew it probably wasn't going to be my fastest race, but I wanted to be satisfied with the effort I put out. There's been a lot going on this year and I hadn't really been hitting my training goals, but I needed to do this race to see if I still could find that "happiness" I remember from a few years back. Finally it was time to line up to hit the water. I wished John good luck and hoped to myself that he wouldn't catch me on the bike.

Swim - 24:13
I accidentally seeded myself at the very back of the pack. I didn't realize this until they had already started sending the girls into the water and I looked behind me and only saw a few of the same colored caps as me and tons of next wave. Whoops! It actually didn't go so bad and turned out to be one of the best swims I've had in terms of sighting and not getting pummeled. Although, I also didn't have any fast feet to hang onto and any that I did come up to, I ended up passing fairly quickly. I was so grateful for the relatively smooth water after the chop and waves of IM Canada 70.3 and it really gave me a confidence boost after my "I'm going to die" swim there.

I exited the water and ran up the hill with Aixa chasing me and anticipating the stinging slap on the ass I knew was coming...and she got me good! T1 was a slugfest. I really need to work on that.

Bike: 1:36:53
Goal #1 - Don't let John catch me. (He didn't, but I only rode about 1 min faster than him. Go John!) Goal #2 - Don't crash. Goal #3 - Have fun!
I got pretty lucky on the bike as I didn't get poured on, but there were a few areas that were slick with water and I just wanted to be safe going around those corners so I didn't kamikaze the whole thing. We also had a headwind on the way out of town, which is usually not the norm, but I must say that I didn't notice it one bit. I'm not sure if it was the disc wheel or if I was just feeling that good, but I was extremely happy on my bike. This is always the best feeling ever! There are times when I ride my bike that I feel like no matter what effort I put out, I feel like I'm not going anywhere. This was not one of those times. With every pedal stroke the bike felt so responsive; we were in perfect sync together. According to Strava, I made it up the last hill before turning back into town in the fastest time I have ever done at this race. Things were just clicking on the bike. Again, not my fastest time, but for sure one of the happiest bike rides I've had in a race in a very long time.

I did better with T2 and was able to get out of there in just over 2 minutes. Not blazing fast but better than T1.  

Running happy. (Thanks Lexa for running back
getting this!)

Run: 1:05:09
My run training has taken a hit lately as I've been trying to clear up a lingering foot issue with PT, so I wasn't sure how this run was going to go. My longest run coming into the race was only 4 miles with the majority of my runs being 2 or 3 miles once a week. I saw Linda and Alex cheering for me as I exited T2 and it was a nice little boost to get the legs moving and then I saw the rest of the gang by the first aid station on the way out. I managed to somehow avoid getting smacked on the ass again, which I'm sure my cheeks are grateful for! The first 2 miles ticked off in the low 9's and I thought that maybe I would be able to scrounge up a good run. As mile 3 ticked off, I was up in the high 9's and I knew I was just running to finish now. The legs popped off not long after that, but it didn't bother me. I was having so much fun and, truthfully, it felt like those miles ticked off way faster than they actually did. I kinda almost didn't want it to end.

Total Time: 3:12:34. Still a top 10 finish in a group of 33 tough women. Who says getting older makes you slower?

After I was done, I met up with the gang and we were able to cheer for John as he ran past us on the final out and back section. He looked great and I'm not sure I believe this was his first triathlon, just saying!

Until next year Kerrville! I do believe I will up the ante and finally tackle the sprint/quarter combo that I've been thinking about for a few years now. :) As always, I've got to give a huge shout out to my #1 supporter Brian. Without him, this weekend wouldn't have run so smoothly and for that, I thank you (xoxoxo).

Love the name banner of everyone doing the race(s)!