Wonder Woman Triathlon

So, I had been training super hard...meaning, I had been running a couple days a week for all of 2 weeks and gone mountain biking a whole 2 times...and I somehow allowed AK to talk me into doing an offroad triathlon. I pretty much knew I was going to suck it up, so I joked about wearing my wonder woman costume and brought it along just in case I was feeling like a cape would help the day of the race.

AK & I drove up Friday night with our friend Daryl to Springfield, South Carolina where the race was being held. A couple of our friends planned on making the trip, but would come up on Saturday. We got there pretty late and had missed the big eve of the race pasta dinner, but the race director was so sweet that he invited us into his cabin and heated up some more pasta for us and gave offered us a beer. I of course turned down the beer, knowing that it would greatly effect my performance the next day....NOT! We chilled in the cabin for a while before heading out the campfire that a couple of the racers had going. We head to bed kinda early because I desperately needed my beauty sleep - I mean a girls got to look good for race day, right?

We woke up early the next morning and checked in for the race. We put our mountain bikes in the race racks (I'm sure there is a more technical name that I don't know) and went and grabbed our kayaks that we had rented and put them in the row of super fancy flat water kayaks next to the lake.

I went back to the tent to change into my race clothes and after a short personal debate - I was out in my finest crime fighting outfit. I figured the cape would annoy me since it goes around your neck so I tied it to my camel pack. AK and I were hanging out pre-race and just kinda stretching and warming up because I am hardcore serious and all...and somebody asked him where his costume was. He of course had not packed a costume...but, he did have some work clothes in his car. Hah, he went and changed into work pants, button up shirt, and a tie - we were ready to race! :)

We all clogged together next to the starting line and with the gun shot I was off like a speeding bullet...if a speeding bullet moves at a whopping pace of 6 miles per hour. This 7 mile run, would be the farthest I had ever ran...and my only goal was to keep running and I managed at least to do that. The run through the beautiful trails weaved in and out of the woods and around the lake and I'm sure it would have been absolutely beautiful if I wasn't nearly dying the whole time. At least I had a great support team with the "Go Wonder Woman" shouts every now and then!

After the run, was a 6 mile kayak around the lake - this was the part of the race that I was least worried about. Its not that I'm a big kayaker or anything...I probably paddle just a couple times a year, but at least I knew that I had actually paddled 6 miles in my life before (compared to the 7 mile run and the 10 mile mtn bike) and this was an extra fancy kayak with peddals that you steer with! We had to paddle our way around the lake 3 times and I was actually passing a couple of people which made me happy...really, really stunk for the guy in a white water kayak - he was doing nothing but paddling back and forth.

After the kayak, I hopped on my mountain bike and just prayed that my legs would somehow keep going for the next 10 miles. A lot of the biking was on fireroads, but these were sandy fireroads that made you feel like you were somehow peddeling backwards. The single track was hard and I was often off my bike pushing it up another steep hill since my legs weren't really going along with the whole not stopping thing. Overall, I got passed a ton and I got use to getting passed and was frankly ok that I was majorly sucking it up because the race was getting closer and closer to being over!

After what felt like an eternity, I crossed back over the main road and began biking towards the finish line and I hear "On your left." Ok, this is general curtosy on a bike or even when you are running and passing somebody and I had heard this all day because I had been passed many, many times, but my reaction than time was more of a "Not going to happen bitch" reaction. Well, I didn't say that but I would like to think that my reaction of speeding up and barreling down the road at warp speed, conveyed that. That girl behind me would be 1 of a whole 7 people that finished behind me. Well make that 8 because 1 girl totally cheated on the paddle - no way did she complete 3 laps!

Well, needless to say that kicking myself into warp drive did not make the victory bottle of rum seem like a very good idea and I gave myself a good 30 minutes and a whopping plate of food before I took my shot.

Unlike me, AK actually did really well at the race and apparently got to hear "I am NOT getting passed by a guy in a suit" several times during the race. :)

Well I had been hard at work sucking it up, a bunch of our friends had arrived and we had a great time hiking, drinking, and campfiring before once again heading back to reality.