I have never raced a Triathlon as a team. It has always just been an “I” sport for me, and as Greg always says, “I don’t play well with others.” I am excited to say, however I will be racing my first Coeur d’Alene Tri this weekend as a team. All I have to do is run this one…which makes me smile. Not that I don’t LOVE the swimming and biking….duh! But I love to run. It’s my baby. I am a little fearful of being on a team for the first time (for a Tri anyway). High expectations of not letting anyone down. I felt this way, somewhat when I raced the Grizzlyman Adventure Race. Very different event though. This Tri we have some potential to be speedy. My team consists of Natalie (my IM training partner) and all around kick-ass swimmer. Her 2.4-mile swim for Ironman was 1:08. Pretty smokin’. Dennis, another dear friend and fellow 3 time Ironman will bike the course. He is fast, and a mean hill climber. I hope I hold up my end of the bargain on the run.
Greg’s Tri on Saturday went fantastic. I knew it would. You cannot train with your wife for Ironman, and doubt yourself about racing a Sprint. But it was his first and he had a lot of nerves to deal with. The race itself, put on by friends of ours, was well put together, a great and gorgeous course, and fantastic for 1st timers. The swim started in small waves, the bike, 10-miles, was around the lake with a few challenging hills, and the 3.7-mile run was flat and fast!! I loved helping out at registration Friday. Meeting athletes, and welcoming newbies. Trying to calm their anxious nerves of a first time triathlon. Saturday, I woke up early…ummm…. 3AM EARLY, to go down and help with set-up at 4am. I was tired, but as soon as athletes started showing up, we all perked up with the great energy that was all around. I opted to do body marking, so I could talk to people, welcome them, wish them good luck and be able to be ready to watch Greg at the start and throughout the whole rest of the race. The weather went from rain and lightening at 4am, to a gorgeous race day by the time they started at 7am. The whole day for Greg was awesome, and with a Sprint out of the way, he is on to the Oly distance CdA Tri this weekend, which I know will be another great race for him. Do I smell an Ironman?
With Mom & Dad
Gonna be a fun swim!
Out of the H2O...and still smilin'!!!
Out of T1 and onto the bike!!
I am still contemplating a few other races to round out the season. Spokane Marathon, Tri Cities Marathon…and of course Ironman next year. Do I want to do CdA again, or maybe Canada? Do I even want to race a full IM next year or a few ½ Ironman’s and come back again in ’12 to do one? Think, think, think, Pooh Bear.
Too many decisions to make on a Monday. So for now, I will focus on the task at hand: Coeur d’ Alene Tri Team, Denny and the Divas!!
Next weekend.... 180-mile relay, S2S Spokane, WA to Sandpoint, ID Race!!
Paula, your tri team is going to ROCK! Souns like a fun, new way to experience a tri.
ReplyDeleteGlad Greg had such a great first tri experience...oh, I definately smell an IRONMAN!
Cool for you! I went through my own post race blues, and was a bit weary at first to actually do the Barb's RElay bike part, mainly b/c I didn't want to let anybody down. Well my tri team was SO okay with it all...and that helped. And biking in the relay SUPER helped me kick outta the post race blues.
ReplyDeleteGo get em' and have fun!!
Yay for Greg completing his first tri! But, you know that he'll probably catch the "tri" bug and then you'll be trying to figure out who gets to race on which weekends!
ReplyDeleteHave fun at the team race! You are going to do awesome! :)
Congrats to Greg! It is very exciting to get other family members involved! As for IM, I plan to go to Canada in August to sign up for 2011. Why the heck not??
ReplyDeleteEnjoy this weekend. Fun, fun! ~Rebecca
I want to do Canada next...after CDA and Wisconsin! Ha!
ReplyDeleteI did an blog on IM advice and linked to you today...fyi.