Body Vs. Earth Tri

[Tri Girl]

I tried something new this weekend. I did a combo on/off road tri.
It was on the Army base in Lawton, OK. We drove down late the night before and camped out because it sounded fun.

The swim was 600+ yds in the clearest lake I've ever been in (I could see the bottom), the bike was 17 miles on really hilly, but nicely paved Army base base roads in the backcountry where they do artillery drills (that's enough to make you want to pedal faster), and the run was a 4 mile off-road trail run up and down gigantic hills with terrible rocks and steeply pitched inclines. I think the run was short because there's no way I covered 4 miles of that terrain in the time I posted.

Now, I'm no wimp. We've climbed 14,000 ft. mountains in Colorado, I've run multiple marathons, and I've done and Ironman... but this was the hardest thing I think I've ever done. And it was only a sprint. The last 2 miles of the run were so hard. I had to walk every uphill because it was more like hiking or climbing. I won't even tell you my run time because it was embarassingly slow.

I took first in my AG, but not because I was fast. It was because there were only a total of 6 women racing, and the other woman in my AG won OA female. I'll take first however I can get it. Hardware is hardware no matter if it's by default or not.

I had a ton of fun. This was my last race of the season. I was supposed to be doing a HIM next week and IMAZ in November, but non-stop nagging injuries (one of which will require surgery) and difficulty training have taken those off the plate. I'm glad my last race of the season was so much fun, and that it ended on a positive note since it was only last week that I pulled the plug on my 2 big races for the year.

Here's a self-portrait taken from the picnic table of our campsite of DH and I after the race (posing in the rain- a gift from Hurricane Ike). I posed behind my bike because it hides my bug-bitten, rock-scraped, dirty legs. DH took first in his AG, too (legitimately because he had lots in his AG). I also included one of the lake and Mt. Scott in the back covered in clouds. It was a very nice day for racing! Sorry the pictures are so big, I was too lazy to resize them.

Thanks for reading.

[spindizzy]

I love the name of that tri!

Way to go on your last race! You ended your season on a positive note. Racing challenges will always be there; you need to take care of yourself first.
Great picture, nice smiles and pretty bike!

Speaking of Ike, if you can believe it, we are getting a lot of rain from Ike and another storm; yeah, they're converging on us! SW Ontario may have up to 200mm (almost 8") We're predicted to get 80mm. (3")

[salsabike]

Wow! So cool that you could do something shorter (so less danger to the injuries) but still really challenging and exciting, and congrats on the results!

[Urlea]

Sounds like a challenging race. Well done though!!!

I'm trying my best not to be jealous of your pretty bicycle. It looks great and so do your "bug-bitten, rock-scraped, dirty legs.". Those are well earned muscles. Be proud of them and know that the mosquitoes chose wisely.