W/e race reports....

**rocknrollgirl** · 08-17-2008, 10:52 AM

I took my friend Sherry to her first tri today. She races mt bikes with me on the same team. She basically rocks. She came down with her DH and two of her three little boys last night. We had a sleepover becuase the race start was at the crack of dawn. 4 am wake-up call.
Anyhoo, the swim has been her big block and over the last year she has worked relly hard to get that up to speed. I picked this race for the 1/4 mile swim. When we got there and I looked at the course I did a big ut-oh. there was no way it was a 1/4 mile. Way, way long. She was a trooper, and got through it and then rocked it out on the bike.
I placed first in my ag and she placed 5th in hers. The slide show tells the story. It was a great day......she is in the pink hammer tri top, I am in the black 2xu suit.

Oh and you could wear a wetsuit, but if you did, they would not let you place in your ag....strange.

http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s...t=480e4f0b.pbw

**Tuckervill** · 08-17-2008, 11:22 AM

Congrats to you and your friend!

Karen

**Tri Girl** · 08-17-2008, 02:55 PM

A big congrats to your friend on her first tri!!! Congrats are in order for you, too, for placing first. Nicely done!

I know that uh-oh feeling. For DH's first tri, the swim was supposed to be 300 yds. We got to the water and his jaw dropped. It was more like 750 or 800 (I have no idea how they got so far off). He freaked a little, but finished OK.

Is she hooked? (great slide show, btw)

**rocknrollgirl** · 08-17-2008, 02:58 PM

Hook, line and sink'er!!! Bwahahahhhhhaaaaa.....my evil plan to create a tri-buddy worked!

She did so well. I am so proud!

**Wahine** · 08-17-2008, 04:01 PM

Congrats to you and your friend!!! Well done... bringing another into the fold.

So what happened with all the Seattle Danskin Girls?! Inquiring minds want to know!!

**dex** · 08-17-2008, 06:29 PM

This Seattle Danskin Girl finished. Slooooowly.

There were moments of hilarity. (No, really...at one point I started laughing so hard I forgot how to swim. No, I don't remember what I thought was so funny at the time. I had to actually watch someone swim by me to figure out how to get my body parts coordinated and working together again.) And some pretty intense pain--my knee blew up near the turnaround point of the ride.

I now have five blisters, a heat rash, and two chafe marks. (I started the day with two blisters and the heat rash after the logistical hassle that was Saturday.) And a finisher's medal. (

)

It was fun, but I could have done without the pain and the subsequent slow down. I left my bike computer at home (because I'm kind of a dork like that) but I was flying through the first half of the bike and passing people constantly, but slowed waaaaay down coming into the turnaround when my knee decided it had simply had enough of that. Ah, well. It had been behaving almost a little too well the last couple of weeks, I should have suspected something like this. Heh.

After that, I just walked almost the entire run course. I played a little bit of the here-to-there game (e.g. I'll run from this driveway to that tree), because running made the blisters on my feet hurt less, but my knee hurt a little more during those bits, so it was just like choosing what kind of pain I felt like having at any given moment.

During the "run", I was dubbed Miss Pink by more than a few people (pink skirt, pink race belt, pink hair). And I got lots of variations on, "Wow, Miss Pink has ridiculous legs." I have to assume they were talking about my muscles and not the swollen knee...heh.

My actual transitions went really well (except for forgetting to put my sunglasses on before the bike), but my spot was really far away from all of the start/finish areas. Looking at the times, it seems like I really dawdled, but the reality is that I just had really long distances to cover to get to and from my spot.

Despite all of that, it was easily as much, or more, fun than I hoped it would be. I wanna do it again. (Maybe with a little less knee fussiness.)

**teigyr** · 08-17-2008, 06:30 PM

It was great! The water was a bit choppy and the weather alternated between almost stormy and then being unbearably hot but we all finished unscathed. It was pretty exciting because it was Salsa and Dex's first tri. The tri was HUGE, the transition area looked like a warehouse superstore filled with bikes. I think there were about 4300 participants

Will get to more detail later. I think it was a positive experience for us all

**salsabike** · 08-17-2008, 06:46 PM

It was REAL COOL. I am so excited that Dex and I both finished our first tri! My results are about what I expected: need to keep working on swim efficiency; am very pleased with the bike leg and felt really strong during it; sure would like to run the run instead of walk it, after the stress fracture is completely healed.

It's impressive that Danskin can run 3,710 athletes through this tri as smoothly as they did. It damn well was choppy out there and the morning started with lightning and a little squall edge. It was annoyingly calm by the time we left.

We have some great pics from last night's pre-race dinner, and good pics from today. Will post them later...

By the way, we DID see the deaf-blind athlete on her run. And the final finisher is a woman currently undergoing cancer treatment. It really is quite amazing what people can do.

Rocknrollgirl, great stuff!

**salsabike** · 08-17-2008, 08:42 PM

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/sports...date=8/17/2008

**KnottedYet** · 08-17-2008, 09:03 PM

Hooray hooray hooray for all of you!!!!

**Wahine** · 08-17-2008, 09:06 PM

Yippee!! I'm soooooooooooo proud of you girls!!

I can't wait to see some pics.

Dex - you are an Ironperson in the making, at that distance it's all about how much pain you can put up with and you proved today that you can put up with a lot.

Deena - you did the swim and you weren't in over your head so to speak!! I can't remember the exact name - Speedo John or something - whatever, I want you to seek him out and tell him how well you did. Well, only if you want too, but I would.

Teigyr - You did fantastic, great times on the run and the bike!!

**Wahine** · 08-17-2008, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by salsabike

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/sports...date=8/17/2008

Photo 10, the girl on the far right is a good friend of mine from here in the Gorge.

Oh and now that I scroll along, I see that she won.

Now you guys know what motivates me... about once a week I get my butt kicked by her.

**teigyr** · 08-17-2008, 09:26 PM

I saw that she lived down in Oregon!!! The winner of the tri, that is. Doesn't she look relaxed and non-sweaty? There are some incredible athletes in the Gorge.

It was nice seeing all different levels at this tri. SO many people pushed beyond their normal boundaries and it was very inspiring.

**rocknrollgirl** · 08-18-2008, 03:06 AM

Wow you guys, that is a huge race. I cannot even imagine. WOW!
Congrats on finishing you first race. That is terrific!!!!!

**Skeezix** · 08-18-2008, 04:53 AM

rocknrollgirl Congrats to you and your friend. I'm glad your evil plan to create a tri buddy worked. I've finally gotten a friend to do her first tri but she lives in Wisconsin, so no in-person training for us. Wah!
Good job to whomever was your photographer, they got a ton of good shots of you guys!

teigyr, salsabike, Dex Bravo! Especially on competing in such a large field! I love the photos from the Seattle paper, everyone looks so happy and excited! I can't wait to see your photos.

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W/e race reports....

The local paper has some great pics, also---

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