So I need to preface this report by telling you that today was a crucial race day. The hubs and I had decided that if no fun was had , that we may be walking away from racing. We are coming back to triathlon after a year break ( see my other posts), and coming back to off road triathlon after being roadie triathletes for a few years.

So of course as we approach the race, all hell breaks loose at work, I get the unpleasant diagnostic mammo cuz I found a liitle teeny tiny lump ( doc says he is 99.9% sure it is a cyst, I go this wed for tests), and a whole bunch of personal stuff bubbles up.

I felt flat all week. Taper felt crappy. I was tired and felt heavy, taper...blah...hate it.

The race is only 10 mins from home, so that is a beautiful thing. The water has been freeeeeezing. See the brrrrrrr thread. so here at the stats:

Swim: 1/2 mile. Cold, cedar water, mass start. In the first 150 yards, I got kicked in the face, hard. It has NEVER happened before, and it was a good shot. I have big dinger on my face. OUCH and fuuuuudge. Goggles kicked off, the whole thing. Regroup, swim on. I hit the beach and there is my hubs. Got out right before me. Wetsuit off. Shoes on. Run 1/4 mile trail run to transition.

T1-terrible. Cold hands, dinged face, slow.

Bike: went well. Even though I did not feel overly snappy, I had a solid bike. We have ridden the course enough that I know where all the roots and tight turns all. I did not get passed by a single girl, lapped two people and passed some guys.

Run: twisty, rooty, swampy. My goal was to get off my bike and run, not slog. It took about 10 mins to get my legs going and then I just focused on the task at hand. I did NOT want to get caught, not at ths point, so I tried to just stay in my head and stay focused. As I approached the finish line I saw my hubby and asked him, anybody behind me? He said Nope, get going girl.

So my goals were a finish under 2 hours, I finished in 2:03. baaaaad transition, and and a run that felt kike a run. Well it was too twisty for anyone to feel that, but I felt like I was "running" and not trudging.

We both won our age group! That was pretty cool.

And we had fun, so maybe, just maybe we are swinging back in a good direction.