The Sandman Report....

This was truly a fun race I must admit.  As unprepared for the swim as I was, I have to say I pulled it off pretty well. The only glitch on the swim was that for some reason or maybe it was the wetsuit (I hate the rubber), I couldn't seem to catch my breath at the beginning. However, I always start to release my anxieties when I see those hot young lifeguards just waiting to save ol' ladies like myself.....it always makes me feel safe.

Anyway, so the swim was great. Nice steady ryhthm....NO waves what so ever, glassy conditions.....gentle current. Perfect......except this STUPID picture of me exiting the water:

What the HOLY hell is this????

WTF am I looking at??? Am I making sure all my parts are still on? Praying maybe? I know....I'm stomping on a ghost crab! THATS IT!!! I'm just making sure all the other athletes don't trip on the ghost crabs.

Now, in past tri's my transition times have always sucked.  So I was hell bent on making some time in transition. HA! That backfired. I was so focused on getting my wetsuit off and biking shoes on in a reasonable amount of time that I FORGOT TO PUT MY DAMN CHIP BACK ON! 

Note to self.........don't take the flippin' flimsy ass timing chip off.....EVAR.....just pull wetsuit over it.

So, I get on the bike and joggle out to the bike start line (with gum in my mouth as you will see in my picture) all full of fire and piss and ready to smoke 'em. 

All I can say is attitude....I rode like a hot bitch UNTIL....I looked down and noticed my ankle did NOT look like anyone else's ankle. It was missing the CHIP! Talk about air out of your sail. I was hotter than a hornet. My best leg too. The last time I did this race I ranked first in my age group on the bike and I am stronger and faster this year than 2 years ago. DOH!!!!!

Here's girl cow chewing her cud thinking about how cool she is with NO CHIP!

(notice cool aero helmet guy BEHIND me...he has disk wheels too....)

Yup, the bike rocked. I averaged about 21 mph for the entire 14 miles and managed to pass those totally cool dudes with wheel disks and aero helmets. Don't that just make a girl feel good?

I made it to bike/run transition all good and happy but just a tad sore in my left quad. By this time in the race the heat was full on. I was sweating like a race horse. I had no trouble getting out of my bike shoes and into the run stuff but I was just so ANGRY about the chip (which I promptly applied to my ankle before the run).

The run was good and I cranked an 8:14 min per mile pace. Running Buddy came out and stalked me for the entire 5K taking pictures and videos. It was very sweet and I enjoyed the company along the run. She rode her bike on the bike path next to the boardwalk and she talked me all the way to the end. Then took some horrible pictures of me that could be used as black mail at some point Im sure.

                                     Not bad eh? Lookin' strong.   

Ok, a little too close camera guy....

I had to dig pretty deep on the last .1

SOOO, my final time was 1 hour and 33 min.  That is almost 30 min better than the first time I did this race.  I won't complain....but I'm still PISSED about that chip. What a blonde moment.  I placed 5th in my age group which is also not bad considering this race draws out the "hardcore triathletes" in this area. The chiquita's that run in my age group pull 7 min miles on the run and swim like sharks. Can't even come close.

Next up.....the Neptune 8K. I'd like to race that one...like really run fast. Again, it's a local fav so the competitive ones will be out staking their claim on age group awards.....like me grrrr......it's become an obsession!

Stay tuned.....marathon training continues with a 20 miler looming this weekend!!!