I Like it Salty!

The Salty Dog Triathlon has come and gone once again. As always it was so well organized and fun, well...that depends on who you ask and your definition of fun. I had fun.

Pre-Race. Me and Kenton. My Dad and pals Dennis and Adam.

The alarm goes off early for this race. Since it's about a 45 minute drive to Hutchinson and the race begins at 7, it's tough being too chipper, but I managed. I actually had a wonderful morning. Laughing and giggling with Kenton as he met an hour of the day he hasn't seen in a year.

We got to Carey Park in time to park our bikes and lay out our stuff. We headed over to the 6:30 AM race meeting and then over to get "marked." It's always weird letting complete strangers write on your arms and legs with permanent markers.I feel the need to chit chat as they're crouched down writing on my thighs. Not sure if that makes it less awkward or not. 

There were 200 entrants in the triathlon and I was #141. So even with the 7AM start, I had a while to wait. Salty Dog does a individual start every 5 seconds.

So Kenton, my Dad, and I spent a good deal of time chatting as we waited for our time to get closer.

Serpentine Swimming

We all gave it our all. We ran wet and happy for our bikes as soon as the swim was over.

My Dad's just happy the swim is over and he's breathing!

Kenton's thinking, "I should have trained for this!"

I look like an idiot. But at least you can tell I was happy! Good thing too, because my swim time stunk! 10:41 for 400M!

I really goofed on my first transition. I spent way too much time fumbling with things that don't matter like my wet hair and my ear buds. My transition 4:30, that made me really mad later. 
The bike course is 5 laps around the golf course. It was an awesome morning. No wind and cooler temps. I had a blast on the nice road bike I borrowed from a friend. I never saw my Dad. I smiled big when I passed Kenton and told him that he shouldn't have encouraged me to borrow the bike! It made a world of difference!

My Dad rockin' his antique Peugeot!

Kenton rolling out for 10.8 miles

Best decision of the race was to borrow friend's Giant OCR2. I passed Kenton within the first mile!! Never ever beat him on the bike before! 10.8 Miles in 34:14. Fastest ride recorded ever!

Thankfully, my 2nd transition was much faster. I just had to hang my bike and dump my helmet. I hit the run course and still felt really really good. I ran and fumbled with my Garmin, switching it over to Run Mode. But once I got that squared I got my head in the run and just tried to get my legs used to the new activity.
Thankfully I don't have to think about running, I just go. About a mile into it I could see my Dad up ahead. He smiled big when he saw me coming and said, "I wondered when you were going to catch me!"
We exchanged highfives and encouragements and I pressed on pass him.
Clouds had rolled in and it had become just the perfect day for this race. I rounded the last corner of the new run course and saw my Mom waiting. I once again smiled for the camera. I was just so so blessed to be in such a great mood, I didn't care what I looked like.

Waving at my mom. She said, "Where's your Dad?!" (He started the run before me) I hollered, "Behind me!" 5K in 21:29. Fastest Female run time!!

My Pops finishing up! He told my mom to smack him if he ever wants to sign up for this again. He did great, he'll be there again!

Bringing up the rear. We tried to start the wave, but there were only three of us doing it.

Several people from Wichita. Apparently I wasn't important enough to wait for. I was just getting water! Sheesh!

Kenton was a whipped dog and accepted his defeat to me once more. But he started his diet today and his training plan for next year!

My Final time was 1:12:01. 2 minutes faster than last year. 2 minutes too slow to place in the top 3 of my age group. I'll be honest, I'm used to placing and it kinda burned to not have done well enough to at least claim 3rd. But, 'thems the breaks.'
And to be even more honest, I have had such a terrible time learning to balance my running, my rest, my son, my marriage, my motivation, and my passion for running this past season that to feel this joyful and excited about an event was all the treasure I could ask for. I've been battling major burnout since last August. I had hit a major funk at the last Salty Dog and I've been forcing myself to participate in many events. Even in Boston I was a burntout wreck and I didn't fully enjoy that day.
So, this race served as a placeholder to look back at a year of hard emotional training. I couldn't have been more pleased with the joy I felt about using my gifts and passion to accomplish another challenge.
Lord willing we'll be back next year with even bigger victory stories to tell!

 My "Trophy." I won a door prize to a kitchen store. I stopped in on the way out of town and scored an Oil Mister!! Now I can spray olive oil on my beloved popcorn!

OFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: http://www.hutchrec.com/ecc/wellness/page.php?id=64