Green River

Ellen and I went to Green River for the River Rampage Triathlon. Helper and Price were really smoky as we drove through, so much so that I developed a runny nose. Our super-healthful, coach-approved, pre-race dinner was a burger, fries and pie at Ray's Tavern.

 We climbed on the Golden Ratio sculpture.

It was 111 degrees while we checked out the course just before we checked into Robber's Roost Motel. We woke up at 6 am and pounded some iced coffee and granola bars and set up our gear.

And then...we WON! We both got 2nd place in our Age Group.

That sounds totally awesome - and it was! My first ever podium! - but in the interest of full disclosure, my age group only had four ladies in it and I don't know that any of them have done a triathlon before. So I'm solidly in the top half of the field, and just lucky there weren't eight racers in my group or I would have been out of the medals =). I'm more proud of the following points (but don't try to take away my medal or anything):

• It was my best swim ever. I didn't freak out for even a second and I didn't have to do any weird strokes to make up for hyperventilating like I usually do. Granted, the water was shoulder-deep at the deepest and usually more like thigh-deep, but I swam an entire mile with only a 1.5 mph current compared to the river's usual (and more expected) 6 mph current. I was the fastest swimmer in my AG.
• I was the fastest swimmer and transitioner (is that a thing?) in my AG.
• I was a little more committed to running hard on this race, although my pace wasn't really faster than usual.
• I was the 9th woman out of the 52 female sprint racers (83rd percentile) and 24th out of 95 racers (75th percentile). This was a small race and didn't attract a lot of fast people. I'm usually 50th percentile tops.
• 1st place in my AG was 1 min 24 seconds ahead of me, and I beat 3rd place by 17+ min. I knew the 1st place woman was in front of me, but I couldn't catch her. I need to run faster =)
• In a very unusual move, I didn't sleep the day away after the race (although I did eat everything I saw) and I went for a training "brick" (bike-run combo) today for the first time in my life. It was 99 degrees and I hadn't eaten so it didn't last long, but it wore me out so I guess that means it was good enough.
• This was the first time I've left the kids with TB overnight and they had a great time and I did too. So I guess we're all very grown up.

I tried to take a picture with the babies while we were all dressed up for baby Sylvie's blessing, but they are more cuddly than cooperative, so this is the closest thing.