Buffy's Race Report!

Buffy’s Race Report – Jr Varsity/Varsity Triathlon - June 20^th, 2010

Have you ever seen a kids’ triathlon? If not, you should find one – it is one of the most fun things I’ve ever witnessed! Watching all the kids race really made this event one of my favorite races ever. It was awesome!

On Saturday, I got up, went for a swim, ran some errands, and started packing up my gear for the race on Sunday. I then headed down to Jack & Adams to do some light shopping (I was out of Hammer Perpetuem which I am now in love with AND I was dangerously low on Banananuun and Orange Ginger Nuun), pick up my race packet, and get in some good volunteer time. I was signed up to volunteer the second shift of packet pickup. I had great timing because I got the best packet pickup job – handing out swim caps and writing participants’ numbers on them. Not a very stressful job and I got to chat with everyone. We had a great crew during packet pickup, including a lovely girl I met named Sally. She pretty much kept us all laughing the entire afternoon. We did encounter one angry person at packet pickup, but I’m going to choose to pretend that none of that actually happened since the rest of the weekend was so much fun. After we tore down packet pickup, I headed home to finish packing my gear, have a nice dinner, and try to get to bed early.

Sunday started REALLY early. My alarm went off at 3:30am and I was out the door around 4:00 or 4:10am. I live very far south and the race was at Granger Lake which is very far north. I did find the race location with no problems though – always a good sign since I’m directionally challenged. I arrived a bit before 5:30am and headed out to see what needed to be done. I did a bit of roaming around to see if anyone needed any assistance and then Carol (another RLE Brand Ambassador) and I headed off to transition to set up my gear and then help the kiddos get their transition areas set up.

There was a rule that parents weren’t allowed into transition, which I think was fun for the kids. A few of the RLE Brand Ambassadors were in the transition area to kick parents out and to help the kids set up their areas. All the parents that I encountered were really great sports about getting kicked out, too! I was most impressed with one little girl that I tried to help. I started to ask her about setting up her transition area and she said, “oh, I know how to do this – my Dad showed me already.” She proceeded to set out her towel, turn her helmet upside-down with the chin strap unclipped and straps out, loosen her running shoe laces and stretch the tongue forward, etc. So, “kudos!” to you Dad of that cool little girl for prepping her so well! My other favorite thing in transition was that we noticed that one of the bikes had a pouch on the front of the handlebars. Inside the pouch was a water bottle and a stuffed animal dog. Definitely my favorite bike in transition!

I didn’t get to watch the kids swim as I was waiting in their transition area to assist anyone that needed it. I ended up spending most of the time after the kids started coming out of the swim directing them to the bike exit. Once most of the kids were out on the bike course I moved over to the water stop at the beginning of the run course. This was a great “job” as I got to see the kids coming in from the bike and going out on their run. These kids were all such troopers and they all really seemed to be having a great time. I think sometimes as adults we take ourselves too seriously in races. These kids were just out there having a great time and doing the best they could. I think us older “kids” need to remember to be more like that sometimes. Anyway, my two favorite comments at the water station were from one little girl who said (with a giant smile on her face), “I can’t believe I’m here already!” and one boy who asked (as I handed him a water cup), “Are we allowed to litter here?”

So, a giant “thank you” to all the Jr Varsity participants – you kids really made race day a million times more fun for me!

Once all the kids were finished with their race, the Varsity race began. The swim was funny because the water was so shallow you could stand up and run in spots. I was determined to swim the whole thing though – I’m not a strong swimmer and I’m trying to work on that. The water was a bit choppy, but the swim was pretty short, so it wasn’t really an issue. I jumped out of the water and headed up to transition. I still think I can take some time off my transition times, but I’m getting much better. I headed out on the bike and realized I was close behind Laurie V (another RLE Brand Ambassador). I thought, “I wonder if I can stay on her tail?” The answer – “no.” As I was trying to keep up, a co-worker of mine’s wife went flying past me on my bike. And I mean flying – I don’t even know how she is that fast. Then I looked up to see Laurie V and saw her pulling away from me. Oh, well! I was still determined to put in a good effort and I did and I had a great time. As we rode out over the dam, I glanced down at my bike computer and I was going 22-23 miles per hour on flat ground! That may not sound that fancy to some of you, but that is major hauling-butt for me. I was totally pumped that I was riding so fast. Also, this course was an out-and-back course so at that time I saw all the super fast people heading back already. I always like out-and-back courses so I can see all the really fast racers – for some reason, that gives me extra pep. So, I was feeling awesome and fast and was having such a great day and then I hit the turnaround spot. After turning around I realized why I had been going so fast. There had been a massive tailwind and I had just turned around so it was then a massive headwind. Brutal. But I was having such a fun day that it really just made me laugh and I plowed on. I still worked on riding hard and keeping a really high cadence (high cadence is hard for me, but I’m working on it). I headed back in to transition, hopped off my bike, switched into running shoes, grabbed my new favorite red, white, and black skull headband and was off on the run!

I could tell as the run started that I had beaten my legs up a bit more than I usually do. It seemed to take me longer to find my running legs. They felt a bit more like jell-o than they usually do at the start of the run. After a few minutes, my legs felt like normal again and I settled in for my very favorite part of the triathlon. One of my friends from PAC swim practices, Jennie, was volunteering. She was helping direct people on both the bike and the run so I got to see her four times over the course of the race – thanks for the encouraging cheers, Jennie! I also saw my buddy, Sally from packet pickup. She was out racing, too, and looked super strong. I saw Lori L (another RLE Brand Ambassador) in front of me on the run. At one point I thought, “Hmmm…maybe I’ll try to catch her?” It was hot, and my legs were a bit tired, so I thought, “mmm…nah!” The funny thing is that during the last little bit of the run we were running up a hill and she kept glancing over her shoulder. After the race I asked if she was looking at me. She said she was and that she was determined to not let me pass her. I find this a very flattering remark. I grew up as a very un-athletic kid and I was sort of chunky. To have someone think that I was a “threat” in a race really pleases me! And then there was the finish line with the wonderful Ron Perry announcing and it was over. I headed straight for the food tent and found my very favorite post-race treat: plain Lay's potato chips. Nothing beats it.

I hung around chatting with all my buddies that were out at the race either volunteering or racing. I had a great time cheering during the awards ceremony as many of the winners were people I know! Always fun and exciting! After a bit, I decided to go clean up my transition area, pack up my car, and head home. I was one of the last people to leave the transition area and I looked around at all the wonderful RLE people I know starting to tear down the race. I knew I’d feel guilty if I just drove off in my nice, air-conditioned car (stupid guilt complex). I decided to stay and help out – I was a sweaty beast already, so I figured a bit more manual labor wouldn’t kill me.

And I’m so glad I stayed. When we were just about finished packing everything up, Leilani called a temporary halt to the working for a real test of skill. Everyone was handed an Oreo cookie. We had to balance it on our forehead and try to get the cookie into our mouth without the use of our hands. Somehow Alice managed this in seconds – great job, Alice! My forehead is rather large, so at my first attempt to wrinkle my forehead and shift my cookie it promptly fell on the ground. My second attempt was going nowhere fast, so I decided just to grab the cookie and eat it (Alice had already won at this point). Lindsay H was a real trooper and kept at it (somewhat contortionist-style, too) until she was successful! It was a hilarious finish to an awesome race. I wouldn’t change a thing about the whole day – it was perfect.

Once I got home and got all cleaned up, my husband and I went to the Alamo Drafthouse to watch The A-Team and drink beer. Really, could this day have been any cooler?!