The PST starts with a 500 yard swim in an outdoor pool. I thought it was a little strange swimming with 3 other people in my lane. We were instructed to "tap" the feet of the swimmer in front when we wanted to pass (with all passing waiting until the closest end of the pool). I found a good pace in the pool and felt great as I entered T1.
After leaving the pool, we rode 9.3 miles on our bikes. The Palouse is known for it's rolling hills. A Palouse triathlon wouldn't be right without hills -- lots of hills. Ricki's spinning classes really paid off for her. She says the bike was her strongest part of the race (doesn't she look great on her bike?). I rode hard (maybe too hard).
The race finishes with a 5K run (3.1 miles). This is when the race started to get painful. Several of the people I passed on the bike caught me on the run. One of the interesting things about Triathlons is your race number is written on your right calf. Your left calf announces your age -- in big, black marker. It's not so bad to have some young 20-year-old pass you by; however, both Ricki and I found it humbling to be passed by people much older than ourselves.
It was great to have Isaac, Ashton, Skyler and Grandma JoLyn cheering us on at several points along the race. Skyler did a great job with the camera and we really appreciate Grandma JoLyn watching the kids so Ricki and I could concentrate on the race. The photo above is Isaac at the finish line borrowing the race director's megaphone. He knew what to say!
I finished in 1:11:32, Ricki in 1:43:41 (about what we expected). Ricki exclaimed, "I am so doing this again next year!" at the end of the race. This is good to hear considering what she said the night before (pre-race jitters). All the gory details for the race times and our age-group finishes are here. Funny story: I bought a cheap Timex "Ironman" watch the night before the race. I took the time to learn how to use the lap counter so I could keep track of each portion of the race. I forgot to start the timer...
Now that the race is over, we both feel the emptiness of not having a goal to keep us training. Sure, we have next year to look forward to; but we need something in the near term. Got an idea for a new goal? Drop us an email or leave a comment.
2 comments:
How exciting to read about. Almost makes me want to start exercising. We look forward to reading more of your blogs.
Don.
I wish I had grandchildren as cute and as talented as yours......OH! Wait-a minute
......I DO!
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