Monday, August 12, 2013

That's a wrap!

That's it, that's all. I just wrapped up my last scheduled race of this year. I can't believe I'm done. I can't even begin to tell you what a crazy journey it has been.
I started the new year by signing up for my very first Ironman 70.3. I had no idea what was in store for me. Then I continued to add all sorts of firsts to my list. I competed in all sorts of race distances for both running and triathlon. On top of it all I got my first awesome PR in a 10km race. I'm still surprised over that one. 
So what were all of my firsts? I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon.
It was cold but fun.

I completed my first half marathon with a surprising time of 2 hours and 3 minutes. I went in hoping for  2 hours and 15 minutes. Another check off the bucket list, and I got to do it with my super great and very talented friend. 
 

I then went on to do another Olympic distance triathlon and another half marathon. These all seem like a walk in the park though now that I've done a half Ironman.
Were all of these races perfect? Nope! Was I ready for all of these races? Definitely not but I've come to learn from every good race come a lot more bad races and I have learnt more from those bad races then I will ever learn from those good races. 
You definitely experience some surprises, some disappointments, but I have to say I enjoyed every single race good and bad. Even though the results didn't show 100% speed I knew I was always giving 100% heart and 100% effort. 

So how did I finish off my season? With a bang of course! After doing my "A" race the Calgary Ironman, I did a sprint triathlon 1 week later. Was this the smartest idea ever? Probably not. After doing a half iron distance you need to take about 2 weeks to recover. However the sprint triathlon I competed in is one of my favourite races out there and I had my two very good buddies racing as well. So I went in knowing my body was not going to do much for me so it was all fun and nothing but fun.
The swim was lovely except my legs were so tired that I could barely kick. I definitely found a nice person to draft off of.

The bike was a little better. I had one guy run into me as we were mounting our bikes and then he yelled at me for passing on the right. Um, I don't think the rule applies when we are still at the mount line. Anyways, I knew to get ahead of that guy before he tried to run me over again.

After I parked my bike I headed out on the run. After a few minutes I started to question if I took the wrong path. I only saw a handful of people. I kept going. My legs were seriously screaming at me. I felt like I was running hard but not going anywhere. After I found the turnaround and started heading back that's when I saw everyone was catching me. I had nothing. I got passed and it was okay. 

I came in 3rd in my age group and 22nd overall. Even with an exhausted body, I really enjoyed the race and best of all, I had a blast.
That night after the race I was so tired that I went to bed at 9:30pm. I woke up the next day at 9am. I'm almost embarrassed to even admit that but it's true. I really was tired.

So what next? The Sea Wheeze half marathon!!!
I had the pleasure to join my sister, her good friend, and my super fabulous friend to hit the roads of Vancouver and experience the craziest half marathon I have ever done.
Lucky or unlucky I'm still not sure but Thursday night I did not have a good sleep so when the rest of the crew stir at 6am I was more then happy to hop into the shower and get my day going. Since everyone else was feeling a little less motivated I offered to head down to the Sea Wheeze expo and get in line for our package pickup. Good thing I did because by the time the rest of my crew showed up the line was so long that I believe I heard it was a 3 hour wait to get in once the doors opened. We got in within 20 minutes (after I stood in line for an hour and a half).
So what do you do when you wait in line?
You get entertained by crazy magicians.

After our fun wait we walked through the doors and it was like the gates of heaven opened for us. (Start the choir)
This went quick.

After we received our race pack then we could head into the expo and let me tell you, it was mayhem!
There were people everywhere. They are running around pulling anything and everything off of the racks and then they run to a corner of the room for little privacy and start trying on all of this fab Lululemon clothing.  
Exhibit A- She looks a lot like me doesn't she?   ; )   I'm telling you these ladies are crazy!!!
Then if you don't like something you offer it to your equally crazy friends and then to your equally crazy neighbours and everyone ends up happy... and broke.

So after our shopping needs are met we move outside to the rest of the expo.
There was airbrush tattoos.

Fruit popsicles

There was popcorn, organic cotton candy, Vega protein smoothies. You could get your hair done, your nails done, and if you were willing to wait in the enormous line up you could even get a massage. I wasn't willing to wait that long. There was so much going on that I probably even missed some things.

Race morning we got up bright and early. Luckily our hotel was only two blocks from the start/finish. I was feeling pretty sluggish but the mantra today was all about having fun.
Unfortunately we didn't bring our phones with us to take pictures because we didn't have pockets to carry them and I didn't want to hold mine the entire way. Needless too say, I missed out on a lot of great photos : (
We did document my exhaustion though...
I have never been so tired. I will be the first to admit, 3 races in less then 3 weeks is not a good idea! Moving on...

We got showered up post race, did I mention the goodies? Our neat wooden medals that also served as a photo holder, water, coconut water, aromatherapy for our sore muscles, and Skull Candy headphones! We were spoiled. There was also a breakfast after but I was so cold I walked back to the hotel to warm up in a shower.
After getting cleaned up we headed to the fabulous Raw Restaurant Gorilla Food. OMG! So good!!!
After refuelling we had a little siesta and then did some more touring. Then we got taken to the Sea Wheeze after party. 

We had yoga which was amazing

and we got to listen to some pretty great music and eat some food and just hang out with some pretty great people...
I seriously love this girl!!!!

So that's it. I'm done. Now what? REST!!!!! I was hoping to have a little holiday down to California to participate in the fabulous See Jane Run Women's Triathlon but I just can't get the time off to do so.


I highly recommend this race. My favourite races are the women's only races because as we compete together we build a great bond. My closest friend are the ones I train and compete with. We have a magical friendship that we can push each other while we train and also support them even if we have a bad race. For some reason this doesn't appear as much when we are on the course with men. If you have the opportunity to try this race do it.

Don't worry about me not racing for a while. I will still entertain you with my wit and charm because I will still be training. I will also be having knee surgery in the fall. So I can guarantee that I will have plenty of great stories to tell.

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