Monday, June 12, 2006

Wendy's Triathlon--Corporate Challenge

Yesterday was the Wendy's Triathlon. I have done this race twice before, but this year when they moved the date to earlier in June, I dediced not to do Wendy's because I figured the water would be too cold. A week ago, however, I was given an opportunity to join our corporate relay team for the YMCA Corporate Challenge, so I took it since I would only be doing the run.

The morning started really early, 5:00AM, and I was out the door by 5:30. The weather has been yo-yoing in typical Columbus fashion the last couple of weeks and this weekend proved to be no different. The air temperature when I stepped outside was 53 degrees. I was cold in sweatpants. Good call on deciding not to do the swim! I arrived at Alum Creek State Park around 6:00 and quickly ran into my friends Jeannie and Josh. We looked and found a rainbow. Today was going to be a good day.



The sun was also rising which made for beautiful hues in the sky and water.



I found my team, worked out the logistics, and then we walked to the water to watch the start of the swim. The water was warmer than the air and it seemed like people didn't mind how cold it was. Me, I was freezing.



The swim got started and we walked down to the transition area, watched our swimmers handoff to our bikers and everyone was gone. I stripped down to my singlet and shorts and got in a warm-up. It what seemed like a few short minutes, the bikers were coming back and the race was about to begin for me. When I got the handoff, I was probably the 5th or 6th woman in the field. It was weird to be in this position. I'm a pretty fast runner, but not fast enough to ever been the hunted. It was exciting to be out with the elite athletes. I raced as fast as I could, passing probably three people and getting passed by as many too, including two women. Bah! I did my run in 22:01, which is a PR, but I don't think the course really is a 5K. As a team, unofficially we were second in our division. Official results will not be available until later in the week. I had fun, which is kind of surprised me. Maybe I'll consider doing more team relays for my new company.

----------------------------------

In something totally not related to the subject of running or racing...hop on over to Dave's blog and send him some well wishes. He's having all four of his wisdom teeth pulled on Wednesday. I'll post the pictures later this week. He he! I'm an evil wife, but he did it to me when I got my eyes lasered, so revenge is sweet.

2 comments:

Dave said...

I love the silhouettes in the sunrise picture.

Nic said...

Sounds awesome. I am loving relays right now... Can't wait to do some more! Good job!