Race week end

Saturday, was spent with the family running errands and trying to relax. I do have to admit I took several trips to the computer to check the weather to make sure that nothing was cancelled.
I felt pretty confident about the race and since I just wanted to have fun I decided to leave my garmin at home to not pollute my head with pace.

I prepared my bag way in advance and almost forgot my helmet who was on top of the high shelf, I pumped my tires and got everything ready. In the evening I made a risotto with wild mushroom, we had some red wine, and we finished with some poached pears and ice cream. Since we had to get up at the crack of dawn we went to bed early.
I woke up excited, my poor husband a little less. Off we go with a PB and J in hand. The trip was pretty uneventful, we found parking got everything out of the car and walked towards the transition area which buzzing with people already.

I first got directed towards the wrong wave and then a little confused I bummed into RD. Thank goodness, sometimes I really wonder how in the hell did I move all the way from Paris to San Diego on my own, managed to get two masters degree and raise two kids as I see myself revert into a 5 year old. So here I am under RD's wing, we managed to push off some bikes to create a crammed spot for mine, then get the chip, the marking, do the walk through, kiss my husband, hook up with the other GOTRibal girl and TM my swimming buddy, go to the bathroom....

It is 10 minutes before the wave start. Since we didn't really know how I would handle the swim we decided to start at the back of the wave, of course for a little bit I kept bumping into swimmers and so had to wait a little. It was great to have TM besides especially to keep me on course. I took a few breast strokes during the swim mainly at the turns but manage a steady fairly relaxed swim. I was able to run out of the water, smile at my husband who dutifully was taking pictures and off to the transition area.

I didn't even get lost in the see of racks and bikes. On the way I saw RD coming out of transition. I tried to put my shoes standing up but I would admit that remembering NS story of her first race I sat down and was also smiling at the idea that this was it. Me Sophie I was doing my first triathlon! Onto the bike, I kept a steady easy pace and just enjoyed myself...

Came in transition 2 had to put back a bike on the rack since everything was a little wobly. Slipped my sneakers on and opted for a no socks option, I started to run. I felt so sluggish and since every one was passing me I really thought I was going slow (~10min/miles - 11/min/miles). Very early I started feeling a blister coming and I forced myself to get into a groove and to not stop. I have to admit that running without music was especially hard and a little boring. As I started my second lap I got into a groove and was able to pick up the speed a little and as I was nearing the finish line and heard my name called out multiple times I pushed into a sprint and crossed the finish line with a big smile on my face. There was a lot of marking on the road which helped while running....


I quickly bumped into all the gotribal woman, got a delicious muffin two glasses of water from my husband and was sooo happy. TM told me that I finished in about 1:15:34 which was way better than the 1:25:00 expected.
After a few pictures and hugs we left to go see the kids.

Lesson learned: I will wear socks next, I can push a little harder next time and I managed to ride at roughly a 14:30 miles/hour (including the 2 transitions) and run at 9:11min/miles pace. I also learned that triathletes are fast!
After a shower we took the kids to swimming lesson and then we had brunch at the beach grass cafe followed by a nice nap!
I had a blast and thus I've already signed up for my next two races. The Solana beach triathlon end of July and the US Women series in October.
Both of these are going to be challenging, the first one has an ocean swim and the second one is a little longer!
I would like to thank my husband for his support and enduring my constant babble and bragging about my triathlon prouesses, TM for being my swim buddy and who always answered my email promptly, NS for being my "mental coach" and help me redirect my vision of what a triathlon should be and finally all the GOTRIbal women who really made me feel part of a warm and welcoming group.

Finally I spend the most part of monday waiting for the split results:
Swim 11:16 Bike 36:40 run: 27:33 Total 1:15:34
My next goal is to get close to 1:10:00 and still have fun!