John Tanner Triathlon 2 - A 'Tri the Parks" Series Race

Another solid race in the books!  This race was a lot of fun!  Now that my A-race is beyond me and my season is winding down, I'm trying not to take it so seriously and just have a good time out there.  Coach Dan was off competing in the 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas, so I got to drive EC1!  Our team had a fantastic showing at the race with 15 EC and Team Cadence athletes on the course.

On the hood of EC1 - thanks to our sponsor - Subaru of Atlanta

Every race has a story behind it.  This one for me was proof that you really don't need to sleep the night before racing!  Mishap after mishap kept me out of bed til nearly 2:30 in the morning the night before this one.  Rolling out of bed at 4:30am so I could be at the race site with EC1 by 6am wasn't easy.  I drove to John Tanner Park in a daze.  

Exiting the water

This was a 600m swim, 14 mile bike, and 5k run course.  My favorite kind of sprint.  With so many friends around I was able to shrug off the exhaustion and dig deep for a strong race.  I felt so much better on the swim this week than in the past few races I've done.  Two girls took out the swim strong and quickly pulled away, but a pack of  about 6 of us all tackled the course together and came out of the water side by side in about 12 mins.  Two people in that pack w me were Yvonne B, and teammate Amanda P.  Amanda and I were only 1 second apart and went into T1 together.

T1 - 30 seconds - 2nd fastest, with Team EC coach, Martha Hall, nudging me by 1 second.  

My bike split suffered.  I just felt... tired... out there.  Not necessarily because of the lack of sleep, but my body, my muscles, just felt tired and I struggled to push myself like I have earlier in the season.  I was able to hold my position for the most part but did watch Christine Grant, who beat me at nationals by over 2 minutes, fly past me on the course - making up the over a minute advantage I had on her from the swim.

T2 - 28 seconds.  Fastest womens T2.

Finally, the run.  I had a solid run and caught quite a few ladies in front of me from the bike portion.  My run time of 21:11 was the second fastest of the day beaten only by (ARCH RIVAL) Yvonne Bedell (just kidding!!), who I will see at the World Championships in New Zealand next month, you go girl!  I also managed to catch up to Christine and pull away by a few seconds.  We finished 5th and 6th overall, and I took FIRST in my Age group by an almost 4 minute margin, and Christine taking FIRST in the masters division. 

Gold medal AG win

 I have to give props to all the other athletes out there that made this race a success for Tri the Parks, Team Endurance Concepts, Team Cadence, and friends of the teams.

Amanda, Ashley, and Brittany

Amanda finished strong right behind me - in 3rd place in our 30-34 AG, love being on the podium with that girl, with Team EC taking 2 of the top 3 spots.  Ashley B (Team EC) was the overall winner in the aquabike category in the biggest field we have seen at these races yet!   Brittany B. took first place in the 25-29 AG.  

Christine, Yvonne, and Rob

Christine G., who smoked me on the bike, was the masters OA winner, finishing hot on my heels, Yvonne (Team All3Sports), was the 2nd OA finisher, Rob R (Dynamo Masters Swimming) was the 2nd OA male finisher, right behind my Cadence teammate Thomas Pilliod.

Lane, Eddie, and Jason

Lane Nichols captured 2nd in the Clydesdale Category,  Eddie Ferguson was 1st in Male 30-34, and Jason I. was 9th in his AG for Team EC - Jason has lost 30 pounds since I met him last year - amazing work out there!  

Lauren, Mike, and Thomas

Lauren Lacey made her triathlon debut!  Coming out of the water in 2nd place and finishing first in the W20-24 AG, Mike Johnson (Team EC) was first in his AG for the Duathlon, and last but not least, Thomas Pilliod, was overall Male.

I apologize to anyone I have forgotten or couldn't find pics of!  Thanks to all of you for making it such a good time.  Specially Thomas for bringing the keg for after race celebrations, woohoo!!!

Aquathlon World Championships are just over a month away... looking at you October 17th!