Lonestar Sprint Triathlon '09

My first triathlon of the season was today. It was the Lonestar triathlon in Galveston. Our friends, Kim and Jon, decided a few months ago to do it with me. This was their first sprint tri ever! Since they live closer to Galveston, I stayed all night at their house last night so we could get to the race early to pick up our packets and set up this morning. Usually, the night before a race I am a nervous wreck and I don't sleep very well, especially away from home. I don't know if it was because I was thinking more about helping them with their first race than being worried about my own, but I slept like a baby and I wasn't a nervous wreck before the race either. Anyway, we were up at 4:15 AM!!! We were at the race site by 5:50 am. Oh my, I really wish just once they held these later in the day for us night owls! The water temperature was announced as a "balmy 65 degrees"! Um, yeah, thank goodness for wet suits. The weather was great for the race, although the wind was brutal on the bike portion along the sea wall. I actually saw a lady get knocked completely over on her bike by a wind gust! Anyhow, I had a pretty good swim and was second out of the water in my division. On the bike, I was doing pretty well, and I was in second place in my division and coming back into the home stretch when I hit a pothole and dropped my Garmin (GPS/heart monitor). Since they cost a couple hundred bucks, I decided that I would have to sacrifice a better finish and go back and pick it up. So, I stopped, unclipped, ran back to get it out of the road, dodged a couple of bikers and got back on and clipped in. I don't know how much time that cost me and then to top it off, my run was not as good as last year. Gosh, if only I could run..."I could be a contender"! Anyway, I ended up with third place and a trophy! I lost 2nd place by 1 min and 10 secs.! Hmmm, wonder what would have happened if I hadn't dropped my Garmin? I was only out of 1st place by 2 mins. So, I guess overall, I am happy with my race, but I am definitely going to work harder on my running! Ugh! So, here are some pics of the day.

Melanie, Jon and Kim ready to race.



The happy "first timers" couple! Great finish you two!!

Me with my lonestar trophy!

I am off to bed now. I have a long bike ride to do tomorrow. I still have to get in the mileage to prepare for the MS 150 coming up in 2 weeks. I may sound like I am complaining...but really, I love it!!

Peace Out!
Tri-Vet