Shark Sprint Triathlon Race Recap

Today marked my one-year anniversary in the sport of Triathlon! Last year, the Shark Sprint Triathlon was my very first triathlon and today I returned to the race full of nerves and anticipation.  I couldn't wait to see how much I had improved over this first year.

A new addition to the race this year was the Olympic distance.  This added a bit of dead time in the morning for those of us doing the Sprint distance.  There was only one transition area so it was closed at 6:45 in time for the start of the Olympic race at 7:00 but over an hour before my race would start at 8:00.  I felt a lot of stress in transition because the bike next to mine kept angling into my rear derailleur.  I asked the guy to try to prop his bag to hold the bike straight on the rack but he really didn't want to do that.  In fact, he seemed bothered that I took that space.  HELLO, the racks are two sided and meant to be shared!

I had decided to race in the Athena division on Friday and heard conflicting announcements regarding which swim wave I should be in.  I went up to one of the timing crew to ask for clarification before the first waves of the sprint started.  Imagine my surprise, when he asked if I was my sister Lindsey's sister! The timing company for the race was from Oklahoma City and my nephew is friends with the children of Kevin on the timing crew. Such a small world sometimes!

The swim course was set up similar to a rectangle.  It was a HUGE improvement over last year's layout.  I had a great swim and caught up to some of the men from the wave before ours.  I almost swam into the dock near the swim exit but sighted just in time to see that I was about to hit it.  Close call! I moved into transition and saw that my friend AJ was just ahead of me.  I wished her luck on the bike and then worked on getting my bikes shoes and gear on. 

The bike course is full of rolling hills and the first 4 miles are mainly uphill.  I saw my friend Kyla on the bike course...she had another commitment and could only stop by for the start of the race.  I tried to pass more people than passed me.  I made sure to drink and eat a couple gel chews on the bike.  Around mile 10, is one of the largest hills that I have ever ridden.  It is long and steep and in general sucks! I stayed positive and worked my way up it slow and steady.  The last 4 miles rocked and were mostly downhill which is way more fun. 

I have been dreading the run for weeks and that probably contributed to my struggles on the run.  It was hot and sunny and my legs just weren't turning over and loosening up.  I had to take walk breaks and hated doing it.  The Rush team worked the water stop which is was at the 1 mile spot on the course so you hit it 2 times.  My second time through got cheering from Mike via the bullhorn.  On a side note...It is surprising that my first sport is my weakest...I have been running for 10 years and only picked up biking and swimming last year.  I haven't trained as strong in the run this summer mainly because of the high heat we have had.  I'm going to fix that before my late season triathlons!

Me, AJ, and Britt post race!

My overall results were awesome.  My time was 1 hour 41 min. 45 sec. (an improvement of 10 minutes from last year!) I earned first place in the Athena Division and would have placed 3rd in my Age Group.  I think I was 17/51 for women.  It was so much fun to hang out with my friends and see everyone have such awesome races.  AJ got 3rd overall for females and had an awesome race.  Britt did the Olympic distance and got 2nd in her age group. Good times today but now it is time to look to the calendar and make some race plans for August and September.