Jane's steady hand

I wasn’t sure if I should enter the Summerland Sprint Triathlon because my training was really slacking. I finally decided to just sign up and go for it. One of the factors that pushed my towards signing up was seeing my friend Liz when I was out shopping and she said she was going to do the race.  There are signs everywhere and we need to listen to them. So literally jumped in with two feet.

On the day of the race I felt organized, woke up on time, at a healthy filling breakfast, the kids and the dogs were well behaved. I didn’t really feel too nervous because I didn’t have too high of an expectation on myself. My main concern was the swim, and my fears were amped up when i saw the swells on the water. There were what looked like 2-3 foot  whitecaps . I really felt a sense of calm come over me I think it was because of the of the wonderful, spirited, kind women and men around me.  We struggled to enter the water because of the large slippery rocks we had to walk over to get to the swim start. Just as I was feeling a bit defeated my friend Bryn reached out and offered me her hand.

I breast stroked the entire swim. Every time I tried to front crawl I was hit in the face by a huge wave. I had to keep psyching myself up to keep going, it will be over soon…just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.

 Michelle M. and Me before the swim. I was one of 2 or three without a wetsuit

The bike was just fine. I can’t say that I hated it or love it. There was a crazy headwind while we were riding south, but there was a great tailwind as we were riding back north so it all kind of evens out. The bike worked out great. I can see how having riding shoes with clip on pedals would be advantageous and gears that shift smoother. I need to prove that I like the sport before I upgrade to a better bike. As you can see from the photo, I did keep smiling all the way through the race. Why do it if you are going to frown and grimace.

Me, Bryn, Liz and Dave

I never thought I would call myself a runner. I totally rocked the run, if I might say so myself. I came off the bike with the wobbly legs that I expected. After transition we headed up a hill right away!! Not a big hill but a hill none the less. What made it okay was the gaggle of family and friends at the top of the hill cheering  for me. Golly I am a lucky girl, so much support. As I was heading off on the run my legs were feeling like LEAD. I kind of knew to expect this so I just kept moving and over the next kilometer or so they loosened up and I started to pass people. Hmmm. What a feeling that was. I was wearing my new Newton running shoes and I had to keep reminding myself to try to run on the midsole so I would be putting less stress on my joints and I would be less tired. For the most part I was able to maintain this type of running style and I do think it helped with the energy return and fatigue.  I was very happy that I had run the course a few times with my friend Heather, so I knew what to expect. I was so excited and not really too tired when I rounded the last corner to head up the hill to the crowd near the finish. The finish loop was on the grass at the park. I could hear Steve King’s voice announcing the finishers names and my adrenaline started pumping harder. In the home stretch I nearly caught up to the runner in front of me.

I finished with a time of 1:45:13. I am really happy with my time and I do think that there is a tonne of room for improvement. I wonder how much time I could shave off next year?

Thank you so much to my family, friends, volunteers, fellow racers. I could believe how nice everyone was at the race. I asked Mark if everyone was so nice because it is a Sprint Tri and there is a lot of beginners,and he said “no that is just how triathletes are” I think I might like this sport.

Congrats to all of the fellow first timers who did the race. Michelle, Collette, Taryn, Bryn and the girls behind me in the line up.

Jane it was so nice to see your smiling face went I exited the swim, I wasn’t sure if I died and you were an angel and Mike and Heather, everywhere I turned there you were cheering me on.

Great big sweaty hugs for all

Betty

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