Here’s me at 6:30am on race morning. You really can’t have a bad race day when you dress up as a bunny!
Today went really well. I really enjoyed racing and volunteering with my SAA and South Delta friends – my local triathlon community is really made up of a great group of people. So many good laughs today. The kids race was so fun. I made kids laugh, fixed googles, and helped some scared ones. These kids have the tenacity to just keep going and have fun (despite everything being new and quite scary). It was really quite inspiring! My race goal for today was to react well to unpredictable things that get thrown my way – so seeing these kids do it like it was no big deal was a good start.
After the volunteering, I showered and tried to stay off my feet and for the couple hours wait until my swim start. Hanging out with Rob and Evan on the pool deck and joking about trying to beat each other was a good fun way to kick off the race. My swim was great. I was really really comfortable and fast. My swim time was 12:15 for 700m*. I even was comfortable enough to do a couple of flip turns. The first step of reacting well — was definitely covered here in this busy swim — well done, Joanne.
As I pushed my bike through transition, I noticed my hat caught on my bike pedal, so I calmly stopped and placed it to the side. One of the volunteers noticed and picked it up for me. Second reaction – also good The bike was good. I just went. There was no one to pass or catch so I just went. As I started I noticed that my bike computer wasn’t on – so I turned it on – and it beeped with the low battery warning. So I turned it off and just kept riding. OK did you really have to put so many tests out there for yourself! As I came back into transition and was putting on my shoes, I heard this voice, “Joanne, do you want your visor for the run?” So I just kept putting on my shoes, and said, “Yes, thanks!” Man, you’re getting good at this. The run was fine. My legs felt weird coming off the bike. A reminder that I need to do more brick runs. I felt good.
I had a 3-4 min personal best today and accomplished my race goal but one of my favorite parts of today was the sense of community that I felt. There were so many great people involved. We had a lot of fun together.
*Unfortunately, the time that was recorded for my swim was 13:15 – sometimes at this race the swim times are wrong – oh well. I still had fun, despite the swim time AND I was genuinely laughing about it. Race goal really accomplished, well done!
Barton (who’s in the picture with me above) said to me, “So, are you going to be fast this year?” I guess so, Barton! …and I’m excited.
