...laced with joy...: Anderson, SC...70.3 first-timer

Although the thankfulness of the big picture was present after gettting hypothermia in MD, it was disappointing knowing that my next triathlon would be in March...The only 2 options for racing were 70.3 races. I wrote them off until Stephen suggested that I jump in another well-organized, hoppin' Rev3 race in SC the next weekend, encouraging me with "C'mon, you can do it!"... I thought about it for the next 4 days alternating extreme fear with optimism...and finally Thursday night, I registered. At that point I accepted that it was going to be a huge challenge, but I knew I would regret if I didn't at least try.

We got there Friday night. Saturday was completely full - I feel like I'm still in the stage that there are (more than a few) things new that go wrong the day before the race. We left the room at 10am, and by 6pm we were finally back in the hotel.

Swim: Fine...Will I ever enjoy a wetsuit swim? hmmm...not yet but soon perhaps!
Bike: Long! The last 6 miles I was like, get-me-off-this-crazy-saddle! I drank 2 waterbottles with EFS along with half a waterbottle that a wonderful volunteer handed me, ate 3 Gu's, & carried an entire big, full waterbottle on the back of my seat the entire ride. Ohhh, first-timer.
Run: Before this race, my longest run since foot surgery was 6.5 miles. Of course you're supposed to be able to go in a race double what your longest training run is....and that would get me collapsing ~100m before the finish line...awesome! haha. Not to mention biking in aero position 56 miles right before that. ;) I never felt like I was going hard on the run, I was just trying to keep chuggin'. Within the first half mile, my legs felt like they were about to cramp at any moment which sort of put a damper on the fun of running. I knew I needed to be careful! I walked and drank at every aid station which felt wrong and odd yet it was also a little treat - I'd never walked in a race before. (PS: I probably wouldn't have been as cramp-prone if I drank that other waterbottle on my bike!)

And last but not least I need to figure out how to protect my feet! In the past I have always painted them on race morning with Newskin, and I haven't gotten blisters....not so in a 70.3! At the end of the race, my feet looked like hamburger meat. It took a full 10 days of babying them 24/7 to heal enough to put normal shoes on, no jokin'. I'm not sure if the race itself was more painful, or the first shower I took post-race...or perhaps a 3-way tie with the first time I soaked my feet in Epsom salt and could feel each heartbeat in them...

The exciting result was that I finished first amateur, requalifying me as a pro triathlete. Yahoo! So thankful!!! I had a lot of fun! It was a great way to kick off a base for the winter. Oly distance races will feel so speedy compared to that madness...but excited to know that I can do it. Maybe more in the future, but I will continue to focus main goals with the Oly races. My mom couldn't make it but it was fun to have Stephen & my dad there! Here're some pics...