Spa Girl Tri San Antonio 2015

I have said it before and I stand by it ... Purpose.Race.Events puts on great events. Well organized and always with a purpose. I had signed up for my 5th SpaGirlTri and knew it would be fun, but I admit, I had a tough week and just wasn't feeling in the mood. I figured I would take things one step at a time. So ... Friday evening after work, I stopped by the JW Marriott to pick up amazing swag. I figured, even if I didn't race, then I would at least pick up my bag. I also picked up for Sorority Girl. I kept to myself. But, admit, the reversible bag is cool and we got to choose candle scents. I really like the personal touch.

Yes, I covered my saddle with a swim cap. It might rain

Then, I figured, well, I have my bag, I may as well rack my bike. The Musician pulled Vaderette off the ceiling rack and aired her tires. Vaderette parked next to Shak's steed for good luck. I said "hello" to Lynn's Litespeed on a nearby rack. Purpose.Race.Events was kind enough to allow TriMomSA to have reserved racks so we could be together. Sorority Girl called as she was racking her bike and realized, she didn't have a helmet, so I drove back to the JW for a third time to loan her a helmet and give her a spare swim cap. This is her first tri and she was following my training method ... train on race day!
Did I mention it had been a rough week? I stayed up too late, but did manage to lay out my gear for morning. I was excited to wear my new Betty Designs kit. Woke up with a slight hangover and no appetite, but decided to chug some coffee. The Musician drove me to the shuttle drop off and then it was "go" time. At first, I just kept to myself, but then the other TriMoms started to trickle in. It was nice to see Shak and Lynn and Carrie and Kim again. I met Heidi and Sebrina and Yuka (and a few others, but I'm terrible with names). Love you gals. So motivating.

 TMI here ... so feel free to skip ahead. I count on morning coffee to prepare me for races, but lately it hasn't kicked in on time. Today, perfect timing and I felt ready to race. After coffee did it's magic, I found Sorority Girl.

We hung out a bit, did a final check of transition and headed to the pool area. We hung out with TriMoms as announcements were made, a prayer was said, and the participants sang the national anthem. I think this is one of my favorite parts of Purpose.Race.Events events. The clouds looked ominous and I was nervous about a downpour. Sorority Girl was in a different swim wave and she headed out.

The rest of the TriMoms were all in the same wave and started together. It took some time for the time trial start to get into the water. I met a girl from TriForce named Susan. I have to find her, she was super cool and fun and I would like to hang with her in the future. Remember what I'm about to say here. I was telling Shak that I sometimes forget to hit the button on Trusty Garmin ... or I hit the wrong button during transitions ... so I had to be careful not to have operator error so I could keep track of my pacing.

Relaxed hands

Poor form crossing arms

Swim: We followed each other into the water for our 400 meter lazy river swim. With so many people in the water ahead of us, the current was nice. I kept what I thought was a steady pace, but only I can get lost in a lazy river. Mid-way through, I heard shouting and looked up to hear people pointing for me to go right, I went left. About this point, I realized, I needed to start Trusty Garmin. Fail. After the swim, it's about a quarter mile run to transition, so I blame my long swim time on the run to the bike, right? 09:36

T1:  I didn't completely take a picnic in transition and off we went. It's about a quarter mile from transition to bike mount, so I'll blame my time on the run to bike mount, and the walk from dismount to transition. 03:26

Bike:  The bike was actually a lot of fun. My bike computer had me at 15-18 mph most of the time, but a few times I was at 22-23 mph. What? No training? The course was different this year with only one hairpin turn (well, twice since it's two loops), but my skills are no better, so I was still super slow with the turns. I need to get past the fear. And, I made it up the big hill at the finish without walking. I was grateful that the headwinds were always on the downhills and we had tailwinds uphill. We did get a bit of a sprinkle here and there, but the clouds didn't open up. There were a lot of Betty's on the course and it was fun shouting to them. We recognize the unique skulls and butterflies. Badass and feminine all at once. I saw my new friend Susan as she passed me telling me she wasn't a strong biker. 39:25

T2 was again, relatively quick (by my standards) and I actually had a minute to talk to Shak. She's usually way ahead of me at this point, so I knew she was taking it really liesurely. That had been her plan, but I didn't believe her. It seems she was following my method. Go out. Have fun. Laugh at yourself. Take it easy. As we started to run, some of the final swimmers were coming out of the water. 2:27

Run: Then it was off on the run and as usual ... the sticks on the bottom half of my body didn't work right. They just don't know what to do or where to go. 1.1 mile downhill, then turn around and 1.1 mile uphill. Somewhere along the route, Pink Ninja took a few pictures of me running. I never saw her, but she said she shouted my name a dozen times. I say I was delirious, she says I was focused. So nice of her. Somewhere on the run, I realized, I had not been pushing the right buttons on Trusty Garmin. It said I was biking very slowly right about now. 27:36

But, finally the finish. This year, there were lots of cute young men on the course and handing out medals. That's a really nice touch. I found out later, they were a young Air Force unit. How come they didn't look like that when I was coming up through the ranks? 1:22:42


The medals are gorgeous...as usual.

I picked up lovely food and mimosas and met up with the TriMoms who had finished. This was Sebrina and Yuka's first tri!!! You girls ROCK!!!

Amazing women

What is this medal made of?

  We celebrated with a few pictures and Sebrina even did my "jump" with me.

 Sorority Girl was in the water at least a full hour after I was. I went back to transition and her bike wasn't there yet, so I headed out on the bike course on foot. Ran into her amazing husband and super cute kid waiting for her on the big hill. Met up with her at the bottom of the big hill and trotted back to transition as she rode. I tried to find Pink Ninja at the finish line waiting for her niece, but no luck so I chased down Sorority Girl to finish her run. Dang it, my sticks still don't work. She has actual legs instead of jello appendages.

As we came around to the finish, I headed off to let her bask in the glory of her first tri. Her little guy ran the finish with her. I am pretty proud of myself for helping her to get through her first half-mary and her first tri this year.

 I had a left-over mimosa ticket and had been given one by another racer, so I grabbed 2 more mimosas. Nothing like hair of the dog.

 

All my SpaGirl Medals

After a few more pics, I called The Musician to pick me up. Cleaned up transition and headed out on the bike. Met a lovely group of people from Austin and told them all about SpaGirl Bastrop and other great upcoming Purpose.Race.Events such as MasQ Half, Illuminations Half, and of course, Cocoa Women's, Missions Half, and of course Alamo 13.1. I hope to see them there.

Of course, I had to take at least one picture of a flower