A whole year has come and gone since I officially became a triathlete. How is that possible? Sometimes it dragged, and sometimes it felt like time was flying by. Time is weird. But time does some pretty incredible things. It heals. It allows us to mark our own progress. It is consistent but it knows how to adapt to change. And time never stops pressing on. We could all learn a few things from Time.
On Saturday, I joined several friends at the course of the Lake St. Louis Tri. Some did the long course, some did the short. Some were out for hardward, some were in the shoes I was in a year ago, just hoping to survive to tell the story. Some were the same friends who I saw in Racine.
I didn’t accomplish my goal of a Sub 3, but I did give LSL all I had in the moment and I walked away with an almost 7 minute PR. I improved my times in all 3 disciplines and both transitions. So, I’m pretty happy with that. I also set a goal to finish in the top 10 of my age group, and I was #9 (Yes, there were more than 9, 14 actually thank you very much.) Not everything went according to plan, but that’s pretty much par for the course. After all is said and done, I had a great time on Saturday, I’m proud of my race and I’m proud of how far I’ve come in the past year. That just allows me to set my sights even higher for the year ahead.
Here are a few of the lessons I took away from LSL Tri 2013…
- I am still a really, really, really slow swimmer. But at least now I’m proud of the fact that I give the illusion of knowing what I’m doing out there. And I think I still finished the swim in the bottom 5 of my wave, but that’s better than bottom 2!
- Goal for 2014: Learn how to swim a straight line.
- Don’t get lost in the transition area.
- Consider courses with less hills and more shade.
- I might be a closet cyclist masquerading as a runner.
- Ryan and Farrell chose the location of their home wisely…5 minute walk to the start line. Nice job Guys! J
- I have some really Badass friends. Not just the ones who owned the course like Katherine who took 2nd female overall of the long course and Brian Schoenholtz who took 3rd male overall of the short course. And Katie Schoenholtz and Erin Wilke who took 3rd in their age groups and Mark French who won his age group. But all my friends who were out there sweating with me. And especially the peeps who came out for no other reason than to support us. I got to have friends, my kiddos and ALL my moms at the finish line (My mom-Mama J, Steve’s mom-Dee and Lindsey’s mom-Wendy) How awesome is that?!
- The LSL Rescue team rocks. Traffic on the course this year was a beast, the cops directing traffic were much appreciated. As were the folks in the water, like Ryan Heaberlin and Rick Tharwachter. We wouldn’t be able to participate in events like this without the invaluable group of people who volunteer to take care of us. Can’t thank you all enough!
- Residents who put out their sprinklers are much appreciated, especially nice for those of us who might pee ourselves. Don’t judge me.
- Some people are just naturally gifted at various events. I am not one of them. But I’m willing to work my butt off to tri! (See what I did there?)
- Sometimes it’s hard not to hate the people who are naturally gifted. But at least I have the capability to be out there. And for that, I am thankful.
- Some days you walk away with a PR and some days you don’t. But at the end of the day, no matter how big or small, a PR is a PR. So be happy when it’s a PR kind of day.
- Remember the Run Guard. Chafing sucks. Especially boob chafing. Just sayin…
- There is always room for improvement.
- Triathlons are hard.
- I’ve said it before, but it warrants repeating…STOP DOUBTING MYSELF.
- I love having perfect strangers cheer me on. But the thing I love to hear the most is, “Keep smiling Girl! You’re making it look FUN.” And THAT, is the true trademark of Rambling Runner Girl.
So, who wants to sign up to do LSL with me next year?
Lindsey squared 2013…we recreated the picture from last year. Looks pretty much the same, huh?