Seattle Danskin Triathlon

Saturday: Registration Day

My teaching buddies Jenna, Andrea and Bridget picked Lori and I up at Karlynn's house in Olympia in the morning. When we arrived in Seattle around 1:00 we had to register. What a process. My first thought was HOLY COW! There were hundreds of people registering. We soon learned that over 3500 women would be competing in this triathlon. After following the crowd to the Convention Center we picked up our packets which had all of our bibs, timing chips to wear around our ankle, and race info. Then we picked up our swim caps...I was given a beautiful red one as you will see. Red caps were designated for Relay Teams. The final step was to have our team number written on both arms. Before we left for dinner we wandered around the displays and picked up free goodies like water bottles, hats, peanut butter, and Sport treats. It was fun.
Then we headed to the race site to set up the bikes that we would need. We were just amazed at the thousands of bikes staged and ready to go. It was incredible. Finally, we braved the Seattle traffic and headed downtown to find an Italian restaurant for dinner. As we walked around downtown Seattle that evening we sure received many stares! With the big black numbers on our arms I think they may have wondered if we were triathletes or prison escapees! We ended up at Palomino and had an awesome dinner before heading back to the hotel to hit the hay early. We had to be up and going at 5:00 a.m. Yikes!

TEAM HOT MAMAS...#3539

Lori is a friend I have made through Ryan. Her son is one of Ryan's good buddies. She agreed to be a part of my Relay team when the original runner I had became pregnant. Lori is a marathon runner so really...a 3.1 mile run is like a walk around the block for her! Anyway, she was a great teammate. At the last minute, the girl who was going to ride the bike segment for our team couldn't do it. Lori decided to give it a whirl and she was amazing at bike riding, too! Out of 99 teams in the Relay Division, Lori and I were Team #6. Lori was the fastest runner of the Relay Teams and was the sixth fastest runner out of 3,570 participants!! WOW. I swam my leg in 20:26 which I was very happy with...faster than about 2/3 of the rest of the ladies.

HERE I COME!

As you enter the swim, you feel a bit like a herd of cattle. They place 100 people in the water at a time in what they call "waves". I was in the 23rd wave. As I looked out at the piece of Lake Washington that I was going to swim in...it was crazy. There were hundreds of bodies out there...arms flailing, heads bobbing. It was surreal but the practice that I had done really paid off. Once I got going, I felt pretty good. The hardest part was swimming around the slower people. It was a bit congested in parts...the best analogy I can think of is it was like driving in rush hour traffic. I had to weave around slower traffic at times, come to a complete stop in order to avoid collisions a time or two and could cruise along in other places. In this picture, I have just left the water and am running up to the transition area to meet Lori who is taking off on her bike. I know...the skin tight wetsuit is sexy!!

GO ANDREA

Andrea and Bridget did the whole triathlon. ( Jenna was planning to until she hurt her back that morning. ) I was so impressed with these girls and their stamina. Way to go girls!







I DID IT!

The medal I am wearing says..."The woman who starts the race is not the same woman who finishes the race." I have to say that going in to this thing I really didn't know what I had gotten myself in to. During the beginning of the swim I had some unnerving moments. As I kept going (and kept battling other swimmers around me) I really had to dig deep and prove to myself that I could do it. I felt so great as I came up that ramp at the end. It was a great experience and I am so glad I did it!