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I will have more splits, and lots of pictures that Stefanie took of the race, but while weary, I am too excited to share with everyone that I finished my first Triathlon this morning! I had a little issue getting on the bike on the mounting area and got a little scrape on the shin (will require prolly a bazillion STITCHES, ok maybe just a washcloth) and a nice inner groin bruise which I won’t be showing off but the whole thing went really really well. No major hiccups at all. The swim definately kicked my but the most. I went out way too hard, and all the tips Lisa had shared with me to help my form sunk to the bottom of the bay as I was just struggling to get enough air and finish the first leg. Man the sand couldn’t come soon enough. After that, I transitioned into the bike phase (I really took a ton of time in the transition stage but oh well).

Once on the bike, I was cruisin along. ~15 minutes in, right when I got to the most desolate area…the most lonely and windy stretch, I noticed some chalk markings on the ground. “Clarke Graves is a Rock Star”, “Fight the wind!” “Love Jen and Jess”, my two rockin friends (Jen is the one who loaned me the bike, and walked me through all the do’s and don’ts of a tri. Last night in the rain and in the dark, they went out to Fiesta Island and chalked up the course for me. There was some more chalkings that they did, “1 mile to your pineapple princess” on the run portion, but I missed those…too delerious. So yea, after reading the chalk on the bike, I had the biggest burst of energy imaginable. Powerbar and Gu got nuthin on chalk!

I made it back on the bike, and started the run. Now every time I trained for the run portion I was humbled. Gone are the days of my past career where I was throwing down 20 milers and screaming times. I would do runs thinking I was at good paces only to find I was slower than ever. Not to mention I was in pain the whole time. Well the run today went great. I felt strong. I felt fast. I passed people but never got passed. I had the best cheering section rooting for me the whole time too! Stefanie, my mom, Stef’s mom Kay, her dad and step-mom (Steve and Karen), Jen and Jess. Other runners would be lucky to be near me when I went by my support group because the applause and cheering were so loud. So I cruised pretty good on that portion. First mile went through at 6:30 and final time of 20:35 (6:37 pace) for the 5kilometer/3.1 mile course. Even had a little kick at the end to blow by some unfortunate young kid. I don’t know my other event times yet since I didnt time those, but I will post them once I get em from the race website. I think the total time was 1:08:30 or something.

ok, im taxed. time to watch some football and seperate myself from this spandex for a shower Thanks for all the support. I will write a more coherent follow-up tonight or tomorrow with pictures, times and full props for all the friends I know who did the race too!

Clarke

p.s. Thank you to Bruddah Brook who showed up yesterday to cheer for me (wrong day doh), and then came out again today to try and say hi but didn’t realize the crazy parking, crowds, etc, and got turned around before he could get to the course!

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 at 11:48 am and is filed under Recreation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.