Officially Unofficial

Today was yet another race day, I know, I know...I really shouldn't have done it, but I did...Coach was not necessarily happy about my decision but the money was paid and I was determined to do at least one race with my group of friends this year.  We all piled in our cars on Saturday afternoon and headed to the wonderful city that is Memphis, TN (okay, technically Millington, ahhh Millington, lovely, lovely, Millington!) for the Memphis in May Olympic distance triathlon.  For those that don't know this equates to a .9 mile swim, 25 mile bike and a 6.2 mile run (a quarter IM!...not technically, but close!).  

Since this is "hell month" there was no rest or tapering for this event and since I think I contracted the swine flu after Gulf Coast it made the week even more difficult trying to get over being sick, recovering from a half IM and still pushing it for the last phase of IM training.  The day before Memphis in May I had a long ride scheduled...luckily there was an organized ride (the Tour de Nash) so I had something to motivate me to ride 60 miles (again, in the rain...damn the rain, damn it!).  It was a fun ride and I tried to ride like I wasn't racing the next day...so I "pushed" it for my standards!  I finished the ride and literally hopped in the car with my friend and drove to Memphis.  Once in Memphis we checked in, got our numbers, ate dinner, went to bed and woke up at 5am to race...no rest for the weary I tell ya!  

I told myself this would be just a training race, but since I won Athena last weekend I was feeling the expectations to do it again...and again I did!!  Yay Athena!!!  Well, unofficially...I left the race sight and the results said I had won, however, they weren't the official race results (we had to leave in order to get back to Nashville for beers so there was no time to wait around)...so we will have to wait until tomorrow for official results.  I am starting to get this competitive bug that I didn't really know I had.  My age group started DEAD LAST in the race so I wanted to pass as man people as I could.  I was kicking and elbowing people in the water and pushing past as many people as I could on the bike.  I hit the ground running and pushed an 8:26 pace for the first 5 of the 6 miles (still not sure what measuring stick they used on mile 5...it seemed LONG!)...crossed the finish line in 2:40...25ish minutes faster than my last Olympic distance race...so I felt great!  It was a fun, fun race and I'm so glad I did it.  

Lisa came to cheer Katie and me on!  It was super cold in the morning (a chilly 57 degrees...cold after you get used to the heat)...Lisa was our official photog.  (who killed Kenny?!)

The whole crew carbo loading the night before (table for 13 please...you figure out the bill)

Katie and me the morning of the race.  This was Katie's FIRST tri...and an Olympic none the less!!!  She rocked it and I am so proud of her for making it her bee-atch!

Heading into the duck poop, algae filled lake...it was so gross, but such a nice reprieve from the ocean swim the weekend before!  Is there such a thing as duck flu?...a gross hybrid of the swine flu I seem to have already contracted?

Swim is done...took a good 5 minutes off my previous .9 mile swim times!  Thank you wetsuit...again, I LOVE IT!  Lisa was slow on the uptake for the rest of the shots...so it appears that I didn't bike or run, but I promise I did!  Lisa still gets mad props for this photo...so great!

All in all a super fun race and was so happy to have all my buddies there!  I will do Memphis in May again in a heartbeat!