One more Tri

I was rinsing off my wetsuit after Wildflower and realized I wanted to do one more triathlon this season. I found a really fun event in Pleasanton called the California International Triathlon and signed up for the Olympic distance. The venue is Shadow Cliffs in July and it actually turned out to be nice day, not too hot. Since this was the first event for USA Productions at this venue, there were some small glitches (like, not enough volunteers), so there were some lessons learned that day. The bike route had some funky turns and the run route was down-right strange with a couple of out and backs and probably some accidental extra mileage for the Sprint folks (ouch!). But all in all, it was a fun event. I finished in 3:01:16 and am finally getting my transition times under 5 minutes (there's no where to plug in a hair dryer, I've finally accepted that fact). My sweetie was there to cheer me on and that was the best part of all. =)

Back to cycling...

I would not have completed the Wildflower Triathlon without the training and support from my Team in Training comrades. I had never participated in a Half-Ironman before, and Wildflower is one of the toughest. I had a good swim in Lake San Antonio, I even felt good riding up "Nasty Grade," yet I did end up walking up the hills during the half-marathon as my legs started cramping up. But I finished! Yay! The whole camping thing with this event turned out to be a blast and everyone: participants, spectators, and volunteers, were there to have fun. And we did. =)

So, with a triathlon under my belt this year, it's time to focus on my cycling again as I get ready for Levi's Gran Fondo in October and Solvang's Finest Century in November. More miles to come....