Girlfriends triathlon.

Elna’s triathlon and my triathlon were part of the same weekend event and at the same venue.  Hers was Friday evening and mine was Saturday morning.  I was so happy that Katie did it again with me, and that we could convince Ericka to race too.  I love these girls!

It was really nice to have Brian not in this triathlon so that he could help with the girls—something I have usually been in charge of.  My last triathlon we were both part of, so it felt a lot more hectic with the girls.

I wasn’t super nervous this time—I was mostly just dreading having to do such a long workout.

I ended up placing 4th in my age group--out of all of these purple-capped women.  (I was 25th out of 146 total racers)  I wish I had gone just a teensy bit faster so I could get a medal, but I’m still pretty pleased with my time.

In the picture on the left, I’m in the middle and closest to the camera.

Our swim was in the Columbia River.

The bike portion was pretty nice this time—a lot flatter course than Hagg Lake’s.

These girls were THE BEST cheerleaders and made me cry every time I started hearing them—they yelled so loud, “Go Mom go, Go mom go!” on repeat.

It was a hot hot run, and I was pretty slow.  I really would love to figure out how to make my run time shorter.  My swim and run times are competitive enough that if I could get my run time lower, I could seriously place.  Interestingly enough, running is what I train most—I ran almost 4 or 5 times a week, swam maybe 3 times total between my last tri and this one, and only biked once.  So, you’d think I’d be a better runner.

It felt so good to be done.  They had cold wet towels for us, which felt like heaven.  I felt tingly from the heat.  This race would be an absolute dream if it was cooler.

These girls and Brian were the best thing to finish for.

I loved doing this race with my friends.  I am so blessed to have such great friends.  I’m also so lucky to have Brian, who is so supportive—he lets me train every day and never complains.  I’m looking forward to my next triathlon already!