A Triathlon in the Capital

Austin is filled with so many places with cool, inviting, colorful and retro signage that it's a little overwhelming. You've got two days and two nights and a million possibilities to explore. There just isn't enough time for it all.

The Capital of Texas Triathlon was the highlight of our Austin weekend, but we tasted a few other activities that the city has to offer, my favorites being a drive by Town Lake (SO many paddle boards and kayaks), a Radny Foster concert (Keith Urban signs his songs Raining on Sunday and I'm In, Sara Evans sings his song A Real Fine Place to Start, the Dixie Chick sang Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)) and lunch at Threadgill's (Tuna and Spinach Salad was awesome).  

As you can tell from the last two posts, I was nervous going into this olympic distance triathlon, which is the longest triathlon I've completed so far. I'm usually a bundle of nerves the night before a big race, but the nerves showed up a week ahead of schedule. The swim went smoothly, and the bike was really fun, but I had some trouble with the running.

The swim was in Town Lake, which is really a river, and passed underneath two bridges. My family was able to stand on one of the bridges and find me in the water, which was really cool because they can never pick me out of the swim crowd.

The water was SUPER COLD at 70 degrees, but once we got moving, it felt perfect.

I took it really easy, finishing the 1500 meter swim in 30:52, not tired and ready for the bike.

I was worried about the bike route; I was sure it would be full of Austin's rolling hills. And when I realized that it was a lap course, and that I would be doing four laps, I freaked out a little. But it also made the perfect spot for my fans to sit and wait for me.

There were only three difficult hills (well, times four, so twelve), the rest of the route was relatively flat. 

You know that face you make when
you're really exerting yourself?
Well, mine looks like a smile.
 It looks like I'm smiling
in all of the bike pictures.

The scariest moment on the bike was when the wind almost blew my tires out from under me. After that, I got really low into the handlebars when I past that same area and didn't have any more wind related problems.

While I may look really cool in this picture,
I was actually very, very scared of falling
because of the wind.

I finished the 25 mile bike in 1:54:58.

The hardest part of the triathlon was the run. Even though I felt great and was smiling during the bike, somewhere along the way, my feet fell asleep. I noticed it a few times but didn't think much of it. But when I got to the transition area, I had to walk my bike in because I could run. My feet were asleep! And once they woke up, they really hurt.

I can't remember if I was tired, or hurting anywhere else or any other contributing factors, but I that if I didn't have the foot problem, I would have been okay.

See? I'm smiling. And I was not a happy runner.

So the run was disappointing, and was more of a walk with a few moments of slow running, and there were moments when I was sure I was going to quit because it was taking me FOREVER, but I finished it. I finished it! In 1:34:54, but still, I finished.

So now I've accomplished that. I'm one step closer to an Ironman. And I know how to diagnose my foot/bike problem (shoes too tight, socks too thick, clips to far forward on foot, seat position).

The best part of this race, and the part I forgot to post about originally, is that when I got started on the bike, I looked to my left and saw an old man in a nude colored thong bikini bottom riding a bike on the sidewalk. It was hilarious! I had to ask some race watchers if they saw him too, just to make sure I didn't need to turn around and go to the medical tent. But no, it was just a little piece of Austin saying Hello.

Side note: other really cool Radney Foster songs: A Little Revival, Angel Flight, Until it's Gone, Everyday Angel and so many many other songs that you would hear and think, "I've heard that somewhere..."  Here's more

(Side note two: These race photos are from Brightroom.com, and my mother in law, but while looking for pictures to post, I came across http://www.ericwynn.org/. Excellent and Inspiring sports photography/photo illustrations. Check him out! My favorite, or one of them, is the man with BELIEF written across his face.)