St. George 1/2 marathon race recap

St. George 1/2 Ironman 

May 4, 2013

Swim- 45:54

Bike- 3:14:35

Run- 1:36:49

Total time: 5:46:34

I signed up for this race out of complete peer pressure from my awesome friends and my husband.  I was 7 months pregnant and thought it sounded like a good idea. (so stupid!!)  Having a new babe in toe and training is super fun :) I wasn't able to train as much as I'd like to but did all that could in my current life situation with 3 kids 3 yrs old and under and a hubby that is training too.  Lucky for me my hubby didn't train a ton (and of course still totally beat me and many others).

A few days before the race we headed down to St. George to get all situated.  We went out to the lake to do a confidence swim because I needed the confidence!  I had only been in open water one other time and swimming only once every week or two isn't great training :)  To swim  before was really good for me because it made me realize I can get through it.  

The morning of the race I felt really sick and nauseous.  I couldn't stomach my normal oatmeal and banana.  I hardly ever get that way before a race so I didn't know if I was getting sick or if I was genuinely nervous.  Definitely the latter! The triathlon world is so foreign to me.  My hubby had to walk me through every step to make sure I knew what I was doing and that I had everything I needed.  It's amazing how much preparation goes into these races! My swim start was at 7:21.  We entered the water a few minutes before and then the gun went off.  The wave starts are nice but I was still in a decent sized group and got hit and kicked a little.  I put my head down and just started to swim.  I felt pretty good until a bunch of guys started trampling over me. (I want to know what race officials thought it would be a good idea to send 6 groups of fast guys after the 30-39 year old women). After that my goggles filled up with water and it was all mental battle from that point.  I never really panicked but it was super hard for me to get through.  I swam in a total zig zag the entire time.  I bet I would've been hilarious to watch from above! When my feet hit the ground I had complete relief come over me!  I truly don't enjoy swimming so to be done was the best feeling.

I had so much fun on the bike!  The first stretch I was passed by a ton of guys in super nice bikes.  Kind of demoralizing but I knew it was going to happen.  I haven't rode outside much in my life.  I did a sprint triathlon in 2007 and then a handful of rides this year for training and that's it.  I am a idiot when it comes to bikes but for the first time I felt comfortable!  I was able to sit in my arrow bars for 75% of the time which normally I felt so unstable sitting in them for even a few minutes and I was able to go down hills without breaking (but definitely said a few swear words while going down hoping to not crash).  I LOVE climbing hills because it's my strength so climbing Snow Canyon was my favorite!  I would pass people on the assent and they would pass me on the decent. I honestly just felt good the entire bike ride and never felt really tired or exhausted.  I could've kept going (well my butt would probably disagree :) )  I also thought I would die without music but it truly is amazing how fast the time goes in races. 

Finally it was time for my favorite part....the run!  I finally felt in my element!  2 weeks before I had gone down and ran the course.  I think that was the best thing I could've done because mentally I knew I could do it in certain pace.  The run course is super hilly, hard, and true! You start climbing immediately in the run and don't really get a break until mile 4ish but because I love climbing and my body felt great I welcomed the hills!  I felt on fire on the run. I never slowed my pace down and was smiling the entire time. (especially passing a lot of guys :) )  I was on such a runners high!  It still was hot and hard but I luckily had a great day!  The volunteers with water, ice, and wet sponges saved me!  

I had no idea what to expect with this race.  Like I said before I am super inexperienced in the triathlon world.  I never thought I would say this but I THINK I CAUGHT THE TRI BUG!!! The starts aligned for me during this race.  I had so much fun and felt great during and after! My time isn't amazing compared to so many other people but I was beyond thrilled with my time!! I'm ready to take a break from having to swim and bike but I had so much fun in this race and will definitely be signing up for more in the future! (Maybe I'll learn how to swim the next go around).

It was so fun to do the same race as my hubby!  I only saw him once because he absolutely killed the swim and bike.  He was on mile 9 or so of the run when I was on mile 4.  I am always so amazed and proud of my hubby!  He really doesn't train super hard (or I guess I should so to the book) and he pulls out amazing races.  He's an incredible athlete!!

It's hard to see in the picture above but right before the race started tay ripped his tri kit shorts.  he had a big hole on his butt the whole time!  Luckily Zac West had extra blue shorts or else there would've have been nudity on the course.

These cute kiddos were troopers.  It was a hard thing with the kids because there is so much you have to do in preparation for the race and we had to drag them along everywhere!  The kids fun run wasn't so fun for us :) Stockton loved it and wanted to do it again but Mckaylee was having probably the worst tantrum of the world before it and Tay and I got in a huge fight because we were on edge with her screaming and crying for literally more than an hour straight.  It was awful!  We were on our way to the "fun" run and were barely talking to each other (at least we could laugh about it the next day).  aside from that moment the kids had a blast.  They loved staying in the same place as Nixon and just playing all day long.  They are such good buddy's!!

Love these girls!!!!!  It was Jess bday right before so we brought her a giant sugar cookie!  Oh and we maybe got swig sugar cookies every day! So freaking YUMMY!!!!