Yeah, so I didn't wear a speedo...buuuuut, there was a guy in one racing in Newfoundland, which I did at one point claim may be impossible...I wonder if he's a trifueler!

So Sunday was a 500/20/5 sprint in Carbonnear, NL, and true to our east coast weather patterns we had rain and fog and 14 degrees. Nice! It's a neat race as an athlete because everything is point to point, no loops or out and backs. I love that! My support crew/significant other/driver hated it! I did this event last year as my pre-HIM warm up and hit 1h13m. I had a lousy swim and a sketchy ride, but had a strong run. I hoped to cut my time down to 1h10, but thought that might take a bit.

So usually I start further back in the swim to prevent panic attacks, but I sat right up front with my training partner, Ruth, a former competitive swimmer and mother of three who did this event as her first tri last year. The first 200m were wicked with 140 starters in a pretty small pond. Then I found myself off the front of the main pack with the lead pack in sight. I bridged up just before exiting the water as the first woman. Sounds weird to say that! I swam 8m30, T1 wasn't the fastest, but I didn't lose anyone in transition so off I went with trifueler Kevin Garnier right next to me. We had a great duel with another local guy on a single speed. This race has a crazy bike leg! There is a monster climb and a wicked twisty decent into the town of Carbonnear - awesome! I hit about a 33ish minute ride but got passed by our top Canada Games athlete on the climb. She's 18, I'm old. She should be able to pass me four weeks before the games! I hung on to her about 20s back into transition. Unfortunately for me and the other unsuspecting kids at games, she's an amazing runner with a 38m 10k. I kept within a minute of her on the run, pulling a 21m 5k. It started to pour on the run! Still, there was a little 5 year old giving out sponges, so I took two! He was damn cute! The finish of this race is a lap of the track and single speed guy resurfaced to outkick me! I finished 2nd woman overall, won my AG, finish time 1:05.30. I am thrilled with my times, but need to do T1 a bit quicker. My run was strong, but I didn't chase the junior too much as I knew I had my age group safe and didn't want to blow it by going after her pointlessly. I also seriously doubt I can catch her on 5k. She's bloody quick! Great race, great jumping off point for my taper for my A race in two weeks. Great to ride with Kevin! Best part of the day was Tim Horton's on the tail gate of Ruth's father in laws truck with the 5 first timers I sucked into doing triathlon from Central NL. We have a little "club" going that is full of the enthusiasm that newbies always bring to the sport! It was great to see them all race and finish!