Triathlon Training Series - Race 3

Yesterday I competed in race 3 of the triathlon training series. We did a 450 meter swim, 15K bike and a 4k run. I felt pretty good on this one. I was second place among the women. There were only 4 women competing. It was a good day for a race being a bit cloudy and not too hot. I rode the bike down to the race to get warmed up. Once I got there I put my stuff in place and went out to do a short swim to keep my lungs warmed up. The water was very C-O-L-D! The race started a bit late with only 11 people competing. The swim went pretty well. The water wasn't very choppy which was good. I finished in 11 minutes and got to the transition area to get ready for my bike. Julian was there cheering me on with Jaime filming the event today due to an injury that has kept him immobile for the past couple of weeks. He got a thorn in his ankle and has been limping around ever since. He thinks he still has a piece of the thorn in there. So back to the race...I was getting ready to go on my bike, getting my shorts on and shoes. This time I had a bucket of water for my feet which helped to get the sand off. I started off on my bike and at the very start I lost the end to my hydration pack and it was losing water all over the place. I doubled back around to get it and lost about a minute. I sensed someone right behind me and didn't like that. I started pedaling faster and thought I had lost them. As I came around near Jessups where the long hill is they caught me and passed me. It was Wendy. She was on a mountain bike! She was pedaling hard and not having any problems. All I could do was watch her pass me and keep on going. I was trying to keep up but my skinny little legs just dont' have the muscle power. So I got to the turn around point and noticed that she wasn't much farther ahead of me. All the way back I tried to reach her but didn't make it. At transition number 2 I got off the bike, ran it in, took off my helmet and camelback and started running. I didn't have time today for comforts like the mp3 player. I wanted to catch her. She was just ahead of me going up the hill and on the other side near the bottom of the hill I passed her. She kind of chuckled as I went by. I ran well on this 4k course. I made it back with an overall time of one hour and 13 minutes. Wendy was not far behind me and as she came across the finish line she smiled and pointed at me and when she finished she just looked at me and smiled and said "that was fun". It was good for both of us to have some competition that day. I went over to her and toasted a good race with our water bottles and said "You've got some strong legs, woman!" And she told me that for a long time she couldn't afford a car so she biked her heart out wherever she went. Haha. All in all it was a great event. I hope the next one brings some more people. It's always more fun with more people.