Key West Day 2-4

 

 

Key West Day 1

Our view from the condo.  Not bad to wake up to. 

Beautiful living room and kitchen in the condo

"The Southernmost Rusty Bike"

 Key Lime Pie on a stick and covered in chocolate! Intensely good!

A lovely bird on Smathers Beach

The princess in the sand castle

ParaSurfers in the sunset

Pool at the condo

Dreams

All my life I've been a big dreamer.  I imagine different scenarios all the time..what if this happened or that happened?   I think about the vast possibilities that life gives us and how I, one small little person in the world, can make the most of it.  Although some things I'm almost 100% certain will never  happen in my life, I don't believe in 'never' or 'impossible' ...because you just don't know what the universe will throw your way.  So I'd like to share my dreams here...some are real, some are ridiculous.  But again, you just never know.  So you can decide which is which.

-Have a farm or plot of land big enough to have a huge bonfire in the backyard...and a place to grow stuff too
-Have a restaurant on my farm that uses produce from the backyard (Just like Ina Garten)
-Bring hope to impoverished children by building them a school
-Be a fiddler in an Irish band
-Do a century bike ride for charity
-Sponsor a Habitat house (locally or abroad --- abroad would be much cheaper)
-Perform in a Bhangra dance troupe
-Learn how to quilt
-Finish a Half-Ironman race in one piece
-Snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef
-Cure my horse allergy
-Meet Oprah
-Publish a cookbook

Legacy Trail

I never truly appreciated how beautiful Central Kentucky was until I started cycling this year.  The country roads and the horse farms are really a gorgeous sight to see!  I've been all over the world and seen the most spectacular landscapes -- mountains, beaches, rainforests, valleys, rivers, oceans, lakes--- but the rolling green hills of the bluegrass are in a category of their own.  And the best way I've found to appreciate it all is on a bike.

I'm thrilled that the state of Kentucky and the city of Lexington are really working towards showcasing our beauty of our area.  This weekend, the Second Sunday event was a group bike ride from downtown to the beginning of the new Legacy Trail.  There must have been at least 200 bikers of all ages grouped together to ride to the Legacy Trail on its opening day.   As I'm getting a little more skilled at riding, I was able to capture some pictures along the way. 

We left our house around 12:30 pm and rode downtown, where the group ride would start.  There we ran into some good friends we hadn't seen in a while which was a most fantastic surprise.  The group ride was interesting as there were a lot of stops and it was hard to ride so slowly without losing our balance.  We stayed at the back of the pack to stay out of the crowd.  It was cool having police escorts all the way there. 

Jill and Ali

Riding through downtown Lexington

My former roommate, FE!

The Legacy Trail itself was nice and wide so all the hundreds of people who came to the opening could fit on it!  It was a tight squeeze though sometimes.   We saw bikes, trikes, training wheels, walkers, runners, segways, and Sprocket Jockeys (the biking rickshaw).

Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden

Liz & Laura!

Overall, Mike and I biked about 29 miles over the course of the afternoon. It was an amazing day with sunny skies, good friends, lots of fun riding all over town.  

Tri for Sight :: Race Report (Sept 5, 2010)

So it's done, my final race of the season.  What an amazing first year of triathlons it has been.  I'm thrilled to have sunk my feet into a new sport and look forward to speeding up for next season (hopefully). 

My grand finale this year went out with a bang with the Susan Bradley-Cox Tri for Sight.  I LOVED THIS RACE!  First, it was only 3 miles from my house which meant I didn't have to wake up at 4:30 am like the other races.  Second, the course distances were perfect (800 m pool swim, 18.5 mile bike, 4 mile run).  It was enough to be a challenge, yet short enough to where I wouldn't feel like dying at the end :) And third, there were a handful of friends who were doing the race with me. 

I didn't get many race nerves the week before the race and was mostly just excited to do it.  I arrived early Sunday morning to the race and it was definitely chilly!  About 60 deg. F!  After a blistery hot summer, it felt like winter to me.  After I put out all my stuff in the transition area, I had some time to kill so I just walked around and reflected on the past year.   One year ago, I watched this race to see what this triathlon thing was all about.  I watched all the athletes compete and thought to myself, 'hey, I can do this.'  And 'do this' I did ! 

Triathlons have meant more to me than just training and competing in races.  Racing has been a triumph for me on my journey back to good health.  From January 2008 - December 2009, I had one thing or another going on with my health.  Things that kept me from being able to exercise without pain.  I was gaining weight rapidly, since I loved to eat, and toppled the scales at my heaviest in November of last year.  But after being inspired by the Tri for Sight 2009, I decided to finally take control of my life again.  I joined the Beaumont Family YMCA in Dec. '09 and started working out and getting back into shape.  I joined my sister's clinic's 'Biggest Loser' contest and begun my battle of the bulge. 

I did lots of different workouts.  Whatever made me feel happy.  I ran, swam, did pilates, functional training, weight training, and began cycling.  I did an 'aqua-run' race in January (in 5 deg weather--that was nuts!), a full tri in April, another in July and this last one in Sept.  Throughout that time, having a new race to train for gave me motivation to get up early, work out and eat better.  I could feel that when I ate healthful, nutritious food, that my body would function better.  Like a machine!  A very slow-moving machine, that is.   But through the whole process, I lost about 10 lbs, gained muscle, gained confidence, and overall was much happier in life. 

So even though I finish slowly and don't have any trophies to show for my efforts, finishing the race still means everything to me.  During the last year, I found me again.  And every other aspect of my life is better because of this sport.  

So back to the race report.   After the pre-race meeting, all the triathletes walked to the Lancaster Pool (on UK's campus).  We sat on the upper observation deck and were placed in order of race number.  The numbers were based on our self-seeded swim times.  It was fun to watch the fast people swim! Although from above, it didn't look like they were sprinting.  They made it look so easy.  At one point when I was sitting and waiting to go down to the pool deck.  I got a twinge of panicky nerves.  I thought to myself 'I think this is a bad idea'.   But before I had a chance to get worked over my doubts,  it was time to go down to the pool. 

We stood in a line according to our numbers and each racer was pushing off the wall every 10 seconds.  It was my turn.  So, I quickly slipped into the pool only to feel my timing chip (which was on a velcro ankle bracelet) come off my ankle!  AAAAh!  The timing chips are used to time all your splits and your final race time.  There's a mat at the beginning and end of each leg of the race, so you will know all your precise times along with your transition times.   So before I even started to swim, I did a deep sea dive to retrieve my chip.  I thought I would just stop at the first wall and put it back on.   When I tried this, no luck! The velcro just wasn't sticking while I was in the water.  So I just swam with the chip in my hand.  Not ideal, but it worked.  The swim was smooth other than one very competitive guy who wouldn't let me pass and kicked major waves in the face most of the time.  Oh well.  I hopped out of the pool and heard my name being called!  "And out of the pool, 'TOE-AH GREEN'.   Close enough.

The run from the pool to transition was about .25 miles.  I jogged my way to transition, threw my swim stuff down and got ready to bike.  This was the first time I had ridden with my new cycling shoes and clipless pedals for more than 2 miles.  It was also the first time I had ridden at all after my stop sign fall.  Two things that made me very nervous.  But alas, 'no fear' I told myself.  And off I rode.  The bike course was beautiful!  And mostly flat (my favorite part!)  It was nice to have so many policeman blocking the intersections, so that I didn't have to stop, decreasing my chances of falling off my bike again.  About 2 miles out, I bent my head down only to see my left ankle, naked without my timing chip!  I forgot to put it back on!  As I pedaled I had visions of my T1 time being 2 hours.  Oh my.

For a second, I thought, I could just bike home, and it wouldn't make a difference without my chip.  But I really had no intention of quitting, whether I got my time or not.  The rest of the course was so pretty.   It took us out of the city and into some windy country roads by the horse farms.  Gorgeous!  About at the half way point, I started feeling tingling in my toes.  The way my shoes were set with my pedals, they were cutting off my circulation!  OH man.  After some more miles, I could really feel my toes goes cold.  I unbuckled my shoes a little and that helped.

Once I rode back to transition, I could see my husband, my sister and my good friend,  Rebecca (Pearly) cheering me on.  Also, my friend Bryan was cheering, too.  He had already finished racing in the duathlon (run, bike, run).  [He also got 2nd place overall, woo hoo!]  

I made sure to unclip BOTH feet before trying to hop off my bike.  No fall!  Success!  Transition 2 went smoothly.  Before I could even talk to Mike, who always asks me how I'm doing during transitions, I was off running.   I really didn't feel the jelly legs as I usually do and felt strong going into the run.   After the hills of the Lame Duck Tri, I was so so grateful for a flat run.  I cruised into an easy jog and felt no need to push much harder than that.  I had not been running very much at all and I did not want to get injured, so I felt content with my pace.  I walked a few times to give my foot a rest as I felt a little twinge in my ankle.  But I was happy with the run overall.  I got passed by LOTS of people,  but so it goes.  No worries.  

4 miles later, I cruised to the finish to the sound of cheers and cowbells!  It's so nice that so many strangers will cheer for you!   I was finished!  What a great feeling!  I felt strong and was just so thrilled that I finished in one piece.  YAY, 'TOE-AH GREEN'!

DONE! Bless the man that handed me that water!

THE FINAL RESULTS:

Age Group Place: 18 of 22  

Overall Place (Women): 90 of 115   

Swim Time: 18:28 min (8th of 22)

T1: 6:10 min 

Bike 1:17:25 (17th of 22)

Bike pace: 14.3 mph

T2: 1:27 min

Run time: 48:48 (20th of 22) 

Run pace: 12:12 min/mile

**TOTAL TIME: 2:32:17 hrs.**

Bruised arm, bruised pride.

I have a new found love for cycling.   It started merely as a component of the triathlon racing, but I've really developed a giddy kind of little kid enjoyment for it.  I have found a deep appreciation for Lexington and how beautiful this area is thanks to my bike rides this summer through horse country.  I love the green rolling hills, big beautiful trees, blue sky, horses, ducks, turkeys, chickens, dogs --- all the things that make our country roads so fun and interesting to ride.  

In an attempt to go further faster and more efficiently, I have upgraded to clipless pedals.   I started with flat pedals, the regular pedals you get on any bike, but heard from other biker friends, that clipless pedals would change my world.  These pedals, along with cleats and cycling shoes, are all part of a system where you're actually clipped in/attached to your bike.  Scary.  The thought of not being able to eject myself from a speeding bike put a lot of frightening images in my head.  But I did want to try it out in case it did revolutionize my world. 

Once I got my clipless system in place (new pedals, new shoes with cleats attached), I tried it out on the bike trainer.  Clip in, clip out. Clip in, clip out.  Not so bad.  Next day I tried them out on the open road.  On my very flat street with not so many cars, I stopped, clipped in, clipped out.  No problem. 

This last Sunday I decided to take another casual ride around the neighborhood.  Mike came along to keep me company and to see my new pedals in action.  It still wasn't second nature to just remember to clip in and out, so I had to concentrate pretty hard to make sure I didn't fall.  Rode around for about half an hour.

We came to a stop sign, clipped out my right foot and then my brain wandered.  I was used to setting both feet down at a stop, so my left foot moved down to the ground without clicking out.  Still attached to the bike, I couldn't do anything to stop from falling straight into the asphalt.  BOOM!  Sigh.  Ow.  I landed on my hand and elbow.  I sat up trying to figure out if I had broken my arm or what was going on.

In the distance I saw a lady run my way.  "Honey, are you OK??  I'm a nurse!"  A blessed angel sent to peel me from the pavement.  I could wiggle my fingers, check.  I could move my arm, sorta, check.  Some ice and ibuprofen, she said.  Mike helped me off the ground and I rode back home one-handed.  

I was really scared because I could barely move my arm at all without intense pain.  I parked myself on the couch with several bags of ice and called it a night.  Mike was sweet and handed me the remote control and later a tub of ice cream and it all seemed to be not so bad.   I had visions of explaining myself to my mother in the morning if I had to tell her that I couldn't cook because I fell on my arm.  I would hang my head in shame as she smacked me over the head with my cooking spatula...haha...no she wouldn't really do that.  But a lecture and those searing disappointed eyes would hurt all the same.

This was motivation to think happy, healing thoughts and take as many ibuprofen as possible. 

Yesterday I woke up and my arm was really sore, but I could move it pretty well.  I could cook as normal, but just a little slower and without my usual zip and zeal.  Now, it's Tuesday night and I think it's almost back to normal, just a bruise.  But it surely rocked my confidence.   Mostly because I realized that no matter how fast I race or how well I do, it's not worth it to risk my safety.  So Sunday I will be paying special attention to finishing in one piece even if it means finishing last. 

Last minute training plans are to swim tomorrow morning, run a little on Thursday, practice with the new pedals on Friday and then my first class of Tai Chi on Saturday! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THAI ORCHID CAFE!

Four years ago, the doors of Thai Orchid Cafe opened to the world! And what an amazing journey it has been.

Last year's Anniversary Buffet

Here's the story of how Thai Orchid Cafe came to be.  

GROWING UP AT THE SMILE OF SIAM
It started when I was 7 years old and my parents decided to open a business of their own.  The business was the Smile of Siam Restaurant, the first Thai restaurant in Frankfort.  After a couple of years of hiring help and the headaches that go along with it, they decided to run the restaurant themselves, just the two of them.  That's right, it became a truly family-run business, which means whenever my sister and I weren't in school, we were at the restaurant.  

My first job in the restaurant was refilling water.  I remember I wasn't strong enough to pour the pitcher one-handed so I used two hands to slow pour water for our customers.  Only a year or so after, I started manning the cash register.  After school, my mom would pick us up and then we'd do our homework at the restaurant while my mom and dad continued to work and get ready for the dinner shift.  Even at the cash register, I would do my homework, while checking customers out.  Sometimes people would ask if I needed to get my Dad to run the credit card (this is when we had the manual sliding credit card contraption).  I would raise an eyebrow, give them a snarky look and proceed to run their card.  I liked showing people that I was perfectly capable of processing their payments, even calculating all their change in my head. 

As I grew into my teenage years,  I felt more and more like there were bigger, more exciting things for me to be doing than working at the restaurant.  Everyone else was out having fun and I was stuck working all Friday nights and all summer.  I grew weary of the monotony of work and the intense labor that was involved.  On top of that, I was expected to maintain a 4.0+  GPA in school. 

My parents sold the restaurant in 2000 during my senior year of high school.  After 10 years in the business, mostly doing the work all themselves, the restaurant life was wearing on them mentally and physically.  To be honest, at the time, I was somewhat relieved.  I had felt that the restaurant had held me back in so many ways, that I had missed out on so much.  Now, 10 years later, I couldn't have been more grateful for my years of working in the restaurant.  I have my parents to thank for everything.

COLLEGE DAYS
As I entered college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I swore that I wouldn't get a restaurant job.  I was done with that life.  I wanted to move on.
 
Throughout college,  I had jobs in the music department, the Study Abroad Office, and a medical company selling special plastic surgery sutures (random).  Although each place was fun, it lacked something that I craved. I wasn't sure what it was.  My academic interests were all over the place too.   Upon graduation, my degree was in Journalism and Public Relations, only after shifting from Biology/Pre-Med to Business to Undecided to Graphic design. 

My real interest in opening a restaurant sparked when I became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity.  One of our fundraisers for a work trip to Thailand was a 'Thai Night" event.  People would pay $10 to have dinner and a Thai Fashion & Culture show.  It was a big hit and I put myself in charge to cooking Thai food for over 100 people with a crew of college kids.  The whole process, from planning to shopping to cooking to serving, was all so maddening, chaotic and exhausting.  I LOVED IT!   The feeling I had at the end of that night, I wanted to replicate all the times.  I figured a restaurant would do that for me. 

The idea of opening a restaurant stayed with me even after I got my first REAL job upon graduating from UNC-CH.  I moved back to Lexington with my sister and her husband and got a job working for Lexington Habitat for Humanity.  The marketing job I had was a good starting point, but I still felt that the 9-5 office job, just wasn't for me.  I quit my job a little after a year there and went to India for a month for a tsunami relief Habitat building project.  While there, I feel like I found my true self...along with finding a husband (another volunteer)!

Mike and I having a 'quick meal' in India

Upon returning, I had no job, no money, no place of my own to live---but I did have a big dream.  The restaurant!  I wasn't sure where it would be or how it would happen, but I knew I had to take action to get there.   

We found a place we liked in a shopping center near UK and downtown. And so the dream began coming together.  Building Thai Orchid Cafe from scratch is hands down one of the hardest, most difficult challenges of my life, but we did it!    My parents were the foundation of the whole project, and I was a sponge soaking up everything they knew about the business.  And here we are today, still working hard together to make the restaurant a success.  Four years feels so long, yet like no time at all.  Happy Birthday, TOC!

Raisin' the Roof, kinda!

Last Saturday (Aug 7), Mike and I spent our day volunteering with Lexington Habitat for Humanity building on one of their many of house projects.

Originally we were going to volunteer with our friend, Dennis Pike, who helps sponsor a house every other year, but building was canceled for the weekend due to drywall delays.  So we headed over to another house being partially sponsored by the Pat Smith HFH Endowment Fund.  This fund was created in memory of our very dear friend, Pat Smith, who passed away in a plane crash in 2006.  So we try to help out with as many projects as we can that involves the Endowment Fund.

This house on Polk Lane was in my favorite stage of construction, FRAMING!  I love the framing phase because you can really see your progress and plus, you get to hammer a lot of nails.  You literally are helping to construct walls and helping to put them in place.   When you finish one section, you can look at your work and know that a family will be using that space and living within those walls in a few short months.  That's a good feeling.

On this build, I met some great people, all around my age, from the group LYPA (Lexington Young Professionals Association).  It was fun to spend time with some young community leaders that were in a similar stage of life as me.  Being fairly isolated in my job, I don't get out much to meet people my own age.  So it's nice to know that they're out there!

Most of the morning, I worked on building some interior walls and getting them installed in the house.  After lunch, I hopped onto the top of the first floor..the "roof."  It wasn't really the roof but it was the top of the project, so it felt like the roof.  I am always really nervous going up on open beams, but once I was up there, it was glorious!  We worked on laying, gluing and nailing the sheeting down which will be the floor of the second level.  I got to chat with a former co-worker, Nate, the house leader, a new construction employee, Jon and one of the committee chairs from LYPA, Allyson. Fun times on the 'roof'!

The day turned out to be so amazing.  Even in the middle of this sweltering summer, we picked the perfect day to build. It was 86 degs., the sky was bright blue, there was a slight breeze, and the company was unmatched.

 ME, Nate, and Jon on the "roof" -- Notice that I am safely sitting

If you ever have a free Saturday, volunteering with Habitat is a great way to get your hands dirty, build alongside the future homeowner of the house and really see what a difference you can do in your corner of the world.  I could go on and on about how much I love Habitat, but that will be left for another entry.

Lame Duck Tri Recap! July 31, 2010

So I did it!  I finished the hardest race of any kind that I have ever participated in.  I ran across the finish line in quite a bit of pain, but with a smile on my face.  Mostly because I was happy to finally be done.

Overall, it was an incredible experience.  Here's a recap of my race.  (Be warned, this will be a lengthy entry--grab some coffee if you must)

I woke up at 5 am Saturday morning after only sleeping about 4.5 hours.  I don't have the luxury of going to bed early since I get home from work on a Friday night around 11 pm.  But I felt wide awake and anxious to get going nonetheless.  I ate breakfast (two pieces of toast with butter and sugar), finished packing my bags, and pumped air into my bike tires.  By 5:45, we were heading out to pick up my friend, Angie, who's a super mom of 2 cute little girls.   She's also my triathlon hero for doing these races while being a super mom at the same time.  

By about 7 am, we arrive at Mallard Point neighborhood on the north side of Georgetown.  I was excited to see all the other racers and the transition area buzzing with people.  

I set up my area, only to be hugged from behind by one of my most favorite people, Mrs. Cathie Hoehner...the Mrs. Hoehner, 8th grade teacher that inspired my life and inspired the title of this blog.  I hadn't seen her in years and what an amazing place to reunite!  This was going to be her first triathlon ever!  And she had only started running in 5K's last year.  Didn't I say she was an incredible lady!?

Once we set up our transition areas, we started to get in line to ride over to the race start on a pontoon.  It was a nice preview of the lake swim course that I had never seen before.  I was trying to plan the shortest route possible with Angie as we rode to the other side of the lake.  

Pre-Race smiles in the Transition Area

RACE RECAP

The Lake Swim (0.54 miles = 950 yds) 

Time: 21:54 min   

Like I said before, I feel like I am a fairly strong swimmer and that the swim is my best leg of the tri.  This is only measured by the fact that my swim times are closer to average than my bike and run times which are much much slower than average.  I had swum in lakes before and felt like my pool swimming skills would easily translate to the lake.  Oh I was so wrong!   

The course is a wide-angled 'L' shape so there really was only one 'turn.'  Once I heard the shotgun start (with a real shotgun! So Kentucky) I started my freestyle stroke and got into a smooth rhythm.  After swimming a while, I popped my head up only to see a boat in front of me...a boat parked on the shore.  I had been swimming completely sideways.  I could see the crowd of people in the distance going in the opposite direction I was going...eeeek!

So I caught my eye on the giant yellow inflatable duck (used for spotting) and headed straight for it.  After a few more strokes,  I popped my head up again, only to see the same boat again! What is happening! EEEk!  I majorly underestimated how much work it would be to pop my head up to spot where I was going in the lake.  The water itself was green and even with buoys and the giant duck, I spent a LOT of energy just making sure I was swimming towards the finish.

Finally, I figured out a new plan.  I started to swim breaststroke (my slowest stroke), so that I could breath and spot at the same time and not waste any more energy swimming sideways.  I passed a few people and felt pretty good once I neared the end of the swim. 

I was somewhat delirious as volunteers pulled me out of the water.   My pride was shot for swimming a zig-zag instead of an 'L', but I had bigger things to worry about now....the bike!

Emerging from the lake!

T1

2:22 min  (a lengthy transition as I took some time to rest because I knew I would need it to survive the hilly bike course)   

Bike (9.4 miles--about 2 miles of the course are flat)

48:31 min     

There is a massive hill that starts your bike course and naturally, you're starting at the bottom of the valley going up.  There are a lot of blind curves, fast turns, and scary downhills on this course, so my strategy for this leg of the race was to survive and to not crash.  I kept thinking that if I get hurt and don't make it to work later that day, my mother would certainly kill me if the race didn't.  And that would be scarier than any bike crash. 

I had practiced the bike course once before so I knew what horrors were ahead. Having this knowledge was so key for my mental state because I knew if this was the first time I met these hills, I would have just laid down and given up.  But I had conquered them before, so I knew I could do it again.   There were a LOT of walkers on these hills.  I passed a few people walking, but I think there may have been a few walkers that passed me too.  Hmmm, that's not good.  

I felt pretty good through most of the bike, but as I was going down the last hill into Transition 2, I felt like I had completely run out of gas.  I knew the last leg wasn't going to be pretty and there would be no way I would finish in the time I had hoped.

Finishing the bike and heading into T2

T2

1:41 min (pretty slow considering all I had to do what change from helmet to running hat and throw on my number)

Run (2.6 miles) 

35:33 min       

As I walked out of the transition area, I could see a few runners in the distance at the top of the hill I was about to climb.  My legs were completely shot after all those climbs on the bike.  They felt like jello and I had no energy to muster even a slow jog.  So I speed-walked to the best of my ability to climb the first hill.  

Part of the run course over lapped the bike course so I was familiar with part of the terrain.  There was another section, though, that I hadn't seen that was so insanely hilly.  Oh my gravy!  I tried to jog as much as I could, but I could feel my cardio and my muscles just weren't prepared for this venture.  So I just speed-walked up hills and jogged down hills.   I got passed by so many people :(  Even a gentleman who couldn't have been younger than 65.  I told myself that he must have been on a relay---he had fresh legs. At least that's what I told myself.  

The most crushing point of the run was towards the end, when I had to weave through the crowds of people who were leaving and headed back to their cars!  The racers looked so refreshed and ready to go home and here I was feeling close to death and I still wasn't done!  But that also meant that I was nearing the finish line and THAT was a glorious feeling.  

The last stretch was downhill and there were a few people milling around who cheered for me at the end.  One of them being my wonderful husband, Mike, who cheered me on at each transition and any time I passed the spectators.  I'm glad he was there to make sure I was ok :)   

Home stretch!  Me blocking the car in the road. Nice.

I looked at the time when I crossed the finish line -- 1:55.  What?!?!  I had been in the second swim wave so I could subtract 5 minutes.  1:50 was the time I had predicted for myself if all had gone as planned.  So to finish in that time after all that I felt went wrong.  I didn't feel so shabby after all.  

Finish time

1:50:02   

Place Overall 

161 of 171 people who competed

I don't feel badly at all about being near the last to finish.  I was just proud that I finished the whole race.  Being new to the sport and working 12 hour days, I placed right where I should, I think.  It was a fun day and I'm glad I got to share it with my very dear friends, Angie and Mrs Hoehner (who only finished 3 minutes after me by the way-- you go girl!)  

The next race is the Tri for Sight over Labor Day weekend.  Let the training begin!

 

Angie and I at the end!  We did it!

The cutest little lady --Audrey cheering on Mommy(Angie)!

Mrs. Hoehner and I -She's a rockstar!