Race Report: Texas Star Sprint

(sorry, no pictures at this point. I’ll try to get some up if they become available online)

Pre-Race:
This race was a pretty small race, only 110 participants. Therefore parking and transition spots were not an issue. We arrived shortly after just before 6:30am, conveniently biked from parking to the race cite (about half a mile), and had plenty of time to set up our spots before transition closed. Thankfully, I’m getting better at timing my arrival. Instead of getting to the race right as transition opens, I get there with enough time to set up, but not enough time to wonder if I can grab breakfast at iHop and be back in time. Shortly after we got set up, the call was made to line up for the swim.

Swim:
It was a 300 yard pool swim. Six lanes, 50 yards in each lane. Surprisingly, the logistic set up worked well. The only issue had to do with individuals misplacing themselves in the timing line. The goal was to have people enter the pool based on their swim finish time so the faster people would go first. That went well until the 8 minute section and not everyone could swim well. We got stuck behind traffic and got out of the pool just under 10 minutes.

Bike:
The bike course was 4 loops of 3.5 miles, flat the entire way. JC enjoyed the ride, biking is easily her favorite of the three. She paced us and even with a quick pit stop for me and chasing back up to her, we finished in a hair under an hour. The nicest part, was that it was a wide road (they were closed) and since we were part of the last group out on the course we could bike next to each other and not get penalized.

Run:
We racked our bikes (I had some racking issues due to rookies taking up the entire rack due to racking their bikes by the handle bars), and headed out on the 3 mile run course. At this point we were quite literally the last people on the course. Our slow swim times combined with our slow bike times had left the main field way ahead of us. On top of it, JC had her foot checked out last week because it was bothering her so we ended up walking almost the entire 3 miles. It’s the first time that I ‘ran’ a 5K at a 15 min pace. JC was a little upset at our slowness, but its all about having fun. Sure, time goals can be good, but we went in this no expectations other than finishing. I for one, (due to my hatred of running anyway) enjoyed our Sunday morning stroll.

Post-Race:
Together we finished 103 and 104 out of 110 participants. Obviously, this is new for me. But I really enjoyed it. It was nice to not race the clock but follow JC as she worked her way through a race. It sucked that she couldn’t run more, but she’s got another doctor’s appointment about it so hopefully she’ll be ready for our next race. …Yes, our NEXT race!

After the race we met up with a friend of hers that lives in the Houston area. As we chatted over a much deserved breakfast at the Egg and I, we discussed triathlons in general and it turns out that JC’s friend is interested in trying them out. It didn’t take long for me to convince the two of them that we should do a race together in August or September. Last night JC’s friend called and we got the rest of our season hammered out. Due to fitness levels, the three of us will be participating in another all female race from TriGirl, as a sprint relay. I’ll swim, JC will bike and her friend (a former XC runner) will run. Then, the three of us will race in a sprint in October individually as they both think they’ll be ready by then (I agree).

So, I’m half way done with my season, three sprints down, three to go and two of them will be with friends! I’m so excited to have training and racing buddies, even if they are new to the sport. Although JC has expressed interest in actually racing me sometime, she also thinks that will have to be a few seasons down the road. Until then I’ll enjoy pushing her to new limits!

I’m sorry no pictures are up. If by chance the pictures from the race site are free (sometimes that's the case with small ones) I’ll post those when I can.

Happy Training!