Tri the Swamp Rabbit

Tri the Swamp Rabbit...my main goal for this race was to enjoy it and NOT have a panic attack during the swim.  The past couple of weeks have not been good for me mentally with my swimming, again this is the hardest sport for me to wrap my mind around.  It's amazing what the mind can do.  I was so disappointed in myself because my goal for this year was to do Lake Logan Half Ironman in August, but after struggling with my mind and open water swimming I decided that that was just too much for me right now.  So once I got over that and got myself back on track, Tri the Swamp Rabbit was next on my race list.

Race morning came early as always.  We had a lot of Team HUB members racing which is always fun.  There was cloud coverage early that morning which made it feel pretty good out.  Got my transition set up and then had well over an hour to chat and get nervous.  I was able to jump in the pool for a few laps, whew...yay!  I think I may be able to swim today:)  Let's get this race started!!

Right before the national anthem - this is when the butterflies really start fluttering!

Coach Rose on deck.
This pic cracks me up with the photobomber.

This pool swim was utter chaos...if you are a good swimmer I can only imagine how aggravating this had to be BUT for me it helped to calm my nerves!!  After standing on the side for a while watching I knew no matter what happened I would fit right in...LOL!  It was finally time for me to jump in & off I go...I made it to the ladder without a panic attack - my race was complete before it even really started:)

WooHoo!  Swim #5 complete!!

Now off on the bike...I guess I used way too much energy celebrating my no panic attack because this was not a great bike for me.  I felt so tired when I got on the bike, my legs did not want to move at first.  It was a great course, few rollers, couple of hills and some flat sections where I should have been able to really push it, but that just was not happening today.  Afterwards, I realized maybe it is time to get Trey to finish up my tri bike ( I can't believe I just said that).

That girl in the white sunglasses was right on my tail the whole ride...Joanna is rocking the bike!!

I survived the bike...and now on to the last part of the tri - the RUN!!  I have felt great on all my training runs so I was excited about seeing how I would hold up.  I could not get my heart rate down when I started out, I felt like I was running about a 9:30 pace but when I looked at my Garmin I was running an 8:20!  With my heart still pounding I hit 1 mile - 8:16 pace.  I told myself all you got is 2.1 miles, push through it - who cares if your heart is pounding, its suppose to be!  On all of the other races the course has been short so I was hoping that was going to be the case today, but the turn around was at 1.5 miles...ugh!  I'm not the smartest girl on the trail but I am smart enough to realize when they said it was out and back, that pretty much means this is gonna be a true 3.1 miles!  There were 2 not so fun hills on the way back in to Furman that I have purposely avoided on some training runs.  I was kicking myself for not doing them now...I passed a man going up one hill and he said go girl, I'm going to just follow you!  I knew the Finish Line was near so I put my head down and gave it all I had - 25:14!!!

Ended up 2nd in my age group!!  The girl that got first beat me by 11 minutes!  I'm good with that because I know there is no way I could have caught her:)

Post race festivities make it worth all the pain!  I'm a lucky girl to have found such a supportive Team and have so many supportive friends & of course my biggest fan of all, Trey Whitley:)

Next up:  Lake Logan Half Ironman 2 person relay (56 mile bike/13.1 mile run)  Thanks Jen Arends for doing the swim for me!  I will get there someday, but until then...I'm just going to keep tri(ing).