Last Tri of my 2016 Season - Greenville Sprint Tri

I DID IT!!!  My first triathlon season is in the books, and what a physical & mental roller coaster ride it has been!!  Greenville Sprint Tri was this past weekend and my last tri of the season.  I was tired, nervous, edgy and truly just didn't really want to do this last triathlon.  I had just had a great race at Lake Logan the weekend before and thought that was the perfect way to end my first triathlon season.  But HUB was the sponsor for the race, many teammates were racing, this would be my 5th race in the South Carolina Series - seriously, how could I not race??  My workouts for this week were pretty light, still trying to recover from Logan but still needed to be ready for Sunday's race.  I had an awful swim on Wednesday which totally wigged me out.  I was so frustrated when I left, why did I sign up for this race, I could have ended this season being a superstar and just be done with this craziness!!!  Ugh!

Trey had a business trip in Tallahassee so I tagged along with him, took a day off of exercise and tried to refocus and tell myself all I had to do was swim one last 400m and if I didn't want to, well I really never had to swim again - ha!ha! Sometimes you really just need a break...Trey and I went to the pool on Friday night (wow - haven't our Friday nights changed??) and I was able to swim my 400 with little to no problem at all - yay!  Then I swam it again...okay - I can do this!!  It started storming so we were kicked out of the pool, but I didn't care - I CAN still swim 400m.

My main focus for this race was reaching that blue blow up thing that says FINISH!!  I needed this race for the points in the series and of course, I really wanted to end my season on a positive swimming note!  Race morning came early as always...this was the first triathlon that Trey and I have raced together so I really had to have myself together for this one because he would not be poolside to cheer me on and on standby for any panic issues.  My great friend Kelly T was going to be there though so I knew I was in good hands, as long as she could stay focused enough to watch me...LOL!

Practice Swim

REAL Friend...
Can you believe this??? Joanna was doing the bike portion of Team Kelly relay, but she warmed up with me.
Who swims when they don't have to...LOL!

I have no explanation of why this swim went great - maybe, just maybe all the hours I have struggled with this and put in the pool is finally paying off.  Maybe, it was knowing it was my last race - who knows?  Who cares?  All I know is that I like it:)  This swim was in the deep pool so everyone was diving in, everyone but me, that is...I did my granny slide in and off I go!!  I had practiced in this pool for a couple of weeks prior to this race so I knew the pool and knew where the 25m mark was, before I knew it I had made it to the other end (50m) and then saw the 25m mark on the bottom and BAM made it to 100m....I thought to myself, I am actually enjoying this swim - what is going on, I have never enjoyed swimming...another 100m done (halfway!!)  I stayed focus on my swimming, I did not try to push it, I didn't want to change a thing...oh my!  There's the ladder and I actually enjoyed that.  I came out of the water and of course let everyone know that that was my best swim EVER!!  I just ended my 2016 triathlon season with a smile on my face.

I ran to transition still smiling!! Did that really just happen?  Then of course I reminded myself I do still have to ride the bike and run.  I ran out of transition and saw another friend and told her how great I felt during that swim, it is really ridiculous how giddy I was about that - ha!  So, onto the bike I go for the 15 mile bike (actually 14.4).   I was reminded once again on the bike that I am definitely an endurance girl, I couldn't find a groove at all on the bike, but I was fine with it.  All I had to do was cover the distance!

And I'm off!

Now time to run!  This is not an easy run...starts out through the parking lot then UP a trail, make a hilly block of a neighborhood in the blaring sun and back down the trail-that's loop #1...we got to do this twice.  I do love a two loop or an out/back run in a triathlon because you get to see teammates and other athletes that you know and get that extra "boost" to make it to the Finish Line.  I didn't push this run, I didn't have to...in my mind I was already a winner!  I had a good run on this course and made my way to the Finish Line with all the cheers from Team HUB!!  It is always an awesome feeling finishing a race and hearing your name called out!

One of my biggest fans that day...thanks for your cheers and the pics!

Kelly T is AWESOME!!

We hung out for the awards which Team HUB pretty much dominated at this race!!  And a huge shout out to Trey for placing 3rd in his age group...this was his first pool swim triathlon since 2003 - he's not a huge fan of pool swim triathlons or the shorter distance, but he ROCKED it anyway.

3rd place in his age group!

We had a post race team gathering at Shortfields since this was the last race for alot of us!

Some of Team HUB!! 

This has been a great first year and I am already thinking about what races I want to do in 2017.  I'm super proud of myself for not giving up & facing my fear of swimming and not letting it keep me from triathlon any longer!  I'm blessed with awesome friends and teammates.  I have a GREAT coach that has put up with me these last several months, she is also known as the "ghost", she seriously appears out of nowhere, I respect her and her knowledge of the sport, she pushed me to do what I wasn't sure I could do...she pretty much scares me...LOL!  It's been awesome - Coach Rose:)

Next Up:  Who knows?