What a weekend...

SJV and I finished our first race of the weekend -- Bigfoot -- and had a great time, notwithstanding some less than stellar conditions. I got top 10 in my age group (yay!) and SJV got top 50 overall, and placed 13 in his age group! Rock OUT! We were both really excited about our times -- SJV's is a PR -- under significantly difficult conditions (I almost blew off of my bike three times), and mine is about 3 minutes from a PR on a much more difficult course and after having some ... well ... difficulties the day before.

So I'll give you a snippit of Saturday, with a promise to expand and add photos later. SJV and I stayed at a gorgeous little Inn that's about 1/4 mile from the race. It was SJV's idea, and it was a great one -- we arrived on Friday, had dinner overlooking the lake, and I finally exhaled. I'd had a really stressful week, and was sooooo excited to have the weekend to relax, and play, and just enjoy time out of the city. We retired pretty early (we're early birds) and although I thought the bed was pretty ... soft I didn't think too much of it. I swapped around for some comfy/comfier pillows (drat that I didn't bring mine -- a note for next time), and just nodded off. I woke up throughout the night, sortof tossing and turning, and my back (between my shoulder blades) was sore. I finally got rid of the pillows altogether, and fell asleep.

I woke up at 7:00, unable to move. At all. I mean -- AT ALL. Every breath, my neck, shoulders, all the way down my back was just screaming. I whined (it was a whine - I'm not proud of it, but it was) to SJV, who asked me what was wrong. I told him that it was a back spasm -- a bad one like I used to get when I was really stressed out -- and he went, got a bunch of hot towels, and put those on my back. But not before he took a photo of me in agony (I mean, you have to laugh at what life sends your way, right?). :) I'll post that one when SJV downloads it. It is funny -- I have to admit that.

So, there I was -- immobilized on a gorgeous day, the day before my A Race -- my First Race of My Second Tri Season. Definitely not what I had planned for our fantastic weekend away. Anyhoo -- I womaned up and finally sat up (holy cripes that hurts -- you know what I mean if you've had one of these) and tried to loosen my shoulders and neck, which SJV said felt like a rock. (True.) But we had a plan to do a quick brick, and I knew that would probably get the tension out and settle me down. So I decided to try to do it, and to just do 10/10 rather than 15/15. We went down to the car, and set up a little area for transition, and off I went on the bike. I was really nervous -- my stomach was all knotted up, my back was killing me, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to race at all (I couldn't really move my head all that well, although I did do a test from side to side to ensure that I could check for cars, etc. on the bike, which I could -- safety first, you know?). But I did my 10/10 - almost needing to use the inhaler it was so humid and sunny and gorgeous, and SJV did a fast 15/15, looking super strong the whole way.

Off we went for the rest of our day, during which we got some Thermacare wraps that I used to try to keep my neck and back muscles warmed up. It worked pretty well, actually! That said, by Saturday night I was hopping mad that I had had to deal with this pain all day long. I had hoped (really, really hoped) that it would go away quickly, and that my body would feel good for race day. That wasn't to be the case, though.

There's lots more that I'll update about Saturday once I get SJV's photos -- including a gorgeous sunset on Saturday night, and how much fun we had just bopping around (even though I couldn't really turn my head...), and the fun couple (Janet and Randy) that we met, who challenged my way of looking at triathlon altogether. Of course, I'll post my full race report, and hope that the photos that SJV and I took of the wind later on in the day can show you just how windy it was. Unbelievable.

And I'll also update this week about the things I thought about during the race, and how I'm going to try to use those things (doubts and confidences) in my training before my half iron.

But, for now, I need to go get ready for work, and continue to apply heat to this neck of mine (yes, it still hurts). Just wanted to let you all know that we finished, that we did really well, and that we had a great time.

Race on,
Belly