A Wedding and a Race!

What’s better than going to a wedding and then watching friends race? Going to a wedding and then getting to race with friends!

Friday night my good friends Mark and Shelly made it official!

Their wedding was absolutely beautiful. And all the lovely ladies of Dynamo Masters Swimming Lane 8 were there to celebrate!

The party continued Saturday morning when my buddy Ryan and I drove to Knoxville for Sunday’s Rev3 triathlon.

I raced the HalfRev – a 1.2 mile swim in the chilly Tennessee River, 56 mile ride through the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, and 13.1 mile run past the University of Tennessee (and through what felt like the world’s hilliest subdivision) – it was quite the race!

This was my first tri of 2011, but I was fairly relaxed. I had confidence in my past few months of training and knew I was due for a good race. During the race I stayed focused, with only momentary lapses to admire the scenery (which was beautiful!)

Coolest part of the race – an out-and-back run course meant I got to see all my Dynamo teammates and friends during the race. And yes, seeing Coach Diablo leading the men’s field gave me a little push through the hilly section. Plus the fans on the course were awesome. My photog buddy Shanks even caught me smiling:

Un-coolest part of the race  – Heading up to the podium to claim my award only to find out I’d been DISQUALIFIED! Haha, talk about embarassing!

Apparently the race officials took one look at my swim time and just couldn’t fathom a girl beating all the guys, so they assumed I’d cut the swim course short! I guess they’ve never heard of Chrissie Wellington? Because her splits frequently put the PRO men to shame!

Luckily I am not one to be modest, and after rattling off all of my swimming accolades back to my 8th  place finish in the 50 meter backstroke at the 1994 Montana State Meet, I convinced the race officials it was possible I out-swam all the men without cutting the course.

Which led to the Second Coolest Part of the Race  – when Coach Diablo told the officials I was, in fact, a faster swimmer than him, and it was, in fact, possible that I swam 1 minute faster than him. It wasn’t a photo finish win in Hawaii, but I’ll take it!

And the Third Coolest Part of the Race  came in the form of the reversal of my disqualification and a personal apology from the good people of Rev3. A class act for sure.

So my 2011 triathlon season started with a solid performance, a bit of drama, and lots of room for improvement. I can’t wait to see what happens next!