3 Times to the Podium This Year
First
In April my friend, Karen, said “I ran 4 miles on my treadmill this morning. I can run a 10 minute mile.” We decided to sign up together for our first fun run, the Maple Valley Days’ Bear Run. We trained by running together on Saturday mornings about 5 or 6 times and went to Toby’s Tuesday night runs. This was the first time Karen had run outside or with a training group. From our first run together I could tell she was either faster than a 10 minute mile or I was slower than I used to be. At the race, Karen (59 years old) came in about 45 seconds after the first place gal (a 50 year old in our group). I was 3rd about 4 minutes behind Karen. We both got ribbons!
Second
My Cascades Edge time was my worst triathlon time ever (oh, not quite true – my first tri, the Reebok in Sept ’04 was much slower but there were 4 hilly miles in that one and I had an old yard sale mountain bike). I had been in Deep Lake the week before and it wasn’t so bad but on June 17th I think there was a thin layer of ice. The swim is my strongest part but half way into it I was breathing on every other stroke and thinking “This is not like the Danskin where I swim over and around a lot of old ladies in front of me. I hope I make it.” I borrowed a team bike and it was fun to use. I didn’t fall. It was raining that day. On the muddy path around the lake I did put one foot in front of the other but there wasn’t much forward movement. I always try to put out a good effort for the last 100 yards or so. After that I took care of my bloody feet. (I didn’t wear socks to save a second or two in transition. Once someone told me socks were a waste of transition time.) When you’re in the 50 – 54 age group, there is a lot less competition. I was able to walk away with a 3rd place medal for my age group even though there was a 19 minutes gap between me and #2. Fortunately, they don’t worry about gaps like that when they give out that coveted hardware.
Third
There was a ¾ mile race across a lake at the church family camp last weekend. I used my wet suit even though no one else did. I hoped it would intimidate some folks. It says “Ironman”. There were about 30 people in the race. . The first place finisher was a gal, 30 years old, more or less, who had a swimming scholarship to Purdue University. Fortunately she hadn’t swum a stroke in the last year whereas I had swum about 200 miles in the last year.. She beat me by 2 minutes. She swam in a straight line. My husband told me I was way off course and could have saved a couple minutes if I had only swum in a straight line. Next time, I’m going to try to do it that way. I got a certificate for 2nd place and it was presented to me in front of maybe 500 people. A few people thought it was unusual that women came in first and second. Third place was a burly, young, tanned guy.
First
In April my friend, Karen, said “I ran 4 miles on my treadmill this morning. I can run a 10 minute mile.” We decided to sign up together for our first fun run, the Maple Valley Days’ Bear Run. We trained by running together on Saturday mornings about 5 or 6 times and went to Toby’s Tuesday night runs. This was the first time Karen had run outside or with a training group. From our first run together I could tell she was either faster than a 10 minute mile or I was slower than I used to be. At the race, Karen (59 years old) came in about 45 seconds after the first place gal (a 50 year old in our group). I was 3rd about 4 minutes behind Karen. We both got ribbons!
Second
My Cascades Edge time was my worst triathlon time ever (oh, not quite true – my first tri, the Reebok in Sept ’04 was much slower but there were 4 hilly miles in that one and I had an old yard sale mountain bike). I had been in Deep Lake the week before and it wasn’t so bad but on June 17th I think there was a thin layer of ice. The swim is my strongest part but half way into it I was breathing on every other stroke and thinking “This is not like the Danskin where I swim over and around a lot of old ladies in front of me. I hope I make it.” I borrowed a team bike and it was fun to use. I didn’t fall. It was raining that day. On the muddy path around the lake I did put one foot in front of the other but there wasn’t much forward movement. I always try to put out a good effort for the last 100 yards or so. After that I took care of my bloody feet. (I didn’t wear socks to save a second or two in transition. Once someone told me socks were a waste of transition time.) When you’re in the 50 – 54 age group, there is a lot less competition. I was able to walk away with a 3rd place medal for my age group even though there was a 19 minutes gap between me and #2. Fortunately, they don’t worry about gaps like that when they give out that coveted hardware.
Third
There was a ¾ mile race across a lake at the church family camp last weekend. I used my wet suit even though no one else did. I hoped it would intimidate some folks. It says “Ironman”. There were about 30 people in the race. . The first place finisher was a gal, 30 years old, more or less, who had a swimming scholarship to Purdue University. Fortunately she hadn’t swum a stroke in the last year whereas I had swum about 200 miles in the last year.. She beat me by 2 minutes. She swam in a straight line. My husband told me I was way off course and could have saved a couple minutes if I had only swum in a straight line. Next time, I’m going to try to do it that way. I got a certificate for 2nd place and it was presented to me in front of maybe 500 people. A few people thought it was unusual that women came in first and second. Third place was a burly, young, tanned guy.
Doris
1 comment:
yay mommy
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