Danskin Denver race report

Well, the race this weekend was hilarious.

On Thursday, I taught my mother how to shift her bicycle. She screamed every time it flipped into the granny gear and her legs turned over as fast as they could. So I took the bike in for some rear derailleur adjustments, then called it a day. Her mantra was "keep moving forward, and put it in "overdrive" on the hills" --- how crazy that her bike actually has a gear in the back called Overdrive!!

Expo was a blast--- my mom and sister loved Sally Edwards and were going around yelling "you go girlfriend!" all day long. Mom even bought a Danskin sweatshirt, Crocs, and shoved her bag full of swag....totally into it! But you should have heard the moaning and groaning about the 4am wakeup.

I had packed everything up the night before, and when the clock turned to 4am, I proceeded to beat on everyone's door and yell "triathlon time!!!" Nobody was excited, and we only managed to get to the parking lot 15 minutes after transition opened. (this in itself is still impressive, trust me)

It started with a 1.5 mile walk from the parking lot to the race site, UP a huge, never-ending hill that would eventually be the bike course. Talk about nightmare. We even witnessed a poor girl flip her bike going downhill....she couldn't feel her arms and I stayed with her until the paramedics showed up. Great start to the day...... I then showed my Mom how to rack her bike --- see bike here:

http://www.trekbikes.com/women/wsd_products/bikes/2008/bike_path/navigator30wsd

Since she is 5'1, she looks pretty silly pedaling totally upright with the saddle so low. :) She was sick with a horrible cold and couldn't stop coughing or blowing her nose. Her sports bra was stuffed with tissues and cough drops, but she was determined to do this bike ride. (I was secretly happy about this, even though the bike was to her detriment...she had a fever this morning and the Dr. says she now has bronchitis!!!......I just don't think I could handle doing a triathlon on a Trek Navigator!! I could not live those race pictures down. Ever)

Anyway, as the swimmer, I was in the 17th wave, starting a full hour after the first wave went off. They shortened the swim for fear of the Reservoir being too cold, which is total crap because it was a beautiful 65 degrees and felt like bathwater! Anyway, it was pretty windy, and over the course of the hour, the buoys started drifting closer and closer to shore! We were told it was a 400 yard swim, and the first elite swam it in 4:30, so I thought that that seemed plausible. However, with every 5-10 minutes, the course seemed shorter and shorter. I swam it in 3:38, and I swam faster than I've ever swam before, but it was nowhere near 400 yards!! 275 max, I think?? Anyway, it was INSANE. I couldn't catch a breath and just hacked my way through transition and for the rest of the day. I blame it on the air. Behold scary ear swim photo. I look like a turd:

My mom, who has only done 3 bike rides this year (two 8-milers and a 14-miler, all of them 2 weeks ago), ran that little bike out of transition and took off on a hilly, technical 10-mile bike course. I was so worried for her, you have no idea.....partly because I know what I'm like when I'm out on course, but mostly because she was on this rinky dink upright bicycle amidst fancy bikes and lots and lots of traffic. I sat at the bottom of the last big hill for almost an hour for her to return, flipping out every time I saw the support vehicle return. At any rate, I FINALLY saw her and was so excited-- I felt like we won the race! I ran up the hill as she biked it, cheering her on and watching her spin in her granny gear with a big ol' smile on her face.

She jumped off the bike and then RAN into transition. She later said she thought she was going to fall over because her legs were so heavy, but she was running on adrenaline and wanted our team to do well. I was so, so happy. Isn't she cute?!

I was psyched and totally not worried about my sister-- the pilot -- who was running the 5K. She was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt -- the only person with her legs and arms covered in the entire race. She feels "fat" and "uncomfortable" in shorts. INSANE!! I was a little angry with her for the wardrobe, but whatever. Anyway, she took off with my Garmin and I guess she was miserable the entire time. I later learned that she had had nothing to drink that morning, had eaten a piece of pizza and a cookie for breakfast, and that she started cramping very early on in the race. Still, she managed to knock out a 35-minute 5K and came into the finish strong--- I threw a pink lei at her, but she was so distracted that she wouldn't even acknowledge me!!! (I lei'd her afterwards to officially do it Diva-style, since she was at Pacific Coast with us last year)

Anyway, I put my mom in the finisher's chute with her, and they crossed the finish line holding hands and the announcer said, "that's the relay team coming in, Captain Bob's Girls!" I ran over to my Dad and he was crying he was so proud. My mom has lost 22 lbs since April and is looking and feeling better than she ever has in her entire life. He was so impressed with her doing this-- it made me smile to see him so proud and happy. I didn't want to be in the finish line photo, because I only contributed 3 minutes to the race and I've already been across it enough times.
I wanted the first timers to feel that finish line glory. I think they loved it.

So, that was the race. It was nerve-wracking for me because I hadn't been there to make sure they were adequately trained, but somehow we miraculously survived and my Mom and sister are feeling very proud of themselves!!!

I guess next year my mom is entertaining the idea of doing the whole thing. I'm psyched! But now I need to find her a group like the Divas and keep her healthy and active....and if I can get my sisters to follow suit, we'll be a triathlon crazy family. ;) Dad's already signing up for the Bolder Boulder 10K next May.

So, that's my race report! We were 8th out of 9 family relay teams, and our time put us 1100th out of 1600 overall. So it could have been worse! But this was an instant where I just felt happy that we finished.....