Another Tri In The Books

On Sunday 8/26, I completed my fourth Triathlon!!! I finished the Accenture Chicago Triathlon in 3 hours 37 minutes and 10 seconds. The race was a 1500 meter swim (approx 1 mile) in Lake Michigan, then a 40k (approx 26 miles) on Lake Shore Drive, and finally a 10k (approx 6 miles) run along the lakefront. Here are some pictures of me!

Just enjoying a little swim!

Just getting out of the water to go and hop on my bike!!!

Rounding the last corner before the finish line- almost done!!!

Below is the video that was shot while I crossed the finish line. It lasts about 30 seconds and you should start to see me about 15 seconds into it. It's hard to tell that it's me, but I am the third person to cross the line in the video clip- the person that crossed right after me raised her arms up in the air.

Steve and I after the race- he's so proud of me!

Finishing Second to Last in Second Place?!?!?!?

Yep- that's me! I decided on Friday afternoon that I was going to do a 10k "fun" run down in Momence, IL as part of the Gladiolus Festival. I'm supposed to be training for my triathlon next weekend and the last part of it is a 10k run so theoretically I should be able to do just a 10k without any problems right???

Well, I haven't been training as much as I should- this whole falling in love and getting married thing has definitely distracted me from my workouts this year :) So, the run wasn't nearly as fun as it should have been- although I am really beginning to question the thought that running can be fun because I really do hate it!

Anyways, me and about 150 of my closest friends start out on our various length runs (you had the choice of a 5k walk, 5k run, or 10k run) on Saturday morning at 8am. The first mile went really good, I had a nice 10 minute mile pace going and was feeling good. Then came the first water station... I have tried and I cannot continue running and drink liquid- it doesn't work for me. I slowed to a fast walk and drank my dixie cup of water and began running again. My legs decided to disagree and we fought over walking vs. running for the next 4 miles. I was tempted to turn at the 5k turnaround point, but I convinced my legs to keep going. I did manage to run the last mile of the race but it took quite a bit of convincing on my part- plus I haven't mentioned that there was only one person behind me. Yep- I was second to last of the 35 people who ran the 10k and I did not want to be last so I kept an eye on the 60+ year old lady that was behind me.

So, I finally finished the race 1:17:34- 34th out of 35 10k runners. I cooled down for a few minutes and hopped in my car to head home and shower. There was an awards ceremony, but I opted not to hang around for it- 34th place, like I'd really get any awards!

I got home from work yesterday and there was an envelope with my name on it from the Momence Lions Club (they organized the run). I opened it to find a 4x6 plaque saying that I got second place in my age group (females 20-29). Who would have thought! Come to find out there was only myself and another girl that were in that age group! Yay for me!!!