{spudman 2011}

The Spudman has come and gone, and it was totally awesome. 

It's a triathlon held in Burley the last weekend in July every year. I have attended to cheer on friends many times and have always been inspired to do it one day. I knew that when I moved back to Burley and was in the situation (having babies and such) that I would train for it. 

I've always loved running, but I never knew how much I'd love road biking. It was by far my favorite part of the race. I practiced swimming in the river a few times before the big day, and it was alright. Next year I'll need to get used to putting my face in the mucky river water a little better:)

Three days before the Spudman I started feeling a little cold coming on. I had gone swimming that morning and thought it was something to do  with the water in my sinuses. Nope....full blown cold. I got on an antibiotic and tried to fend it off....but it came. I had a fever and was pretty weak for a couple of days. I prayed and prayed that I'd be able to do the Spudman. The day before I finally got my energy back! Hallelujah. Everything worked out perfectly! I still have the cold, and I could tell I was a little weaker than normal, but I pretty much felt good the whole race. It was a blessing.

Here I am the morning of the race after a pretty crappy nights sleep. I couldn't help but dream about drowning, bike wrecks, waking up an hour after it started....etc. :) I was nervous. 

I had my wetsuit half on and my ankle strap time clock thing on before I got there so I wouldn't forget it!

This is the picture of nerves my friends.
I drove to the golf course and went to my swim/bike transition to drop off my water bottles and make sure things were good to go. I then went to the swim start and met lots of girls there that were in my heat (heat 6, second to last), which started at 7:25.  It was so nice seeing familiar faces....Adele, Ingrid, Garianne, Crystal. I'll never forget when we had just minutes before our heat started. We were all looking at each other, laughing nervously and saying over and over, "why are we doing this? WHY are we doing this?" :) hehe.....we jumped in the river and just like that, the Spudman began!

The swim (1 mile): I immediately got kicked in the face, not too bad, but enough to bring me to reality :). I decided I should hang back and wait for some of the crowd to advance before I took off. It ended up being a better decision, I didn't get kicked again. I did have foggy goggles the whole swim though. I climbed out of the river 21 minutes later, and immediately saw Jared, his Mom, and my girls cheering me on. I loved it. I ran to my transition, got my bike and took off.

The bike (26 miles): I loved the beginning of the bike, there are people EVERYWHERE on the sides of the road cheering. I felt like a celebrity! :) I got up to a good pace and held it pretty much the whole ride. I LOVED the bike. It was so fun riding with people and seeing who you can pass, riding around people. It was just fun. There was a stretch where I was riding by myself for a minute when all of the sudden I could hear what sounded like a swarm of bees coming. Up to that point I had passed groups of 2 or 4, but never very many bikers riding together. The buzzing of bikes got closer and closer and finally I was surrounded by probably 50-75 bikers! I was kind of nervous, but I looked down at my speedometer and realized that I was going 26 miles an hour in that group! Riding in a big group like that pretty much killed the wind and made the whole group go faster. I kept up with them for quite a while, but they finally lost me. I also passed an ambulance loading a lady onto a stretcher after she wrecked....I was really worried about the bike beforehand, but never felt too nervous while riding. I pulled into the golf course after 1 hour 20 minutes on my bike and saw my mom in her big sunhat and heard my Dad yell, "go Abs!" I dropped my bike and took off running.

the run (6 miles): There is a big hill immediately on the run course. It's killer. My legs were still in bike-mode and wouldn't move. I had to run really slow up that hill and for the next 1/2 mile, but then I felt great. I was tired, but I could still run. It was basically just a loop out into the country on canal banks. The run seemed to go quickly and I loved that final stretch to the finish line. There are hundreds of people lining both sides, and the announcer says your name, where you're from....I spotted my family, parents, Jenny and her kids, which gave me the energy to sprint the last little bit. Loved it! The run took me 59 minutes. Jared snapped a picture of me about to cross the finish:

 They put the medal around my neck and I headed straight for the mist shower! My final time was 2:46. I didn't really have a time to beat, it being my first time, but I was happy.
My sweet little neighbor boys made the cutest little sign for me....

I loved it and was so proud of my friends who did it as well. It was such a fun experience and something I'll for sure do again! 

(for journaling purposes, I wanted to record this info to look back on:)
Things I did that I want to do again next time:

• tape gu to my bike for some quick energy, saved me.
• brought a towel to dry off with after the swim
• put my bike next to the one balloon in the sea of bikes at the transition. very convenient! Maybe bring a balloon next time.
• didn't have anything at the 2nd transition so I didn't have to worry about finding anything, just dropped my bike and ran. 

Things I wish I did:

• used a camelback on the bike/run
• use gu during the run instead of choking it down before the race, maybe even use 2 during the bike.
• use de-fogger for my goggles. couldn't see a thing during the entire swim.
• take lots of vitamins for the month before the spudman to avoid getting sick.
• practice going from biking to running...