I’m pretty pumped about how the race went this weekend!  Not only am I happy with my race, but – even better – 3 of my 4 guys nailed their performances! (The fourth guy will rock it in a few weeks when he actually gets a chance to warm-up before the gun!)  Salmon and I were shooting for the same pace, so we knew it was going to be a bit of a showdown.  At the “go” the front group took off.  For the love!  They always go out so fast!  Wait a minute what’s Andy doing up there?!  Is that Jim??  Oh, these guys are dead meat after this thing! Luckily they checked themselves before they wrecked themselves and eased up.  By the first mile, Andy was a foot in front of me, and I spent the next 12.1 miles staring at his back.  There was very little said (I am not a verbal person when it comes to running, especially if it’s a race), but Salmon kindly pointed out all of the holes and sand.  As we came up the last hill, with a half mile to go, I tried to cheer him through the final push, but I think it came out more like an unintelligible grunt.  It worked, though!  He dropped the hammer and passed one more guy.  Nice work, Salmon!  But watch out – I’m coming for ya!  

Jim ended up with a solid PR, averaging just under the goal pace, and Kevin nailed his race, leaving it all out on the course.  You guys make me so proud!!

On top of that, QT2 took 2nd, 4th (my husband, thank you very much!), 5th, 9th, and 11th, taking first in the open men’s team division, and our older fellas (I really think 40 is too young to be considered “masters”) brought home the silver in the master’s team division.  Good work!

While this was not quite a PR (only about 30 seconds off) for me, it was a great race!  I’ve been really pushing the bike and swim, and seen some significant improvements not only from this time last year, but from pre-Kona (and post-LP) last season.  I’m really pumped, and looking forward to putting the training to the test!  Up next is California 70.3 (3/27), and then IM Utah (5/1)…  It’s almost tri season!!