Ice Blocks

The start of the race, Ocala Hits Triathlon, was delayed to wait for the sun to rise; not sure if they wanted the sun for the light it would provide or for the potential heat it would provide.  Waiting on the shore that morning, the air was 52 degrees and the water was 64, I noted that doing a triathlon in March may be too early in the season...even in Florida.  This was the first race of the season and the kick off for my official "Road to Augusta 70.3."  I was, as usual, nervous.  Super nervous in fact.  I always doubt myself when it comes to the swim. And even with a few open water swims for the season (at Lucky's Lake), I was still nervous about the 750 meter swim.  Most sprints are only 400 meters.

Pre-race nerves setting in. Trying not to freeze, cry, or quit.

Coach Tammy giving me a prep talk.  Still dying inside here.

And we are off!  Yes, I am one of the people still running at that point.  I am always confused to when the right time to start swimming is, when the water is barely waist deep.  But eventually I had to start swimming.  And that I did.  When it comes to open water, I am hesitant to just "swim." I know that sounds strange, but I constantly check my watch, stop to breath "extra," and worry about people around me.  So my goal was to worry little about time and focus on only looking up to site.  I did stop a few times, but my swim felt good...

But when I saw my time, I was mad...I was really mad.  This is me stomping and pouting my way out of the water cause I was 3 minutes slower than what I wanted.  For a brief moment, I was questioning why I even wanted to do a tri. I spend several hours a week in the gym, I give up some social time, I give up sleep, I give up my weekends...for what?  To get up at 4am on a Saturday, drive to another city, freeze my booty off, stand among people thought to be crazy by their friends, and swim a crappy time after all that hard work...EEERRRRRR.

But, I would at least finish.  Let's be honest, the race shirt was pretty cool; and you can't wear it unless you finish.  So get it together; run through transition, strip the wet suit, grab the helmet, and hop on the bike is exactly what I did. I wasn't much happier on the bike for the first mile or two.  I was wet and cold and pissed...really pissed.  But then, that anger turned into something glorious, strength.  I reminded myself, that just because my swim was weak, didn't mean that my bike or run had to be weak; strong mind = strong legs.  I repeated that mantra in my head over and over and over.  All of a sudden, I was having fun again.  Hauling butt out there and taking names.  Before I knew it, I was back at transition and ready to rock the run.

The combination of wet feet and then the cool breeze created on the bike, made for an interesting run.  I hadn't noticed on the bike, but once I hopped off, I realized my feet were ice blocks. And every s-i-n-g-l-e step HURT.  Or maybe it burned.  Either way, I didn't like it.  But since my attitude had changed so dramatically, I didn't care.  I just thought, "the faster I run, the faster my feet thaw." So I went hard and fast and tried to make up those 3 minutes from the water.

Doing work and pushing hard AKA huffing and puffing my way to the finish line.

What could have easily halted my training for triathlons turned into an amazing race with great lessons and hunger for more.  I say all the time that there are completors and competors that show up to these races. I've always considered myself to be the completor.  There for the race, but more importantly the experience.  But this race help me to realize that even though I am not winning these things, I am winning against myself (I know corny...but true). And every time I wake up earlier, go further, push harder; I get stronger both mentally and phsically.  That is winning in my book.



And by some strange happening, I place that day too.  I took second place in my age group. Tammy totally rocked in the OLY taking second in her age group as well.  Here is us celebrating the win for the day and the kick off to an amazing season ahead and the Road to Augusta 70.3.

Lucky's Lake

So maybe I can swim...in a pool.  But open water is a different story.  I pretend to not being dying inside...but I usually am.  Simply at the fear of really dying.  I've been avoiding Lucky's Lake for some time now, but with Augusta just 7 months away...it was time to sink or swim.  I mean swim, definitely swim.

It was a cold morning and the water was just about 64 degrees.  So not only did I have to conquer to idea of drowning or being eaten by a gator, I also had to worry about not freezing to death.  This is the look of fear covered with a fake smile.  But heck, there were tons of people and Tammy was there to hold my hand (she literally same the first length right next to me).

And that's what a real smile looks like.  I completed a Lucky Lake's crossing and went back for more ("Coach" Tammy kicked in and decided one crossing wasn't enough).

Signing the wall.  Let's do it again!!

Swenson 3rd Annual Super Run World Cup

Swenson 3rd Annual Super Run World Cup

After 3 consecutive times, something becomes a tradition.  And on Thanksgiving this year, our "Swenson Annual Super Run World Cup" finally became that.

With new rules this year (set by last year's first place finisher, Josh), everyone had a solid shot of taking home the trophy...but my money was set on Mom.  The weather was a brisk 34 (yes, we were in Florida...WTF?) that morning and I wasn't looking forward to freezing my butt off.  But none the less, we suited up (SASRWC gear and all) and headed out to the starting line.  In normal Reese spirit, he took off like a bat out of hell and had a solid lead for the first mile.  But soon after that, gimpy (okay, that isn't nice, injured dad) caught him and the gap between the remaining three of us started closing in on Reese yet getting became more spread out among us.  With the sun on our side that day, we were finally warming up at this point and getting into the groove.

I had been in training mode for months and knew I would make my moves between mile 3-4 (which is where I caught Josh and Reese the first year).  So when I hit the 3 mile mark I decided to start sprinting for periods of time.  Really, it was one mail box to another in the distance. So no real rhyme or reason, but it helped me quickly cover some ground, pull out 2 sub 8:30 minute miles and catch Josh. With Reese just ahead (dad way ahead of him), I continued on with the sprints and got really close.  Like really really close...but not close enough.  I think that little snot trained this year and I just couldn't catch him.

As the race came to a close I finished in at 56:41. It isn't my fastest 10K time, but given the cold cold weather; I'll take it.  That put me in 3rd yet again this year.

And although Dad finished first, when we added in handicaps, Mom did ultimately take the cup (she is already talking smack about next year's race...now that is true Kelly style).  Reese took second, me in third, Josh in fourth (which is baller considering he ran carrying the winner's cup and a six pack of beer...all part of the rules), and dad in last (the whole reason the rules change, helps keep the fastest from winning every year).

Next year...that cup is MINE!

Scope It Out 5K

I am up in Washington DC this week and ran a 5K race this morning.  The weather went from the mid 80's and sunny on Friday to in the 50's and rainy this morning.  Not the best of weather but that was part of the fun.

Melanie and I did a warm up run from the hotel to the starting line at around 8:10 this morning. After a small detour and about 3.5 miles we found our way to freedom plaza and the start of the 5K Scope it Out Race.  We got there just in time to stretch, use the restroom, walk to the front of the starting line...and then we were off.  We were very lucky that we were able to easily make our way to the front, so there was no fighting for road space once the race started. My intentions were to hold pace with Melanie for the first mile, but I quickly lost site of her after about .1 miles in.  None the less, I had a great first mile, clocking it at 7:42. I think this might be my fastest mile since I started back up running.  Second mile was 7:56 and third was 8:05 with a strong finish of 24:50.  A new PR for me by 1:03.  I love 5K's!!

Third time's the charm

What an interesting race that started as just a run.  I decided about a week before hand that I would just take this run easy and have some fun.  I have one more half marathon this season next month that I decided to focus on; so this run was just going to be for training. And when I woke up to 50 degree weather, rain, and winds up to 30 MPH, it was confirmed...time to just have fun and run. Or at least I thought but just a few miles in...it turned into something incredible for me.

I had the most random mind set that morning.  I was just in the best of moods and not worried about time or trying to get a person record.  I was gabbing with other runners, commenting on all the ridiculous sayings on the back of people's shirts and hamming up each photo op.  Turned up the jams and was just in the zone.  As mile 1 and mile 2 passed and I was averaging 10 minute miles, I wasn't even worried.  There were a ton of people and I was taking my time.  After about mile two, things started to thin out a bit and I fell into a groove. I watched my time drop to the mid 9s and I am usually good with that.  Its not a race pace...but I wasn't racing so I was happy to just be cruising along.

As the sun started rise, it seemed we were in the clear from having any further rain.  With over cast skies, cool temps and a breeze (okay, still very heavy winds), it was near perfect conditions for a long run. By the time I got to the mile 6 marker, I was still having fun and watching my time drop with decent ease; I then changed my mind that maybe I would actually try and race the second half. I didn't have anything to lose and if I hit a wall...well then I would just say that I intended to just "run" anyhow.  I crossed the mat at the half way point at 1:04:10 which was actually about 6 minutes slower than my half marathon last month.  But it was about this point last time that I hit my wall and quickly started averaging high ten minute miles.

At mile 7 I took a gel and picked up the pace again.  I love running sub 9 minute miles, but since I am still a slow poke and I didn't want a few really good miles kill the rest of the race, so pulled it back a bit for mile 8 and 9.  During these miles, I made sure to stop at both water stops and drink both water and Gatorade as well as eat my gummies with intentions of running a good remaining 5K.  My plan worked.  In fact, it worked really well.  A 27 minute 5K is great for me, and most of the time I don't run 10 miles before hand.  I was ecstatic to cross that finish line and proclaim a new personal record.  My second half took just over 57 minutes! That is the gusto I have been talking about for months. Guess, third time's the charm!

So close to a sub 2 hour half.