I found you Miss new BOOTY

24 Hours of Booty

July 29-30, 2016

Charlotte, NC

24 hours of booty is a 24 hour cycling event that benefits cancer organizations. I was a booty virgin, I borrowed that phrase from one of my TIFL Charlotte sisters Julie Hecht Hackman Tettmar, last year. I really enjoyed it and decided to come back for round 2. When you sign up for 24HOB you commit to raise $400 in order to ride. Back when I was employed, fundraising I thought was pretty easy. I would strategically solicit my fellow co-workers on payday Fridays. The company has a matching gift program as well so that would double the donation. As most folks know I became unemployed October 2015. Now fundraising is like pulling teeth. I started off with an email chain to a few people. I also used social media. With a lot more soliciting friends and family I finally met my goal 2 days before the deadline. It was down to the wire.

                I left Raleigh Friday around lunchtime and headed southbound on 85. After running into standstill traffic a couple of times and finally stopping for lunch, I made it to Bootyville around 4. Bootyville is where riders camp out over the course of the next 24 hours. They may have had this last year and I just wasn’t aware of it, they have a gear drop area. I pull into the drop off area. There are volunteers to help you unload. I tell them I need to give them a tip. The 2 teenagers laugh at me and tell me I’m doing the real work I’m riding. The TIFL tent is easy to spot, it’s bright pink. I set my chair up and take a break and drink some ice cold water. A sister came ready this year. Packed the big cooler with all kinds of hydrating beverages. I started off with 2 bags of ice when I left Raleigh. By the time I get to Charlotte I’m down to ¼ of a bag of ice still intact. The heat is on!! I see my buddy Kristina Blake. She drove down from Pennsylvania with her cousin. Her husband Todd is also riding this year as well. That is true commitment right there. Right after I pull in, our booty coordinator Laurie Certo pulls in right in front making another drop off of stuff. After I cool off, I go park my car. Then head back over to my home for the next day.

                The ride officially starts at 7pm. I opt to go shower before heading out. Did I mention there is a full shower facility in the Levine center that is at our disposal. SWEET!! Guess who headed to the locker room without her towel, this chick. I improvised. I have learned from last year to not go out at the beginning because it is a mosh pit of riders. Angela Stevenson and I decide to go out about 7:20pm. Angela and I head out. My personal goal is 25 miles. My plan of attack was to do 3 loops at a time. That would be 9 miles. I’m on the booty loop. I remember that it starts off downhill. I’m like this is how I like to ride. Downhill is my sweet spot of cycling. Then there is the sharp right turn. There is a party tent to my left with a DJ. The crowd support is awesome. The neighbors are so encouraging. I start to notice a slight incline. Then I remember there is a hill coming up. Last year I wasn’t ready for this hill and was having technical difficulties with my gears. I was ready this time. I was already in my lowest gear ready to take on THE HILL. I pedal and pedal through this hill. I don’t stop. I am sweating from the humidity like a sinner in church. I made it to the top. HALLEJUAH!! I can feel how dry my throat is, not good. I am on flat surface, I attempt the unimaginable. I reach for my water bottle and lo and behold I reach it, drink some water and by a straight miracle from God I was able to put the bottle back in its holder. This is a huge feat. Go me Go me!!! I make the last right turn onto the loop and head to the end. I’m thinking I can do another loop. I keep going and make my 2^nd loop. I’m thinking to myself I didn’t even do this last year. I make it up THE HILL again. I reach for water again. I’m checking out the neighborhood. These folks are partying it up. I’m slightly hating because I wish I was out there chilling with a food truck or margaritas. There is a car that passes me and i hear my name. It's a boatload of my Charlotte sisters, Donna Rubin, Wendy Reid, Lora Leach Braun and her daughter and 1 other lady who's name escapes me. That encouragement was just what i needed. After I make the right turn and head back to the finish, my lower back tells me that I should go ahead and make my exit. I head to the exit. I check RunKeeper and see I am short of 6 miles. I ride around the parking lot to make it an even 6 miles. I head back to our spot. 2 loops done. Now it’s time to eat. Did I mention Angela and I smelled the grill as we headed out and it was hard to dismiss the smell and go for a ride. I’m back in the tent drinking water. Hydration is so necessary. I head over to dinner with some of my Charlotte sisters. Dinner is delicious. Hamburger, pasta salad and ice cold coca-cola and cookies. After dinner, I head back over to the tent. I rest up for a bit. Then I head back out for my 2^nd round. I have come to the conclusion that 2 loops really work for me. I get 2 more loops in. I am currently at 4 loops which puts me at 12 miles. I’m really close to being at the halfway point of my goal. I have doubled last year total mileage. Lazy Johanna was at booty last year. I just enjoyed the event and wasn’t really interested in any goal. I do know I was hydrating properly because I was peeing like a person with a weak bladder. Kristina told me that is a good sign. That means that I am drinking enough fluids. If you are not peeing then you should be worried. Good to know. I think I knew that because I pretty much live in my bathroom at home.

                There is a midnight pizza party. We all head over to the pizza party. As I have burned some calories I devour the 2 slices of pizza that we are told to is the initial serving. Then you can come back for me. After eating the 2 slices I didn’t even think about coming back for more. I head back to the tent to let my food settle. I decide to go back out for another round. Can you believe it’s still hot as Hades at 1am? Mother nature must be fighting with Bae again. At this point it is pitch black on the loop, I have my lights on full blast. There are some serious dark pockets out there. As I am riding there are still some spectators on the course. I’m like do these folks don’t go to bed around here. As I pedal up the hill, there are some dark spots and my paranoid self thinks what if someone jumps out at me. I’ve seen way too many horror movies. I finish my 3^rd round.  I am now at 18 miles. I’ve done 3 times the distance I did last year. I come back to the tent. I hydrate a little. It’s about 2:30am. I'm so excited that I have biked 18 miles that i decided to call my #1 fan tall drink. He has told me that he will give up his sleep if needed to help me through the loops. Shockingly he is awake when i call him, i tell him I'm at 18 miles. Then i can hear the sleep in his voice. He tells me when i talk to him later in the morning he wants to hear really good news. I tell him you will.  I go lay down on my air mattress. I forgot the blanket in my trunk. I am so not going to get it at this hour. I improvise and use my towel. I’m tossing and turning on my air mattress. My roommate in the Taj Mahal tent (Thanks Sandra Asher) is the lovely Dawn Davis Calhoun. She’s already out like a fat kid in dodge ball. I finally pass out. I wake up in what seems like 5 minutes later. I hear Kristina say she’s going to get 1 more loop in before the sun comes up. I attempt to lift up off the air mattress. If you could have seen me get off that thing you would have died laughing it was so funny. I finally get to my feet feeling like I just drank all night. I get my socks and clips on. I load up my bottles. I have 7 miles left to goal. Its nice out. Temperature has finally cooled off some. I knock these 2 loops out. There are a lot of runners out on the loop on the sidewalk. I see a few BGR ladies I’m assuming. They yell you “go get it sister girl” I smile back. I finish round 4. I’m under 25 miles. I roll past the ladies and tell them I have 1 mile to go and it’s way too much to go get another loop in, I’m just going to ride around the area. I ride up and down the street and through the expo area and back in the parking lot. RunKeeper and my CatEye are not seeing eye to eye. CatEye is off my .22 miles. I keep riding until the CatEye hits 25 miles. When it does I start to swell up a little because I have met my goal. I can go buy the mileage sticker and add it to the collection. I head back to the tent. I can now go eat breakfast. My work here is done. Later booty, Jo is done!!

It's getting hot out here so go and do a TRI

Smile Train Triathlon

June 26, 2016

Wake Forest, NC

                I have to start this race report off with a disclaimer. This race seriously had me contemplating giving up on doing triathlons. I was at that place in my head for a good portion on the bike course. I will get into that during bike course recap. Before I get started I want to recognize folks who without their help and support today, I would probably still be out there riding aimlessly on the back roads on Wake Forest. Wake county sheriffs who were my personal escorts from about mile 7 up until I cross over heritage lake road back to the bike dismount line. FS series SAG wagon who was behind me probably 3 quarters of the bike course and I didn’t even realize until about the turnaround at mile 6. My TIFL tribe who is always there for love, support and motivation. I especially want to thank Heather Leigh who walked with me on the run course. She probably saved my life and didn’t even know it. Alexis who rode her bike on the run course to bring me some water and to see where we were. Even though she talked junk to me because I declined the water because I always have my camelback on me with water. Chris McDougal who took my bike and TIFL bag and walked them to the car for me. Post race I was pretty much dead inside.

                Transition opened at 6:30am. I woke up 2 times before my 5:15am alarm. That’s how it goes on race day, your body is paranoid that you are going to oversleep so you keep popping up checking the time. When the alarm went off I was ready to get up. I’m up getting ready and after eating my bowl of cereal I’m like well I guess I will get on out here and it’s about 5:55am. I’m about 15 minutes from Heritage where the race is being held. I get there in no time. Waze takes me the back way on Louisburg to Forestville road. As I get closer to the swim club, I notice folks are parked on the sides of the road. I’m thinking this is interesting race parking. I barely remember something about parking in a lot about ½ mile from the race site and ride your bike. That got me messed up thinking I’m riding my bike before the race start. No thanks. I pull into a spot on the side of the road. Benefit #1 of showing up early you get a close parking spot. I unload all my stuff. This is my first tri without using a bucket. Look who has grown up. I got my bike, tri bag and camel back. I cross the street and walk up to the race site. I find my row in transition. I’m 302 and the row starts with 301. Guess who mounted her bike on the beginning of the rack. Benefit #2 of being early, get the good spot on the bike rack. I spotted Karen and Ron Young when I parked. They are setting up their transition area. I find my towel and start pulling my gear out. I grab my race belt and head over to registration to get marked. It’s about 2 blocks around the corner. I sure am lazy for a triathlete. What can I say I am probably the laziest triathlete you will ever meet. I get body marked. Volunteer asks me my age and I had to think about that because in triathlons your age is what you will be in the year. My age is 41, holy smokes batman when did I leave 40. Thank goodness I still have less than 2 months to enjoy 40 lol. I head back to transition and I see a few more of the tribe show up. Cynthia rolls in after picking up her race packet. Alexis rolls in like a boss with her fly shades on. I see Teresa coming in. Claudia comes in. Kathy/Patty relay team comes in. Mary and John come in. I spy with my little eye Sharon Johnson from afar talking to a volunteer. We get together for a pre-race photo. Karen tried to NOT be in the photo. That’s so not happening. I tell her when a person doesn’t want to be in the photo, they have to be dragged into the photo and that’s exactly what happened.

                I’m wondering about the restroom situation. Another racer tells me the bathrooms are locked at the pool. I was really hoping to use a real restroom. Like the Geico commercial, “not in my house”. Heritage ain’t playing it. You scrubs go use the porti potty. They probably didn’t say that but I bet it was something real close to it. ROFLMAO. I make the pre-race potty run. I start to re-think my race attire. I don’t own a real TRI suit. It’s hard out here for a fluffy triathlete. I opt to wear my swimsuit that I train in for the swim portion. I brought my cycling shorts to put over the swimsuit for the bike portion. I brought my run shorts for the run or as I like to call it recovery let’s just put 1 foot in front of the other and move portion. It’s a bit of a process when you have to use the bathroom with a 1 piece swimsuit on. I head back to transition. I’m thinking whoever set this up wanted us to really get some walking in if you had to go because you have to go back up a hill to get back to transition. I told you I was lazy right. Yeah you are starting to believe me aren’t you.

                Pre-race meeting starts at 7:45am. We head over to the pool. The microphone system they have is apparently owned by Chick-Fil-A because it is not open on Sunday. Race director is attempting to talk to us. I can barely make out what she is saying. I realize the swim is starting because the first group is lining up in the pool. The pool looks so good. I just want to stay in it all day. Since my race number is 302 I have some time before I start. We hang around and watch the first swimmers. They move so gracefully and fast in the water. Before you know the 1^st swimmer is out, some teeny bopper. No I am not hating. It was a teenager who came out first. I see the first female come out. I see the first chip come out. Chip = a person of color. This comes from my fellow TIFL & BTA sister Dawn Davis-Calhoun. I’m always on the lookout for the chips at the race. Sharon finds some seats in the shade. Yes I will come take a seat in the shade. Sharon knows me and heat do not get along well. More on that combination later. This waiting process helps my pre-race jitters to calm down. We see Alexis in the pool and Kathy. I walk over to see her swim. I’m noticed the 200’s are in the pool. I head on over and get in the waiting area. I was expecting the water to be cold. It felt so good. I told Cynthia why can’t we just stay in the pool the entire race. Unfortunately, this is not a pool only event L We line up. She’s 300 and I’m 302. 301 must have gotten smart and stayed in the bed, smart person. As we are in the water, a couple behind me ask me if this is my first race. I’m like no this is my 5^th TRI but first time doing this one. They are amazed but they don’t give me the LOOK. You know the one I’m talking about. Then they tell me they are runners and they just decided to sign up. They were not prepared as they don’t even goggles. Did I mention they weren’t wearing swim caps. Bless their little hearts.

                The swim portion is beginning. Cynthia goes first. Then I line up and the timer tells me go. I push off and enjoy floating and then move into freestyle. I remember what my swim coach told me long and smooth strokes. That’s what I do. I was having breathing issues. It’s one of my weak areas in swimming. I didn’t have any form of a panic attack like I did back in April at the indoor tri. I didn’t even count how many lanes I had left. Just like Dory said “just keep swimming just keep swimming.” On a SN: if you have not seen it yet, do yourself a favor and go see Finding Dory. I will go with you because I enjoyed it just that much. Baby Dory is just 2 cute for words. Back to the race. I’m about 25 meters from being done, I hear Candace tell me “Jo you only have 25 meters left to the finish now show me some form you’re on video”. I’m almost done, woo hoo!! Sweet baby jesus let’s knock this thing out. I swim to the end and I spot the ladder and head to. Why am I having issues with using my legs to lift myself out the water. Minor technical issue. I get out the pool. The tribe spectators are there “jo you’re done next up is the bike” I head to transition and find my spot. I attempt to put on dry cycling shorts over wet swimsuit. It was pretty comical if I do say so myself. Bike helmet on. Socks and shoes on. I have clips but opted to not try clipping in today as I am still learning that process. Camelback on, nutrition in camelback. This is the one time I opted to NOT bring my phone with me. That was a rookie move which I contemplated on later. I head out with my bike. Volunteer tells me to watch out for the curb. I head to the mount line. I am having some serious technical issues I have one bike glove, for the life of me I cannot get the 2^nd one on. I drop it not once but twice and the very kind volunteer gets it for me. He asks if I have ridden this course before. I tell him I tried to drive it yesterday but got turned around. He tells me there are some hills and speed bumps in the neighborhood so be aware. I get on my bike cross the street and can you believe I cannot pedal. My bike is in torture gear. As I think back on this now, I should have taken my bike for a spin around the neighborhood after I picked it up Friday from Performance. Another rookie move. I am full of them today. You would have thought this was my first tri and not my fifth one. The beginning of the course goes up a slight hill and I am in the wrong gear and for the life of me I can’t get out of it. I am working up this hill and it’s a struggle. There’s a picture of me on facebook at this exact moment and my fascial expression tells it all. I make it up the hill, I get my gears straight and I’m off. Why are my legs already tired. Jesus take the wheel because this is going to be a struggle for real. I’m rolling through Heritage. There are hills in this neighborhood and I am reminded of preston with Le tour de Femme bike ride in October. I struggle up the hills, if you know me this is serious progress. I would normally hop off the bike and walk up. Not today I am trying to put the spin classes to use. I make it through the neighborhood. Turn right onto Chalks. Here comes another hill. I see Alexis heading back telling me to take that hill down. I don’t know about you but I don’t get real encouraged when I’m on the bike course and other folks are yelling stuff at me even if it is encouraging. It good be that my PMA(positive mental attitude) was at -5000. What can I say I was not a happy person on the bike course? Everyone who saw me felt it. I’m making my way on Chalks and I’m thinking to myself isn’t this the road my ex-fiance’s mom lives on. I pass a turn for a radio station and the next turn is for her house. I see a sign that reads organic eggs, cage free. I’m like I don’t think she was into farming but who knows. I’m like I know exactly where I am and this is about to get real hilly because I can recall riding on this road. It does and I push on through the hills. Whoever told me the bike course was flat was a LIAR and I’m giving you serious side eye right now. I get to the intersection and turn left. I pass Jones Dairy road the street I was on yesterday after I got turned around trying to find the bike course. You really get to see a lot of Wake County when you are out here on these lonely roads. I kept singing in my head “All by myself, don’t wanna by all by myself”. I come to the next turn and make a right. I’m getting real close to the turnaround. Thanks goodness. The hoo ha is not happy with me. Neither am I. It’s hot out here. I’m ready to be done. I really want to just go home and lay on my recliner. I start to accept the fact that I will take a DNF on this race because I am just not feeling this race today. In my head I had accepted the fact that this triathlon was going to become a duathlon if I can just survive the rest of this bike course. When I feel a need for a break from the saddle, I hop off the bike and walk. I hear a car approaching. It’s the SAG wagon, they ask me if I’m ok. I’m like just took a break off the bike. I get back on and I head towards the next intersection. I turn left. Volunteer tells me it’s not that much farther to the turnaround. I pass mile 6. This is a setup. The turnaround is past mile 6. I see the lonely course monitor directing me to turnaround. I hop off the bike and get some nutrition out my camelback and then get back on. 6 miles done and 6 miles to go. I think I can I think I can. I head back and I turn right at the intersection. Thank the volunteer and wake county sheriff. I keep on pushing. I pass mile 7. I get off and walk some. SAG wagon pulls up and ask if I’m ok. i tell them I am and they tell me they are back here if I need anything. When you are the end of the bike course, you get your own personal escort the SAG wagon. I turn left at the next turn. I notice the cops that were at the Chalks intersection are headed towards me. I’m thinking is there no one at the turn. White dodge charger pulls up in front of me with his blinkers. It’s a Raleigh PD. He leads me and SAG wagon follows. Oh yeah I have my own entourage on the bike course. How I wish someone could have taken a picture. We all turn right onto Chalks. There is some downhill. The charger sees me lower my head because I am embracing the downhill and rolling about 19 MPH. I struggle uphill but downhill in the words of Ludacris “move get out the way” The charger picks up speed so I don’t run into the back of him. I head to the very last turn, hallejuah. Make the left and I’m back in the lovely heritage neighborhood with their wonderful hills and speed bumps. A complete random stranger rides up to me and starts talking to me. Tells me he lives in the neighborhood but he’s not doing the race. We come to a hill, he gives me a push and tells me he and his wife bike all the time. He does the same thing for her to help her up the hill. Thank you random stranger because you my brother our my HERO today. There is another hill and speed bump. I make it up it. We pass the golf club. We head back to the race site. I have never been so happy in my life. When I passed mile 11 I got real emotional because very honestly I didn’t think I was going to make it. I cross over heritage lake and dismount. Barbara stone-newton is there rooting me on. 1 of the FS series guys comes over to me congratulating me on finishing the bike course. Then he tells me has some bad news, they are opening the roads on the run course and unfortunately I’m going to be able to do the run. I tell him you say that like it’s a bad thing. In my head I was already out after the bike course. I head to transition, drop my bike. I see a few of the tribe and tell me that what they said. Then I go ask another FS official if I go do the run course on my own will I still get the medal. 1 more FS official and race director later I am given the green light. I go put on my visor and race belt, grab my powerade, suck it up buttercup because you are about to do this. I head out on the run course. I pass the tribe who is chilling in the shade. Yes that is hate you have detected. I wanted to be chilling in the shade as well. Oh well that’s the life of a turtle. I’m walking on the course. I hear some shoes flopping behind me. You know what it is. It’s the sound of an angel named Heather Leigh who is coming to walk with me. I’m so glad to have the company. We walk the course together. We admire the gorgeous homes in the neighborhood. The SAG wagon passes us to check on us a few times and to make sure we’re still on the course. Heather tells me she came with me because she heard someone was giving out beer and doughnuts on the course. We found doughnut pieces on the ground but we never found the house. The mile markers have been removed so I have no idea how far we’ve gone. I see another hill and I’m ready to turn back. We head back. I am so over these HILLS. I thought the bike course was disrespectful. I knew the run course was hilly with no shade. The run course was what I had been worried about for weeks. I kept drinking from camelback and alternating with the powerade. We turn back onto heritage lake. We see Alexis riding towards us on her bike. She tells us she brought me some water but I have my camelback. She tells us she will ride back to tell the rest of the tribe I’m almost done. We pass by the parking lot that was reserved for race parking. I tell heather ain’t no way I was parking there and then climbing the hill to the race site. We climb the hill and we make it to the 2^nd to last turn. Volunteer tells us we have 1 more turn and we’re done. The last turn has a slight incline to it. We push on up this hill. Angela is still on the corner. I tell Heather I guess the rest of the tribe rolled out. As we get closer, the course monitor yells out “jo you go this, you’re almost done” I tell her I am done. She replies back no once you make it across the finish line then you will be well done. I laugh. I make that left and the McDougal family is there waiting. Kimberly is at the finish line with her phone. The timing mat is still up. The clock is still up. They haven’t shut down yet. I cross the finish line.  I am officially DONE DONE.

Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon Spring 2016

Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon

April 24, 2016

Raleigh, NC

 

 

                Lifetime Fitness hosts an indoor triathlon twice a year. I enjoy participating in them. I signed up for the spring triathlon which was being held at the Raleigh location, which is my home club. Super excited. It takes me all of a few minutes to get there. SCORE!! I wasn’t sure if any of the TRI tribe was participating. Racing is always so much more fun when you do it with friends. I found out that one of my TRI sisters Barbara Farrell was in my same wave. Lo and behold I didn’t even know her lovely daughter Heather was in our same wave. We are the 3 amigos for this race.

                It is a lot easier packing for an indoor triathlon versus than an outdoor triathlon. There is no bike and no bucket. Since I know the gym towels are a little smedium, I brought my own. My TRI bag is packed to the brim with all of my race day essentials. I make a pit stop at Panera for some pre-race fuel. I was all set to get my customary cinnamon crunch bagel with hazelnut cream cheese. When I pulled up to the drive-thru menu and saw the pictures for the egg soufflé I quickly changed my mind. They are life-changing delicious. I order the spinach and bacon egg soufflé and head on over to Lifetime.

                As I pull into the parking lot, I spy with my little eye one of my TRI sisters Barbara, who for the record is a ROCKSTAR athlete and triathlete, walking towards the entrance. She asks me if I’m ready. I’m like oh yeah. After I check into the gym, I head over to the check-in table for the indoor tri. I receive my race bib and swim cap and race shirt. I opt for the red race shirt completing forgetting until after the race that I already own the red triathlete shirt. I later email the race coordinator about switching my shirt for the grey. I am still waiting on a reply to that request. It is a requirement to wear their swim cap which I think is going to be very interesting to see if ALL my hair will fit under it. Barb asks where the locker rooms are and I tell her they are around back similar to the Cary location. There is one set of stairs upstairs which is right by the women’s locker room.

                I head over to the locker room. When I go to the gym to swim I opt for a locker closer to the pool area. I head over to the 2^nd to last row of lockers. I start getting my stuff out. I have seriously packet a lot of stuff. I must have thought I was going on an overnight trip. All of a sudden my stomach is doing it’s normal pre-race dance. I make a beeline to the restroom. I opt to go to the one by the pool to see the folks who are already on the swim portion. I see a TIFL athlete waiting for her wave to start. I can’t tell you her name to save my life. I know she is one of our advanced swimmers. That’s all I got lol. 

                I get ready for the swim. I stuff my hair into the tight swim cap. I head out to the pool area and wait for my wave to start. I talk to a few folks who are in the 9:40 wave. One lady I met told me this is her first triathlon. We talk about the swim portion. I think the swim is the easy part of a race. She thinks it’s the hardest part. This is her first race so I can totally understand her thinking that. I ask if she plans on doing any more. She is thinking about doing one at the end of June in Philadelphia. Kudos to her. 

                Each wave has 10 participants. Our wave has 5 so we all get our own swim lane, SCORE. As soon as we get in the swim lane, we literally have about 15 seconds before the swim starts. Swim lead volunteer yells GO and I take off. Apparently I went out way too fast because I for the life of me can’t breathe when I go under the water. I’m really flaying in the pool like someone who does not know how to swim. Trust me I know how to swim but you couldn’t tell today. I manage to squeak out 14x25 meters by the grace of God. Angela came up to me after I got out the pool and asked me what was wrong. She could see I was swimming like I was shook. I don’t know what it is when I get to swim portion of a race but I get straight SHOOK. The exact same thing happened in Huntersville last fall. I got in the pool and couldn’t feel the bottom because it was 6 feet and that FUCKED my head up for the first lap. After I got to the end of the lane, I calmed myself down and remembered oh yeah I do know how to swim. I head to the locker room to change for bike. I’m dropping stuff left and right. Can you say frazzled? I’m changed into my cycling gear. Smart Johanna packed gel seat cover for that tiny spin bike saddle and brought my cycling shoes. I have mastered the art of clipping in on a spin bike. I have not done as well on my road bike AKA Blue thunder. That’s a work in progress. We head to the spin studio. Angela takes the elevator and I tell her I almost want to ride with you. Brittany, indoor tri coordinator, walks by me and tells me I’m so glad you didn’t get on the elevator. I tell her I was really tempted but that would be sad to be taking the elevator while doing a race lol. Seriously I was really considering it. I chug up the kabiliion stairs to the next level of the gym. Barbara and Heather tell me they are following me because they have no idea where they are going. We head into the cycle studio and the spin volunteers tell us to find our bike based on our race number and that we are 3 minutes behind, like I care I have lost 3 minutes on the spin “death trap” bike. I get my bike adjusted. I put on my gel cover. I get my water and sports beans out. Hydration and nutrition are very important. I hop on the bike and attempt to clip in. Right clip is in, let’s get the left clip in. Volunteer turns the computer on and off I go. It’s been a few months since spin class. I got to tell you it is nowhere as bad as it was about 15 months ago when I was on the spin bike for the very first time and I thought I was going to DIE. Apparently I didn’t because I’m still alive. I personally don’t think they have the air on here on purpose because I am sweating like a sinner in church (princess and the frog reference). I’m about 15 minutes in and I have knocked out 3 miles. I’m thinking to myself my goal is to finish with 6 miles. Just keep pedaling. Spin bike is not that bad today. Could be the extra padding I brought with me to ease the pain. I’m coming up on 6 miles. I hit 6-mile mark. We still have a few more minutes left. I’m thinking let’s go for 7 miles. I go for 7 miles. Spin instructor tells us we have a minute left. I’m really trying to make 7.5 miles since I was born in 1975. She calls for us to stop and I look down and I am at 7.4 miles. I’ll take it. We have 5 minutes to head over to the treadmills for the run. In the 2 years I have been doing triathlons I have never run during the run portion. What can I say my body is so happy to be off the bike we just get on the run course and just move one foot in front of the other but not as fast as most folks. I head to the treadmill. I get my phone and headphones out and get my playlist going. 20 minutes on the treadmill. My normal pace is between 21-22 minutes. I already know that it will be a Sunday morning miracle if I hit 1-mile mark today. I start the pace at 2.8 to warm up the legs. After a minute I move it up to about 3.0. Oh yeah we are definitely warmed up now. I get a little adventurous and move it up to 3.4. The drill sergeant AKA tall drink told me that 3.4 should be my goal on the treadmill to get to the pace that I want on race day. I hung out at 3.4 for a few minutes. Once my heart starting beating and the sweat was dripping into my eyes that was my sign to cool my pace down and I slowed it down to 2.8 for a few minutes. We were not on the treadmills in the gym that I am familiar with that tell you what your pace is so I had no idea what mine was at. I toggled back and forth between 3.0 and 3.4. I noticed my mileage was getting really close to a mile. I also noticed I was running short on time. The run volunteer was counting down the stop clock and when we were done, I saw my mileage was 0.95 miles. I was very close to a mile and that is amazing. I have completed my 2^nd triathlon for 2016.