Race Recap

I just have a moment to check in but wanted to post a belated Father's day message to all of the great Dads out there! Eamon had his first Dad's day with not only his wonderful Daddy but his Papa Irv and Grandpa Flynn, too. We were all together in DC for the Dextro Energy triathlon and, despite a pretty long day, we had a lot of fun! The day started bright and early with a 4:30 a.m. wake-up call for Mark and I (Eamon stayed with the Flynn's). We decided to do the sprint race a few weeks back, just to see what would happen. Admitedly, neither of us had trained very much lately beyond just running, which I do just about every day. But biking and swimming--and even practicing transitions--has taken a backseat to hanging with Eamon and all of life's other distractions.

Because of this, I had no clue what to expect of my body on race day. So, I marched up to the Potomac River telling myself just to have fun. If I got beat my everyone and their grandma's, oh well. At least I was out there.

This mentality kept me relaxed in the murky water--even when running into big bodies (I was the second-to-last wave, so I hit a few walls of weak swimmers about 400 meters on) and getting clobbered on the head a few times. I didn't even panic when I saw a bunch of fellow pink cappers swimming away from me--I just put my head down and started to swim harder. I exited the water having no clue of my place, but not stressed in the slightest. I was actually excited to get on my bike--which is pretty rare since I'm usually scared of falling, getting a flat, getting lost, etc.

With a smile on my face (I get that from my sisters!), I cruised the 12 miles throughout DC, enjoying the freedom of riding throughout the city. Again, I convinced myself I was at the back of the pack and not to worry too much about where I was place-wise. Before I knew it, though, I was either passing or keeping up with many men and women, some of whom had tricked-out tri bikes and looked super-serious. I even managed a few conversations on the ride as I caught up and passed people, which I usually don't do because I'm so focused on the race. We were in T2 in a snap, and all of a sudden, I had my running shoes, race belt and hat on and was on my way---5K to the finish line.

Running didn't feel great--but it didn't hurt, either. I guess I'm so used to pushing a 40-pound stroller and baby around that running solo felt pretty easy for once! Granted, I could've gone MUCH faster. My not-so-competitive inner voice told me to slow down right around the time I spotted Ula on the course cheering. Even though I was breathing well enough to talk to her in full sentences, I was already convinced that I was too tired to push it. But I wasn't. I guess I was more concerned with just making it to the finish line than running a fast time.

About two miles in, I saw Mark ahead of me (he started the swim 3 minutes before), which gave me the motivation I needed to catch up to him, tell him he was doing great, and motor on, passing a few more women in the process. Mind you, I still had zero idea where I was among the women, but I figured I was no longer last.

I picked it up on Pennsylvania Ave and ran my hardest through the finishing shoot, throwing my hands up as they announced my name and HOBOKEN, NJ. Hah hah--still not used to that! I had no interest in my time or place. I thought I went slow and that was that. I finished. I reached my goal.

Meanwhile, Mark wanted to find out his splits, so after a quick visit with the Flynn's, we mozied over to the athlete's tent to check them out. At that very second, awards ceremony was starting. I quickly found my results and saw a "1/32" next to my name but didn't think much of it. I even asked Mark if he saw age-group rankings on the sheet, and he looked again and said, "you won yours!". I couldn't believe it. I've never won my age group ever in a race--and now, after a two-year hiatus, I definitely didn't expect to.

But turns out, I did. By four minutes. I placed 12th overall out of about 200 women. I got to hear my name called again, go up on the podium and collect some hardware. Of course, I could go on and on with justifications for this: "Real" triathletes hardly ever do sprints. The field wasn't very deep, and my age-group certainly wasn't stacked with any super stars. In a more competitive race, I'd be much, much farther down the rankings. But I'm just going to take this moment for what it is and let myself be happy in knowing that, deep down inside of me, I've still got a slice of endurance and speed.

And speaking of endurance and speed, I must brag about Mark for a minute: He had a fast swim and bike (beating me in both) and ran one of his quickest 5Ks ever. I saw him on the bike and run and he looked great out there...

Also, John placed 3rd overall and won his age group as well. And let's not forget about Bec, who shined in the pro race later on in the day. A great day at the races for the (extended) Wassner fam!