Philly TriRock: Race. Celebrate. Sightsee.

RACE:  Cathy, Mike and Diane all had good races.

So which came first:  My parent’s 50^th wedding anniversary party reservations or my triathlon registration?  Uh, well, yes, the triathlon registration came first followed by the realization that it was the same weekend of my parent’s 50^th anniversary.  But seeing as how my Dad grew up in the Philly suburbs and I was born there, it seemed rationale to propose the party be in the same location as the triathlon.  And with an Aunt and Uncle flying in from Los Angeles, at least Philadelphia is a major airport.  Not to mention Barb and David know Philly well, as it’s David’s hometown.

Mike and I headed to Philly on Friday – he drove down and I had to fly from Toronto.  We once again stayed with our friends Diane and Eric who were doing the Sprint and Olympic, respectfully, and who live within 15 minutes of the race venue at Fairmont Park.  Eric holds VIP status as he is one of the few people who has done the race every year since it was started a decade ago.

Given it would be a busy weekend, we both opted for the Sprint on Saturday.  After the last race’s departure snafus, I insisted we plan on leaving 15 min. earlier than Mike’s suggested departure time.  I hate being rushed and having no wiggle room in the event something goes wrong.  In the morning, Eric helped us load up the car and came running in, “Mike, you have a flat tire!”.  Mike did a quick tire change and we all thanked our lucky stars for the 15 min. wiggle room.

Given the large number of participants in this race, there is always a little extra wiggle room with the wave starts, assuming you aren’t in one of the early waves.  I decided to wait to go to the bathroom, thinking the long line would subside, but it only got worse.  No time for that – as I overhead another participant, “well, the river is a big place.”

The night before I had declared that I would be happy with a 1 h 55 time.  I knew I would have to push it to make or beat that.  When I got out of the swim and was around 20 min, I thought I was blowing it as I expected to be faster than that based on last year’s Olympic distance swim.  I really pushed it on the bike – there are several hills so I was happy to break 1 hour at 57:48 (16.3 mph).  I grabbed my new Garmin watch for the run – I find it really helps me keep my pace.  I made it a goal to break 30 min for my run, which I’ve only ever done in one other Sprint Tri 5K but I did it at 29:32 (9:32 pace), and pleasantly surprised myself with a finish time of 1:51:39.

CELEBRATE: 50 years!

All that and the weekend was only beginning!  We met up with my family in the hotel later that afternoon, and had a great 50^th anniversary party for Mom and Dad that evening.  


The next morning, Mike and I did a run/jog to see the Liberty Bell.

SIGHTSEE!

Let Cow Bells, Wedding Bells and Freedom Ring!

Learning from Barb at the Independence Triathlon

Mike sprints to the finish

Just 2 weeks after Got the Nerve, Mike and I decided to head back to what had been our first race ever. It's such a well-run event put on by Piranha sports in a superb venue that I hold other races to its standard.

As I looked at my times from 2 years' ago, I knew it was going to be a challenge to beat them. I had been in top fitness then -- but a month and a half later disappointed when I couldn't complete my season goals after getting injured. This year I was thankful to be running pain free.

Mike and I drove down on Saturday morning and did a warm up bike and nice walk along the lake.  We checked into the hotel, got some dinner and went to bed early, discussing we would leave at 5:45am.  The next morning, at 5:40am, I told Mike I would run and toast my bagel and he could meet me out front.  At 5:45am he wasn’t in sight so I went back to the room and he was still getting ready.  I didn’t want to rush him so I waited.  But at 5:55am as he was flossing every tooth, I had to question if flossing was a new pre-race strategy.  He had forgotten our departure time, thinking we were leaving at 6:00am not arriving at the race venue at 6:00am!  At this point he did have to rush and when we arrived at the race venue, he discovered he was without his bike number.  Fortunately, the race personnel were very accommodating. 

We were disappointed family couldn't join us this time but the first weekend in June is always hit or miss with college reunions and graduations. So I took Barb's spirit with me and quickly into the race had a deju vu from 3 years ago as another woman in my age group and I kept leap frogging each other on the bike. "You're hard a one to catch #268 she greeted me on one such encounter." In the end, I beat her (#269) on the bike.

Back in T2, the women around me and I were all bumping into each other and many we're apologizing (triathletes are always such nice people) and I'm pretty sure #285 was one of them. Off on the run, I forgot about her but I shouldn't have! I was focused on my own race and trying to push the pace. As I neared the finish line, I picked up speed and heard a lot of cheering for someone. Little did I know, #269 was right on my tail. Thank goodness Barb taught me about the nose finish 3 years ago http://swimbikerunsurvive.blogspot.com/2011/06/first-race-perfect-finish.html - #269 and I finished neck in neck with the same time, but they gave the photo finish to me! 6/16 in my age group (#269 was also in my age group).

"Hi my name is Stephanie and I've been following you the whole race”, said #269 as she reached out her hand. Yes, triathletes are the nicest people.

#285 (Stephanie) is right on my tail!