That's So Cathy, Quakertown Independence Tri 2106

The time had come, after what I thought was a fine balance between training enough without overtraining, the Independence Tri was finally here!  The forecast was for 100% chance of rain the day of the event, but in my new "just have fun" mode I decided not to care.   I made my way on the 2 hour journey to Lake Nockamixon, feeling lonely without my constant travel companion Bella.  After picking up my race packet, I headed over to the cabin on the other side of the lake.  Had I known nobody was there yet, I might have tried my hand at paddle boarding on the lake.  But Cathy arrived shortly after, and we had both brought something to eat.  So we sat and ate our respective wraps while catching up on sister talk.  As we unpacked all of our stuff, Cathy remarked that she knew I would bring practical and useful items like a fan for our bedroom.  I proceeded to start some food prep for dinner while Cathy went out on a pre-race bike ride.  Diane, Eric and Mac arrived shortly and it was hugs and kisses all around.  I hadn't seen them since the Philly Tri last year, when my car was broken into and my Tri bag was stolen.  We set about making a huge pasta dinner for the group of 3 cabins.  Before long the rest of Diane and Eric's friends came over to make a full house, which is always more fun.  We were all ready for bed pretty early thanks to some Lime-A-Ritas and 3 bottles of wine that various group members had brought.
It's always rough getting to sleep the night before an event, especially this time in a cabin with no AC.. on a less than super mattress.  But we drifted off before long, and woke up later to steady rain on the roof.  We were glad to have left our bikes under the porch overhang so they wouldn't be all wet for the event.  Cathy had been awake for a while, I was pretty groggy.  I am not, and will likely never be a morning person.  We were also a little silly due to lack of sleep and morning race excitement.  One of us cracked a joke at which point we were giggling like school girls, trying not to wake up the whole cabin.  I decided to break event rule #1 and wear a new "more supportive" sports bra even though I hadn't tested it.  What could go wrong, it's more supportive?  I brought 2 pair of swim socks, which was nice because Cathy had forgotten hers.  I recalled that one sock was a little loose, but out of the 4 socks I had no idea which one.  The group ate bananas, bagels, and other race morning foods.  Despite our plan to leave on time and get there early, we found ourselves hurrying.  So we threw our bikes on Cathy's car rack, and took off for the race.  At this point, Cathy backed the car straight into the cabin with our bikes taking a hit!  "Shit" she said, as I jumped out to survey the damage.  Everything looked in tact so we hurried off to the event, planning to figure it out when we got there.
At first glance, we thought only her pedal had sustained a scrape.  But when I spun her wheel around, clearly it was badly bent out of true and would be problem.  Disappointingly, there were no bike techs at the event as there had been in previous years.  So Cathy bent her wheel back in shape and did a fast test ride; only to discover that her handlebars were also bent.  Meanwhile, I was still in a morning fog and having not done an event in 2 years, forgot that when I left the transition area for the National Anthem I needed to have ALL of my swim gear with me.  I had my wetsuit on, but left my goggles, swim cap, swim socks, and ear plugs in the transition area.  So I had to beg the gatekeepers to let me back in, and blamed my blonde hair, which seemed to work.
Time to swim!  The buoys looked far away, and I reminded myself that it's the same 1/4 mile I do in the pool.  I was so thankful that the water was warm this time, as my last 3 events had been bitterly cold even with my wetsuit.  Speaking of wetsuits, therein lies my next problem.  Apparently my year of power Yoga classes had created some huge lats because I could barely zip up my wetsuit, and the neck was very tight.  The water was awesome, but I was really struggling.  My wetsuit was so tight I could barely breathe and was even wheezing.  While swimming, I reached up and partially unzipped the neck, which helped a little.  Then halfway through the swim, my swim sock started to come off so I was dealing with that, and the lake seaweed.  This coupled with my new supportive (actually constricting) sports bra made it the worst swim I had ever done!  For 2 weeks after the tri, the extensor muscles in my foot were aching thanks to the faulty sock, and I knew that it was all due to my bad preparation.  For my first event, I had planned every detail so precisely, and this time I had decided to mostly wing it.  Stress less, and just have fun was my motto!  I definitely favor precise planning should I do another event.
The bike leg went OK, I rode at a decent pace but my bike was making a strange noise and I think something was slightly bent from the impact of the cabin, but I had no idea what.  Race volunteers were yelling at us to slow down coming into the transition area, because although the rain had stopped, the roads were wet and slippery.
The run went fine for the first mile, but by that point I was in agony.  I had expected this, because I was unable to run more than a mile during training.  I was hoping that endorphins would kick in, and I could run the full 2 miles.. this did not happen.  I had to walk jog the second mile, but I knew coming into the event that this was a probability so I just accepted it and kept moving forward.  I had significant pain from my left foot all the way up to my left hip.  It made me feel better to see plenty of other people walking, and I reminded myself this was for fun. So I encouraged others along the way, and enjoyed myself, making new friends with other walkers.
There was the usual post-race high as I sprinted across the finish line where Cathy was waiting for me.
It was then that we learned Diane had crashed her bike, and could barely walk but had still finished the Tri.  We waited for the times to be posted and learned that Diane, despite having badly crashed, had finished second in her age group.  We later learned that she had some hairline fractures, and torn some ligaments in her hip... and still took second!!
Cathy, despite the condition of her bike and little training, had finished third in her age group.
I had a great time meeting new people and making memories with Cathy and Diane, so you could say my goals were met as well.  I had made some custom Yoli jerseys for the event, which garnered a lot of admiration on Facebook, getting 451 likes in the Yoli group!!