Will Run for High Fives: ChelanMan Sprint Tri (the run)

If you recall, I was running on numb hips and feeling just off.  (If you missed them, here are the swim and bike posts for this race.) But I told myself to just keep moving.  If there is one thing that I have learned from my training, it's that often those bad feelings pass if you can let your body find its autopilot.

I trudged up the nice steep hill that took us onto the road where the majority of our run would take place.  Once again, the lovely race organizer was there calling out encouraging words.

I passed some people and got passed by some others.  The course was on the shoulder of the highway with cars passing by.  It was narrow but manageable...except when people decided to walk side by side and block the entire way.

There was water and Heed (a scrum-diddly-umptious sports drink) available at the water station.  I grabbed a cup of "Heed",

and was sooooo disappointed to get water.

I was pretty warm and was grateful for those super-soaker moments.

Haha.  It really was hot.

The run itself was a gradual incline/decline for the most part, followed by a pretty significant uphill right before the finish chute (that was straight downhill).

On that last uphill there was one more (what I felt to be) poor race etiquette moment.  Two young guys in their 20s overtook me, which would have been fine if they had each just passed me on the left.  However, they ran on either side of me.

 I don't know why, but this really bugged me.  It felt cocky.

I yelled "So not cool!" but they of course completely ignored me.  I quickly recovered though, as I saw Dr. Tim ready with a big high five!!

You all know how I feel about those high fives!

Ann Marie was right beside him, ready with her high five.

And then all the spectators lined up after her gave me high fives too!

It was the perfect way to get up that hill and coast down to the finish, where TriGuy was ready with the camera!

ChelanMan is by far my favourite race of the year.  I get to travel, stay on a beautiful lake, and spend the weekend with some of my favourite peeps!  Maybe next year I'll go for the Olympic Tri!

Then again, maybe I'll just focus on speed work.  

JOIN ME FOR THE UPCOMING POSTS: 
THOUGHTS ON MY LONG RUNS (with a TriForever review/giveaway!), WAYS I TORTURE MYSELF, SWIMMING, AND A RECAP OF TOMORROW'S RACE


Once again, I'm linking up with other terrific writers at Yeah Write!

I Remember

I had been in the US for about 10 months.  I had just started my first job as a speech pathologist.  I worked at a small private school and the director pulled a T.V. into her office.  There were rumours about a plane crash, then about a bombing at the Pentagon.  These were the days before smart phones, so we really had no access to news while working.  As the day wore on, parents came to pick up their children early, saying they just wanted to have them at home.  More rumours, this time having to do with President Bush's hometown being a target...that was where we lived.  Austin.

When I went home at the end of the day, Dave had the TV on.  He had turned it on before leaving for work.  He stayed home all day.  We watched the planes crash into the towers, the buildings falling, the people running.  It was on an endless loop that I know everyone watched for days along with us.

Over the course of the following week my students drew pictures of the images they had seen on TV, trying to sort it out in their minds.  I wonder what they think now, as young adults, looking back on that day.  Do they remember those moments of confusion when they went home early?  What conversations did they have with their parents?  I have lost touch with them all, but I wonder if they remember the stories more than the event, or if that day is etched in their memory.  It is for me.

I remember.

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