T3 Telos Timp Tri - Relay - April 16, 2016

Team Sweat, Sparkle, and Sprint!  Jessica, Joyce, & Brandy!

It was a last minute decision... like many fun races are... to take part in this triathlon!  My great friends, Jessica and Brandy, decided to join me for a relay for this sprint triathlon down in Orem this past Saturday.

It was cold!  It wasn't supposed to be cold!  But for some reason, I either choose, or the cold weather tends to find me, for these crazy races!

I headed down to Sandy, to pick up Jess, and we cruised down to Orem.  I thought I was going to get pulled over a couple of times on the way there, as there were a lot of cops out on Saturday morning.  It was probably due to the heavy volume of people in Salt Lake for the Salt Lake City Marathon and Bike Tour happening that same morning.  I'm glad I got out in time before getting stuck! 

We got down to Orem, and boy was it cold!  They weren't allowing any of the athletes into the indoor areas either!  We set up transition, and did some warming up to stay warm (and then hid in our cars too). 

Before the race!

I don't know how, but I somehow talked Jess into running this relay with us!  She was a trooper in pushing through it, despite her recent trip to the hospital (two days before)!  This was her first time getting to experience a triathlon.  I've been slowly trying to convert her (bwahahaha... just kidding!  But for real... I'd love for her to join me)!  She ran into some of her friends from Addicts to Athletes, and I ran into one of my friends from the U (my friend, Thomas, who I worked with in the mouse-house at HCI, was there to support his wife, Katie)!  So funny how we ran into each other at a triathlon of all places!

National Anthem.

Anyway... we had the race meeting at 8:15am, and then Jess got ready to start us off with the run.  Oh... I failed to mention... it was a reverse triathlon - run, bike, swim instead of the regular swim, bike, run.  I found my teammate, Richard, who I haven't seen in quite some time.  He's been traveling for work, and doing some crazy, awesome triathlons overseas!

And off she went.  While I was waiting for her, I warmed up, and debated with myself on how much clothing I was going to wear.  The sun was warm, but I felt like I'd get cold on the bike.  Should I wear my leggings?  Or should I just got with my tri shorts?  Should I wear my SmartWool jacket?  Or just go with my driFit shirt?  Gloves? No gloves?  In the end I went with my tri shorts, no jacket, and no gloves.

It wasn't too long before she was coming back to transition and passing off the timing chip to me!

And then off I went.

For some reason I had trouble clipping in!  I realized shortly after I headed out that I should have warn those darn gloves!  Oh well... too late now!  The bike was a 3 loop course with a pretty intense uphill (well, more like 2 uphills) at the end of the loop!  I was the moron who didn't realize she didn't gear down to her lower ring on her first loop!  Can I just tell you how much my legs burned?  Yeah... I didn't make that same mistake the second and third loop around.  I noticed that I had a hard time catching my breath.  I think the cold air tends to affect my asthma a lot more than I'd like.  And my throat got all dry again, just like it did at Ice Breaker.  But I pushed through.  There were some people walking that hill, but I just refused to get off my bike!  I didn't care how long it took me! 

I finished a few minutes later than I expected to.  I would have finished in my estimated time had I not made that mistake on the first loop, and that hill... oh, that hill!

I tagged off to Brandy, who headed off to the pool for her the swim. 

The pool area was so hot, but it felt good after my hands froze on the bike!  Michelle showed up and came to cheer us on!  She had just gotten back to the area from the Salt Lake City Bike Tour!  We flip-flopped in race areas! 

Brandy was done in no time!  She rocked it!  She told us that she ended up in a head to head collision with another swimmer in the pool!  Ouch! 

We had a lot of fun!  It's kind of nice switching it up and running a relay instead of running the whole tri by yourself!  I'm glad Jess got to experience a little bit of tri life!  I hope she joins me for a triathlon soon!  We stuck around for awards, and most of the guys from SLTC made the podium!  So awesome! 

I love this sport!  I love it for all the friends I've made, for what it's made of me, and what I continue to learn about myself as I continue to participate!  Thank you, triathlon, for changing my life!