The Rush

Out of all of the triathlons that I've competed in, the RUSH triathlon has been by far my favorite. Maybe because it was the first triathlon I did, which started my addiction to this multi-sport race. Or it may be because of the vast variety of terrain it offers that challenges each athlete. Whatever it is I love it and I was so excited to participate in this year's Rush triathlon with two of my buddies, Angela and Becky, as a relay team. We call ourselves the Trio Chicks.

Left to Right: Angela (biker chick), Me (runner chick), and Becky (swimmer chick)

This event was not only exciting just in itself, but it was a significant milestone for one of the members of the team who has made a dramatic life change and used participating in this triathlon as a goal and celebration for this change. It was a celebration of a milestone in her journey.

Race morning always starts too early for my liking, but it doesn't take long for the excitement of the race to kick in, fading away the morning grogginess. It would be soon enough that total nervousness and anxiety would take hold of our emotions as the beginning of the race crept closer and closer. Then in the instant that the shout, "GO!" rang out nothing but full-throttle adrenaline surged through the body. It was race time and time to put on our game faces to show everybody what we're about.

Becky, leaving everybody in her wake!

Becky was a competitive swimmer in high school, but having so many years between now and then she was very nervous about her performance despite her training. To nobody's surprise, it ALL came back to her! She kicked some butt in that lake!! Becky was one the first five women to emerge from the water and had even passed many of the men who had started the race 15 minutes prior to her start. Becky had swam the half mile so quickly that Angela wasn't waiting at her bike for the hand-off between the two of them like planned; she was thinking that she had plenty of wait-time.

In a fury Angela ripped the timing chip off Becky's leg, wrapped it around hers, and then grabbed her bike. She was gone in a flash!

By the time that Kristy (Angela's mom), Becky, and I caught up to Angela she had already biked 10 of the 14 miles. She was HAULING!! It was taking us so long to catch up to her that we were getting nervous that she had already completed the biking and was waiting at the transition area for me to make the hand-off. I was pretty relieved when we finally caught up to her, but it still didn't leave much time for us to get to the next transition station with much time to spare.

In fact, after we parked and started making our way towards the transition area I started an easy jog to make sure I was in position and had some time to stretch before I ran my 3.1 mile run before Angela got there. Just then I saw Angela dismounting off of her bike. I set off into a sprint in order to enter the transition area before she did. Our transition was slick; she entered the transition area two athletes behind me so it was a fast exchange of the timing chip before I was off. No stretching for me!

The first 100ft of the run felt great! Everything after that was pretty miserable. This run would be the first time I have ever "couched it" meaning that I did not do any prior training for an event. I certainly learned my lesson! What a huge difference training makes even for as little as a 3.1 mile run. The first mile and a half was an incline; the last half mile of it being a steep, dirt trail that felt 10 degrees hotter than the run on pavement. At the top of the hill, the halfway point, there was an aid/water station that had ran out of water but was passing out sports drink, which was not ideal. I needed water!

The rest of the course from the halfway point was downhill, leading to the high school's track where I had to run three-quarters of the way around to the finish line. In the above video I am making my way towards the entrance of the track. Angela joins me for the final stretch.

WE FINISHED!!!

We're still awaiting the final results to be published, but according to the unofficial results we placed 8th out of 11 relay teams, coming in at 1 hour and 56 minutes. We don't know the break down of each discipline yet, but the results will be posted as soon as they are released. All I know is that we each gave it our all and that we had SO much fun!!

We're all grateful for our supporter and photographer, Kristy!