Salem Spring Tri

Today was the Salem Spring Triathlon. This was my 4th year doing this particular triathlon. We had our friends over last night for dinner and most everyone was a little jittery. I am usually jittery, but for some reason I felt calm about the race. I had trained fairly consistently, so I was ready for whatever they threw at us. We stayed the night at Brett's parents house as they watched our kids and when I woke up this morning and went outside to get Brett's clothes it was cold and rainy....a very cold 45 degrees. We showered, ate, and got on our way. We stopped by the house on the way over to pick up a few things we had forgotten.

When we got to Salem, it was still raining. Matter of fact, it rained for 2 hours. I wanted to be around to see what the race directors were going to decide, so I stayed at the park. It was decided early on that the bike portion of the race would be canceled. We were a little bummed about that because we rode the route several times to prepare for this event. It was then decided that the swim portion would be shortened and we would go ahead with the run. After that decision was made, more than half of the people in the race went home.

The water was pretty chilly. I was thankful for the wet suit that I own because I was kept warm. I still struggle to find my niche when getting in the water. I took in a few gulps of pond water, which is always nice, but all in all I did ok.

By the time the race was over my knee was killing me and that ALWAYS makes me MAD!! I took advantage of the free massages that the race offers and I had the meanest massage lady ever. She was so rough and I told her she was hurting me and she just kept hurting me. I had bruises on my legs after it was all done. Not a good experience....

Here are some pictures from the day

I always love seeing pictures of the preparation time. This picture was taken minutes before the swim began

Here I am transitioning to the run

Off to run

The Finish Line - I really need to work on my sprinting abilities. The girls that finished ahead of me were behind me going up the hill to the finish. The really shot past me and I must not have cared....seeing the pictures though makes me realize I definitely have things to work on.