Bear Lake Brawl-Olympic

 

 

This one worried me. Of course, all the new distances give me that feeling but since I have already done an Olympic distance in the Burley Spudman race, I wasn’t worried about the bike and run, it was swimming a mile without the current. Bear Lake was my first sprint open water tri and I remember standing on the shore looking at the buoys, thinking how far out they looked. It was the same on Saturday only now I had to swim around them twice!

 

My wave was the last wave to start but we had to get there early before transition closed so it was a good two hour plus wait for me once I set my bike and run stuff up. The air temperature was a brisk 46 degrees but the water was about 65. Darlene and I swam out to one buoy on Friday night so I knew the water was going to be good. I got in about 20 minutes before my wave started to warm up so I was ready to go when we counted down.  I swam the whole time, meaning no stopping, no breaststroke, or backstroke. My goal was under 46 minutes so with the .15 mile from water to transition being included in the official swim time, I made sure to check my Garmin when I exited water – 45:30! I know that is not fast by most standards but it’s a huge accomplishment for me.

Both the bike and run were two out and backs which I’m not sure I really liked but they were non-eventful (except for the white truck that tried to pull out as I was making my first turn around on the bike-WTH?). I passed a few people on the bike and then got passed by a few on the run. Between 4-5 miles, my left foot went numb which is a little tricky when on a run! I will have to check the laces before I use my tri shoes again.

Since the Olympic female wave was last, there were not a lot of people at the finish line but it was fun to have the cheering going on by the few who were there. I was grateful to Sylvia and Darlene for cheering me on and taking pictures! I received my finish line card saying that I had taken 2^nd in my age group but when the official announcement came, I had been bumped up because the gal before me took 3^rd overall. 1^st place Age Group!  That meant 2 medals-and we know it’s all about the medal! It was a pr (personal record) for me to since I’ve never done it!

 

 

The Bear Lake Brawl is a great venue. Joe and his crew do a wonderful job of organizing and making it a good race.

Now I’m in the count down mode for the St. George Marathon – 12 days and counting!

Ta Ta!