Ben was pretty bummed that I couldn't do the Black Canyon Triathlon with him this year. I mean I was, too - but I also got a trip to Oregon instead and so my loss was a little softened. :) But the Black Canyon Tri is part of 4-series race and there was one more for the season - the Splashland Triathlon in Alamosa, Colorado. Alamosa is a small town in the Southeastern part of the state - near the Great Sand Dunes. So I suggested to Ben we go and do that triathlon together and he was totally on-board.
This triathlon is unique in that it's backwards - you run, bike, and swim. Weird. Ben and I did a small practice backward tri the week before and it was different for sure. Of course your run felt stronger, but the bike was a bit harder because your legs have already done some work. Then it was interesting because for the swim, your triceps were already exhausted. Who knew how much strain biking was on the triceps!? Also, the swim was in this "hot springs" pool - Splashland.
Anyways, we got a hotel for Friday night and the plan was to leave around 4:30 - it's a 4-hour drive from our home. But life happened and sort of fell apart . . . Emmy was taking the Flex to a PT appointment as I got home from work. However, the Flex just completely died in the driveway. Emmy was worried about the Flex and I was worried about her missing her PT appointment (it was her first one and I didn't want to pay for it if she didn't make it, ha). But we finally got a hold of Jonas and he came home and got Emmy and dropped her off - late - for her appointment. Jonas looked at the Flex and couldn't figure out the problem....
We had to wait to pick up Emmy from her appointment (and the PT talked to me forever!) and then as we got home, Emmy - who was beyond bummed that the Flex (the car she gets to use) wasn't working, told us that among the many weekend plans ruined by the broken-down Flex, one was that she didn't have her costume for the cross-country fun-run costume race the next morning. You know, the one I had asked her about on Monday and if she had her costume figured out, etc. - to which Emmy replied, "It's only Monday mom!" In a not-terribly-friendly tone . . . Sigh. So then I had to run to Walmart and find a Woody from Toy Story costume. Luckily there were two in the store - a men's XL or a boy's M. Boys M = size/age 8-10. Oh well, I knew Emmy would be able to pull it off - and she did and was, as I called her, a "sexy Woody." Haha. Pics of her on a different post . . .
Then we had to drop Emmy off at the football game - and finally Ben and I were on our way at 6:30pm. Oh well. We had a nice drive, but didn't see much of it because it was dark by the time we got to where we've never really driven before.
Race morning started out cold! Like in the mid-20s cold. Which is cold for a bike ride! I knew the run would be totally fine and the outdoor hot springs of course would be, too. But I was a bit worried for the bike. Ben and I checked in and got ourselves ready and tried to warm up a bit.
Then it was on . . . and the run was great. It was pretty scenic and I felt good and that I was pushing it at my max. Ben came in 4th. I was the 2nd woman. I could have been 1st . . . This girl and I ran the whole thing practically together - sometimes I was a step or two ahead and sometimes she was. But right close to the finish we had to funnel down to single-file and I let her ahead. So she beat me by like 1/2 a second. So that was kind of awesome. She was also 17 years old. . .
Then the bike was fine. I wasn't cold at all. It was again pretty. I got passed by a few and so that was kind of a bummer. I saw Ben coming back as it was an out-and-back route and he was looking good at third position!
The swim was a bit different. It was 800 yards. Not bad. But the lengths were 50 yards - as opposed to the 25-lengths of most pools. I had never swam a 50 length and so it was just different. It was serpentine style, which I hate. I got bonked pretty good on the head once. I was only passed once, though, which was shocking because I am so slow. One end of the pool was 3 feet deep and didn't have a wall to push off of, so you kind of just walked over to the next lane and then began to swim again. A bit weird and I think it slowed me down, but not a big deal. I didn't love the warm water. Actually, the warm water wasn't awful, but there were these jets that pushed out hot water and I hated that. My body was producing enough heat and I didn't love the extra. But I finally finished and all was well.
Ben ended up taking 3rd place overall and 1st place in his division - go Ben!! He did awesome. I ended up 3rd place overall female and was super happy with that! I got 2nd in my division, which was dumb because there were only two of us, ha. Anyways, it was super fun and we were both happy with how we did.
One of Ben's best-friends from Littleton, Dave Tandberg, lives in Alamosa and is the president of the small college there - Adams State. Dave and his wife Darren actually came to Splashland and got to see Ben and I getting our medals. Nice, ha! We then spent the rest of the afternoon with them. We went over to their awesome "president's home" where presidents of the college have been living since the 1930s, which was when it was built. It was such a unique and awesome home! We got to take a tour of the small but beautiful campus and even got to see Dave's office and got some Adams State merch as well. :)
We walked back to Dave's house and people changed to get ready for the football game. When then walked back to campus and made our way over to the stadium. On our way, there was a tour being given to prospective high school students (lacrosse, I think) and Dave "had" to give a speech. It was awesome seeing Dave in his element as president and so fun for Ben to see and hear his speech. It was perfect. We got to watch the game in the president's box and that was super cool. We even got a free, catered lunch out of it. On our way out, Dave took us on to the field and we watched a few plays there before half-time begun and we left.
It was a really great 24-hour date and maybe the Splashland Triathlon will become a new yearly tradition!
1 comment:
You guys CRUSHED it! You have to do this again.
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