One month after IMCDA I headed up to Sonoma, CA with two of my TNT Ironman Teammates, Rich and Mark for the 2nd of the planned IRONTEAM races, The Full Vineman Ironman. A bunch of our teammates were racing their first Ironman! Mark & Rich were racing the full Vineman Aquabike... 2.4 mi swim and a 112 mi bike. They are training for IM Louisville so this was their training day. I had signed up to do the 1/2 Aquabike, 1.2 mi swim/56 mi bike, before IMCDA figuring it would be awesome to watch my teammates race, to have a goal after IM and to race representing Team Odwalla!
Despite the fact that I keep doing these long triathlons I am NOT a fan of running... so it turns out the Aquabike is my dream race. Swim, bike.. NO run! For once I could ride my legs off without having to save anything for the run. What fun this was!!!!
In transition I bumped into a bunch of friends that were also racing. One of them was Tanya the founder of GOTRIbal, an organization created for women in triathlon. GOTRIbal sole purpose it to create a way to empower women through racing and girl-power. Tanya is someone I met 17 years ago while interning at the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Lab in Hawaii. Over the years our lives have crossed without planning or intention... she is just one of those people who I know will be in my life forever and make it a little bit brighter each time we meet.
The swim was a unique experience... it was in a river... up stream then back down stream in water that I could stand up in if I tried. The bike was great... I hear someone yell GO TEAM ODWALLA and someone slapped me on the back as they rode by. It was a fellow Team Odwalla member! I was sooo excited, this was the first race that I had done with a fellow team member! I ended up meeting Anne Thilges at the expo after.
With Aquabike done the third leg of my day began, Ironteam cheerleader. Those of us done with the Aquabike turned into IronTeam fans! We stayed on course and at the finish until the last of our teammates finished their race. It was amazing. An IronTeam finish line is like no other. Friends, family, teammates, racers who had finished all waited to cheer in every teammate plus those other racers who happened to finish in between. Gordie, our honored teammate, crossed this finish line with both of his daughters. Cancer obviously did not win this one, Gordie showed his cancer was boss over 140.6 miles and the last 10 months of training.
As much as I loved the Aquabike I cannot explain the feeling of relief that came over with me when I was done. I had not realized until I crossed the finish how much the race had weighed on me. Eventhough finishing IM was a huge relief, I still knew I had the Aquabike a month later. Now with Aquabike done, I was DONE! Yay, yippe, yahoo!
OK well maybe not done, done, but close... just one more little race. I have the Women's Sprint Triathlon in October. I did this race last year. It was almost exactly one month before the year anniversary of my accident. I had decided that I need a goal and what better goal than a triathlon. So I particpated in this race to close the book on "recovery" and officially started my journey to Ironman. So this October the race will be purely a celebration! Celebration of an amazing year; broken pelvis a part of my past, 2 1/2 Ironmans and an IM completed and my first Aquabike.
Now I get to "train" for the sprint which really just means I am excerising for FUN!
See you on the trails, in the neighborhood running with Norman, smiling as I ride my bike through the hills of Pasadena and jumping in the pool if I can motivate.
Thanks for reading as always... and stay tuned for some more posts NOT related to Ironman!!!
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