The rest of the Galveston story...and my Olympic Trithalon...I mean, Duathlon

Last weekend, despite our best plans, we pulled into Galveston for our triathlons, with our car loaded down and the dogs stuffed in there somewhere too, somewhere around 4pm. We had planned on getting there early afternoon and having a nice, relaxing day, with maybe one last swim in the ocean, but alas, things didn't work out that way. :)

Instead, we found the house, dropped off the dogs and our bags and headed over to the Expo to check in and check out what was going on at the race site.


After waiting in a crazy long line, we were finally official and even had a little time left over to check out the Ironman store. It was pretty crazy too--you could buy Ironman everything, from cookie cutters to beach towels. Landon ended up with some comfy Ironman 70.3 sweatpants for after his race. :)

Then, before we left, we went to check out the water and it looked perfect, nice and calm. Little did we know what the 70 mph winds that were to come that night would do to the glassy surface.

The next morning, conditions were a little different. After a night of howling winds and some rain, we loaded up the car in humid, drizzly weather and headed out bright and early to Moody Gardens for my Olympic tri. After Landon and I got all of my things set up in the transition area, we went to check out the water for the swim and found things looking rough. There were actual waves, much like in Kemah. Inside I was freaking out a little, but part of my was just ready to get it over with, no matter how bad it would be.


It turns out though, it was pretty rough, because about 10 minutes later there was an announcement made that the swim portion of the race was being canceled. Apparently they couldn't keep the buoys in place to mark the swim and one of their police rescue boats sunk because waves kept dumping water into it. Part of me was a little relieved, but I was more frustrated because I'd been training for and worrying about the dang swim for so long. But alas, there as nothing I could do about it, so I tried to just roll with the punches. There were a lot of made people though--I felt bad for the announcer. :)\

Right after the announcement, my dad showed up for the race. I was SO glad he was there--no one in my family had seen us race before since most of the races we've done have been out of town, so it was fun to share that with him! We hung out for a little while, until they began the sprint triathlon and called for the olympic people to head into the transition area.


Anyway, after standing around for a couple of hours, it was finally time for me to begin the race. It was all very anti-climactic and very weird to be jumping on the bike without having swam first. They lined us up row by row and we walked our bike out the bike chute and then jumped on and started riding. Luckily, once we headed off onto the bike course it actually started feeling like a race, haha!


I was feeling good heading out and, since I wasn't at all tired from the swim, since there was no swim, I decided to push myself more than I had in the past races and really see what I could do. It ended up being a beautiful day, albeit very windy, and I kept pushing myself to pass people in front of me, especially when I could see that they were in my age group! I ended up riding about 18 mph, which is about 3 mph faster than I did in the sprint races, because I heard Landon's voice in my head telling me that I could go a lot faster if I wanted to! Thanks for the motivation, babe--you're the voice in my head! :)


Finishing the race I felt good, and it was fun to see Landon, my dad, his mom and his sister cheering me on as I came down the chute! I was excited about my bike time, but I knew the run was gonna be rough, because I had just ridden twice as far as I ever had in a race, and considerably faster than I ever had, even in practice!

Landon and my dad met me in transition and talked to me for a minute as I changed my shoes and headed out, which was fun. And then, it was off to the 10K!


It had turned into a gorgeous day, blue skies and not a drop of rain in sight, but by the time I finished my bike, it was HOT.

My run was a 2 loop course, winding all through Moody Gardens. My family picked a spot right in the middle where I got to see them multiple times each loop, which was fun. It was hot and I was tired and I know I was looking rough, but it was still fun to see them! :)

And finally, after what seemed at times like an eternity, but really was only about an hour, I saw the blessed 6 mile marker and decided to kick it in the last .2 miles to the finish line. I'm telling you, there's nothing quite like seeing the finish line and crossing under it, knowing you've completed the race. I love it.

I'm an Olympic duathlete! Not really what I was hoping to be able to say at the end of the day, but oh well! I guess this just means I'll have to do another race now! :)

After the race we went and found a shady place to sit for a minute, near where Landon's dad was doing massages and my dad and Kenna found me some food, which I was in dire need of. I definitely did not eat enough before (or during) the race and was feeling it at the end.

Though it didn't go how I planned on it going, it turned out to be a fun morning. I ended up finishing right in the middle of my age group, which, for a triathlon, I'll take. There are some tough women out there, haha!

As Landon helped me pack up my things and we headed to lunch, I began slowly switching gears to Landon's race, which was the next morning. It was weird for us this time because this was the first time our races haven't been on the same day. Kinda nice, because we could help each other out and cheer each other on, but weird none the less.

That afternoon we hung out at the house some, talked with my dad, played with the dogs,


packed Landon's race day bag and made sure it had everything, I took a gloriously long bath and relaxed a little, we went to his pre-race Ironman 70.3 meeting ,


and then hung out with Ben and Becky, our sweet friends who drove out to hang out and cheer Landon on. We had a nice dinner at a little local Italian restaurant and then spent the rest of the evening just relaxing at the house--the guys played chess while we made brownies and decorated signs to bring to the race course the next day. It was a nice night. :)


All in all, it was a really good weekend and we're so thankful for our friends and family who made it so much fun! You guys ROCK! And, hopefully the next time I write about a triathlon we do, I'll be able to say I FINALLY completed an Olympic triathlon! :)