I love Kokopelli Tri by BBSC. I did it last year and fell in love with this course and this time of year. St. George is beautiful, the water is warm and the course is perfect temperature. BBSC does awesome triathlon events. They are well organized and the medal to finish and age group awards are AWESOME!
A few days before the race, after a short run, my left hip really started to bother me. I decided to chill the rest of the week to let it relax. Seeing the master Nate from Vast Chiropractic to help fix me up.
The hubby and I left Friday to head to St. George. We stayed at a great condo on the Sand Hallow golf course. (Thanks Karen and Jason) I wasn’t really “feeling” the race vibes yet. We met up with our friends, Wally and Mark, at packet pick up and we headed to dinner. It was nice to enjoy a relaxing evening with great friends.
Hubby and I got back to the room and the tummy nerves set in. Let’s just say that I “gassed” my poor husband out. It was horrible. I was nervous. I hadn’t raced in three months because the summer was crazy with family vacations and work.
We got up at 5:15 am and started to get ready. I have to say my breakfast meal of a protein shake and three powdered donuts seems to be a good combo. I’ve never had tummy issues with that breakfast on a course.
We picked up Wally, loaded up his bike and headed to transition. They have Olympic participants with odd numbers and Sprint with even numbers. I found my area and went to rack my bike and this woman said “this is my area.” I said more people are coming and you can’t take up this entire rack. She said “yes I can” and I was like UGH! I am not getting into it with this lady. So I moved down.
I should have taken a picture of this. New triathletes – TAKE NOTE – DON’T DO THIS! This lady racked at the end of a row then took up all the space between each set of rack legs. She spread out her giant beach towel, bucket, bouquet of balloons, a Hawaiian Laue tied to the rack, all her equipment including what looked to be all her drill swim gear too, then yelled at anyone that tried to move her over.
Myself and other lady were laughing as we set up just down from her. The race director came over to her and told her to take down ALL the balloon, she could have one and she needed to tighten it up. She argued with him. Finally she kind of reduced her pile. Lucky for her it was a light rack area and she could stay that way.
Mark and I went to use the potty and that was the first port a potty that smelled amazing. Seriously…. it was lovely. Thank you honey bucket!
Putting on a wet suit should be the first event in a triathlon. Tugging and pulling and it comes on. So grateful for the tips over the years to get your wet suit on better. My two favorite tips: Glide and a shopping bag. Your feet and arms will slide right in. We all went down to the start of the swim ramp and waited my turn.
This is my last year in 39 and under, next year is the big 40 and over. Yay me! Rob and I were talking about our new Roka X1 goggles. I LOVE LOVE mine! I like the extra vision and the way they sit on my face.
The water was so nice 78 degrees. Swimming in bath water… ahhhh!! Like always the swim start is a kicking and slapping event, but eventually it evens out. For the first time in open water, I felt in control of my swim. Nate worked with me on my swim stroke and breathing and holy cow, I felt strong and in control during the swim.
Got out of the water and ran up the ramp to T1. As I was taking off my wet suit, I hit my watch and it advanced me to the bike. Oh well, got in and out of there fast.
I love that bike route. While Nemesis is a hard hill, the rest of the course is super fun. I felt strong climbing the hill even with my hip screaming at me.
My hubby said he could see my white bike and bright pink helmet in the distance and could see me passing people! Whoohoo!
Came in to T2 (I really need to learn to do a flying dismount and have confidence I won’t fall), but anyway….. I did come in one rack to early on the bike, but I quickly found my stuff.
Headed out on the run. Immediately my legs were like… NO…. don’t do this. But I kept saying shut up legs. I started out strong and then like always the temptation to walk set in. I was thinking I’ve been doing 3 miles a lot lately and I know I can run this. I was only going to let myself stop once for water and then keep running. That’s exactly what I did. I set in with a good pace and just ran. Only stopping at the first water station and walking for sec, then heading back out. On my way in, the finish was only another mile and I figured… I can drink when I finish.
That was the first time I’ve ever felt that strong on a run. It felt awesome to know I could keep a pace and stick to it without walking and running.
Running I had no idea where I was in the race. I was mainly with dudes running with the exception of one girl who blew by me, but she was in another age group. My time the year before was 1:42 and my goal going in was to try and hit 1:35/1:36. I knew I was pacing well to hit my goal and those PR thoughts kept me going.
Crossed the finished line and the hubby sherpa had my flip flops ready. Boy does he know what I need right after the race – my feet out of my shoes! We walked over to the timing tent and Shane said “oh my gosh, you are in 3rd place” I was like WHAT?!!! I entered my number and the print out said 3rd place in age group. Totally did the happy dance. But then was like wait, I could get bumped. Let’s see what happens. NOPE it STUCK! BAM! 3rd place in my age group holy cow!!
We watched other friends come in turning the race, posed for a group photo and walked over to start awards. WHAT?! Awards started? I missed my opportunity to stand on the podium :(. I was totally bummed. But like EVERYONE missed it. Why they didn’t announce they were starting awards? So I stood in line with the tons of other people that missed it too.
These medals were HUGE! It was awesome. For such a competitive race, taking 3rd felt amazing! It was a goal I had for the past year.
The best part of racing is racing with friends. I love this race because there are my friends from lots of clubs!
