So Friday I picked up my packet and went to the event fair. I am really trying to put myself on a budget so I went there with only one goal in mind to buy some of these energy gummy bear that nice lady gave me after my first ride. i didn't find them but I did find a jelly bean version. One with and one without caffeine. I popped 2 and said let me see how this tastes and makes me feel. I do not drink coffee so caffeine affects me differently that the normal coffee drinker so i don't really use sports gels and the like. Well the Columbia Tri Assoc. was having a mini chat about what to expect and at that point I met a lasy who had not done anything, no bike riding, no running, no open water or any kind of swim. Now I am not one to judge size and fitness because I am often underestimated but I was thinking that wasn't a great idea for her to just jump in like this was a walk in the park. I told her she should at least do a test drive on the ride to get an idea. I ended up meeting these great ladies Pam & Michelle who came up from Va Beach! I told them the same thing about the bike ride and boy were they happy they went on the drive to see the hills I was talking about! Awesome ladies!!
At the reception I met Sarah Reinertsen! Amazing, amazing woman. She is the first female amputee to complete the Iron Man Triathlon!!! If you don't know you betta ask somebody because that makes her a total rock star & bad azz! Its a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and then for the fun of it (lol) you do a marathon yeah 26.2 mile run granted its in Hawaii but still that's madness! She had such an amazing spirit she was featured on the Iron man triathlon video and has done a book and does speaking engagements. Anyway it was an honor and you know I got a picture!!
The evening was great because I also met the VP of Iron Girl Intl program! She is a testament to fitness being about the mind and body. She is not a size 2 or even a size 10 but she also rocked the Iron Man in Hawaii. Do you know how bad azz you have to be to do that?! The thought popped into my head Sunday as I headed to the event but I quickly dismissed that. We'll see what God says later on down the line but for now hell to da' nah on that one! Anyhoo she got an award in honor of Judy Flannery she was an amazing athlete and the cool thing was she didn't even start until she was 38!
So fast forward to Saturday! I headed to the Team in Training Inspirational Luncheon and realized I couldn't find my race packet! I called the hotel to see if by chance I left it there the night before and I was a lil upset because I couldn't get a straight answer I pulled up outside and when in ans sure nuff it was right at the front desk. Ok a little note on customer service. Now if the 3 times I called this hotel that person asked or even tried to looked she could have given me the answer rather than passing me to every phone line in the hotel. I didn't even bother tracking her down because I was just happy it was there and I didn't have to drive home and hope and pray it was there. Sloppy on my part! But anyhoo yall know I love my drama!
After the luncheon which was very nice they had arts & crafts, and candle lighting ceremony, paraffin hand treatments with finger nail painting and a great lunch ohhh and picture takers that made magnets for us all dressed up looking crazy (lol) good times! I wish I had utilized TnT more but I had such a busy year but I did meet another brown girl and lo and behold we are SORORS! Coolness! So even if I made only 1 friend I did good! :-) Anyway after the luncheon my soror & I went to rack our bikes! That made it real lol
A/w I headed to see the boyfriend (who by the way found my blog and objected to being called Mister...so bf is his new name) lol So we hung out for a bit and I left him to his Ravens vs. Deadskins game and as I was driving away I heard *thud-thud-thud* sure nuff a flat tire! Its 7pm the night before the Iron Girl!! Ughhhh wellll Mister I mean bf went and get fix a flat and fixed it so I could make it home. I debated calling Geico and eventually did just to make sure I didn't wake up at 4am with a flat! They came quickly shout out to Guardian Angel in Owing Mills for the help!
Anyway got to bed by 10pm and got up by 4am and headed out by 4:35am when I got to Centennial Park there was a line to get in! I got joked on for being there at 4:45am on the Dress Rehearsal but I see I had the right idea! lol
Anyway I was pumping my soca CD from Carnival and there was a quietness in the park i didn't care quiet doesn't do it for me I need the beats to motivate me! I packed up alllll my stuff and it was a lot of crap extra pants, socks, shoes, water bottles. Ok I had like 3 bags most had 1! lol But Imma AKA so there you have it! :-0
I got set up and Pam & Michelle found me and we chatted and headed over. I went to the TnT tent and chatted to a few folks and a few of us went to go see the elite athletes start. the deal is they send everybody in waves based on age except the elites. Let me saw this on woman finished the .62 mile swim in 17 minutes! Dude they were moving like sail boats they didn't even look human! I was impressed! I was in the dark green swim cap group (glad they got the memo about pink & green!) and let me tell you.... there were a lot of us! I went towards the back of the pack and well I took off. I felt strong and good considering the night before my shoulder started hurting me out of the blue ohhh and I cut my finger because I shaved my underarms because my photo finish had to have me with my arms up! Vanity it'll get you every time. How I didn't bleed I dunno in an effort to move some of the hair off I thought it a good idea to use my index finger.. Comedy!!! Murphy's Law in full effect. Anyhow.
The water was NOT as warm as it was at the dress rehearsal I repeat WAS NOT! But with so many people it helped me not to get as dehydrated I think. Heck I think they put ice in there or something. I stayed hydrated as they told us to the whole weekend and before the swim I chugged down another 5 cups of water because swimming can really take its toll on you. The open water swim configuration was different from the rehearsal in fact it was worst rather than a U like shape it was like a rectangle. It seemed longer and farther away. I walked it the Saturday after I racked my bike. My gawd... A few of us were looking like..WOW...
So I was trying to add more fuel to the fire by taking the jelly beans and it worked I think. I was kicking harder and pushing myself then resting when necessary of whenever someone would kick me of swim into me (lol). The swim was very rough because there were so many people in the water the normally still lake was very choppy. When I came back past the start I checked the time and I was at about 37 minutes that was great to me! I still had a ways to go but a few bouys later the shore was in sight and I gunned it. I did about 47 minutes and I wasn't mad about it I was hoping for 50 minutes!
I came out of the water and there were volunteers there to help and that was good they warned us not to stand right up because when you swim all the blood is in your stomach because you were flat and if you stand to quickly you can face plant so I took my time. I got over...ohhh and let me say this it was raining like hard like I had to stop swimming to figure out if rocks were hitting me on my head only to see it was rain! Ughhh that made my biking attire a serious issue. I brought 2 items one was a cotton cargo pant and the other was like jersey material I went with the jersey material because of my experience last week with the soaking wet pants. It was a good choice. I got on the road and the first few miles were different because I was use to leaving from Princeton Sports and not the park so it was unfamiliar but at the around mile 3 it was the same place. I got into my stride and made up in my mind that I wasn't taking any of the major hills gotta walk them and gun the rest. That worked and I got the ride in like 2:44 hours. I been doing more like 3 hours so again improvement!
The bike ride didn't get any better is all i can say. I kept doing it to teach my bosy to accept it but that didn't work. It was still hard. On the upside there were a lot of volunteers and spectators along the route cheering us on and giving us much needed encouragement! I will do that next year for sure! The turn around was a middle school and members of the army were there to hand out water and Ironman juice (some bizzaro Gatorade?) and they were cuteeeeee!! So on the way back I kept telling other riders the schools was just up around the way and the army guys were cuteeeee everyone got a laugh out of it.
Ok the amazing thing was when I was leaving chicks were on their way back to the park. They looked spent I cheered them on though and told them they looked strong and hell they did! Anyone from Team and Training made an extra effort to say "Go team" I said a lot of thank yous and finally as I was heading back I got it in my mind that wow I am really doing this! How crazy am I! I didn't have the feeling of my half marathon here at mile 9 I got an attitude and said WHY AM I DOING THIS lol I was more...impress with myself. And I felt good like I was at like 11 or so and thinking there is NO doubt I'll be able to do the walk/jog...No doubt! That was cool! The rain came along but after last week's monsoon the drizzle was refreshing. I was concerned about the slick roads and the annoying cars and I mean really citizen of Columbia, Maryland Iron Girl is a Sunday morning once a year can't yall stay home till noon?!?! Seriously think about it or at the very least don't pull up on a bikers bumper!! The drivers were annoying and rude!!!
A/w I saw the park in my sights and the cars were really buzzing and I made the left had turn into the park. The crowds were going CRAZY!! Random people were yelling "You go girl" "You are awesome!!" " You look great!!!" I was a lil misty eyed at that point because well I like an audience! lol I mean I do speaking engagements and do various lawyerly smart things but intellect is one thing I mean I have a 185 IQ I got brains but to be admired for my physical endurance? That was different and special. I saw my Sorors' Mom and she cheered for me I told her she wasn't too far behidn because I passed her on my way back and I go off and headed down the hill took off my helmet and put on a new bandanna and headed towards the run. At this point a good majority of people were done I saw women with their medals and people just walking around the park all in the way but when they realized I was still participating they were respectful and moved!
So I dug up my old school 2006 Ipod! I used it in the 07 Half Marathon and I said I'll need this for the 5.5k! And boy did I! Let me give an old school Video Music Box Shout Out to TI for the song 'Bring Em Out!' I kept that playing over and over! TI I love you man! Lawd I can say it I love l've hip hop! I am sorry I know it has its issues but you want to get your workout on and your spirits up?! Ok gotta shout out Beyonce too...lol.. yall know she married the man that should have been my husband but she has some great songs too!
Music-there's no better drug! A/w I was still popping my jelly beans and they helped. The 3.4 miles is nice stretch there are a few hills so it is challenging especially after swimming over half a mile then biking a hellish hilly 17.5 miles but it was doable! I saw the finish line and could hear the announce "calling home" the Iron Girls "Becky Sue You ARE an Iron Girl" I kept repeating that in my mind well inserting my name of course! :-)
As I came around the final stretch I saw another lady and we finished strong. A few team in Training people were still there to cheer and the announcer joked me because I took out my ipod earphones so I could hear him and I said well i wanna hear this. I still think he messed it up... *eye roll* but it didn't matter
I AM AN IRON GIRL!!!
The professional photographer was there and I made him take a few shots lol at a point he laughed lol I heard my fellow Junior Leaguer & sister Greek friend call my name so she was there to pat me on the back! That was nice!!!! I appreciated her coming and helping me get my bike back to my car lol! A few others wanted to but didn't make it and it was okay I was funky anyway lol I heard the announcer calling my Soror's name and I waited for her and cheered her on as she made it over the finish line the photographer came back so guess what PINKIES UP! Can't wit to see the pictures!!! I am buying all of them!
Well well see I am chunkier than I wanted to be :-( but I am getting it together I packed my guy clothing and I am headed to the gym after work. Iron Girl pumped me up! I need to lose 50 pounds by next May. 30 I want off by Christmas! So its on!
Thanks for taking this journey with me!!! I will post pictures in a different entry because this blogger is annoying about placement! Stay tuned! Again thank you!
Iron Girl Cylia!
I'll never get tired of saying how proud I am of you!! Congrats again!
ReplyDeleteYou go Cylia, you are really an inspiration to us all. I wish I lived in your area, because you would be an awesome workout partner. I am looking into doing something like Iron Girl next year. It is my goal to do some type of marathon type of event next year. Once again I am so proud of you!
ReplyDeleteThanks guys!!!!
ReplyDelete@nechie12ar- Actually people came from as far away at Cali! So don't let distance stop ya!!
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