GIRLS WEEK-END (Siesta Key Triathlon)

Well, we did it! Our third Triathlon. And to make it even more fun, we decided to make a girls week-end out of it! Five of us headed out to the Gulf Coast of Florida, to the white sands of Siesta Key, to swim, sweat, bike, run, eat, talk, and relax. SO MUCH FUN! Me, Sara Rose, Carrie Helms, Marie Winchester, Tracy Bosch...after we finished the race. Beckie Lowe and Andrea Rediski ,who had to back out at the last minute, were also there in spirit. (Andrea's disabled son had to go into the hospital...and I know how much she wanted to do this race...and how much she trained...so we thought of her the whole time). So...starting from the beginning, Sara picked me up, and we tried to get the bike rack on her car. Since there were only five of us, we figured out a way for us all to drive together. Sara took her back seat out, we fit two bikes standing in that area, and then put three bikes on the rack, and put all our bags in a car topper. Way more fun to drive together.

Okay, we think we figured it out...on to get the other girls.
As we picked up Carrie, we had her husband come and check the rack. He helped us get it a little more secure...and coached us with a few tips. We suddenly realized that we would be putting this bike rack on and off of the car many times by ourselves...and we needed to know how to do it. So thank you to Matt.
We made the 2 hour trip to Siesta Key, and talked the whole way. We found our "packet pick-up/registration spot", though we were skeptical. "Local Coffee and Tea"? Could this really be it? Yes it was. The guy that runs this race also owns this little shop. We picked up our packets, asked a bunch of questions, got him to give us our t-shirts early (everyone else had to wait until the next day), and tried on a bunch of stuff. As we left, we had been labeled "The high Maintenance girls". Well...whatever works. I did find an amazing deal on a Tri-suit, ($150 dollar suit for $25.00) so I was super excited.
Right away we went to check out the race course. Check out this starting line. BEAUTIFUL! So we had to stand in the very water (warm water may I say) that we would be racing in the next morning. Siesta Key is known for it's powder fine white sand and warm water. Notice we are all wearing our "Tri" necklaces. Okay...so you can't really see them, but I made us all matching necklaces. The two pendents say, "Wisdom", and "Strength". I thought was appropriate for this race.

We got settled in our fun condo on the beach, then headed out for a night on the town. We ate at a fun little sidewalk restaurant, and enjoyed the food, the atmosphere, and just talked for hours. So nice to not have to vacate a restaurant because of screaming children or because of the horrifying "kids-mess" made on the floor. Back at the condo we got our stuff all ready for the Triathlon the next morning. Soon we were trying out each other's bikes, testing each other's clip in shoes (trying to find the easiest clips), and having a great time. Usually the night before a race I am so nervous, but this night was so much fun.
We woke up around 4:30 a.m. and we were loading the bikes around 5:15 a.m. Still dark when we got to the race site. Now we have a few butterflies in our stomachs. By the time we got to the transition area, a lot of people were already set up, so we had to just kind of fit in where we could. This race was full of very "serious athletes". A little intimidating for sure.
I loved walking out onto the beach early in the morning. There were still some morning clouds, but it was so beautiful to see this white beach with all the racers getting ready to swim. I had never done a ocean swim before, so this was a whole new experience.

Getting excited...and still a little nervous
The whistle for our wave seemed to come out of nowhere. Not much warning. I almost had to laugh, but instead...I ran into the water. The water was so warm (actually I swim a little faster in cold water...but oh well) and it was a bit difficult to get out past the first small waves, but then I got going. I didn't like the salt water in my mouth...but lake water doesn't taste so great either. I seemed to have three girls surrounding me the whole time and got kicked a lot, but that's okay. I made it through...SHARK FREE!

Okay, this truly is me running out of the water (third person back), but you will just have to take my word for it. It was hard running through the sand to get back to the bikes. The bike was a 13 mile loop and it was so pretty through the small beach streets of Siesta Key. The run was a loop through the woods, and then a killer run down and back on the beach. It was supposed to be 3.2 miles...but it seemed to go on forever. I was so happy to be off the beach, but then we had one more loop through the woods. Arrghhh. I was so happy to see the finish line. We did have cloud cover for the first half of the race and that was nice, but it got quite hot and it was so humid. Saps my energy for sure. Sweat and salt water are not a really fun combination. Can you say STICKY?
Finished and so happy about it. The race was different distances than the other races we have done, so I think I did well (they didn't have our split times so it is hard to judge completely), and finished second among our little group.
We were all so happy that we finished our third race. This race really hurt at times, but it felt so good to be finished.

We all called our hubbies after the race. All five of us were wandering around with cell phones. We missed our cheering sections.

For the rest of the day we hung out at the condo, took wonderful naps, read, and talked and talked. It rained a lot of the afternoon, but that didn't stop the fun for us.

We got to see the most beautiful sunset and enjoy the beach in the evening. We ate dinner at a fun little restaurant right next to the beach on an open patio. We talked and talked way into the night again. I can't believe we never ran out of things to say. We headed back Sunday morning and got to church just in time.

I'm so glad that I got to share this fun week-end with these fun girls. I learned so much from them and got some fun stories as well. We all came home refreshed...and a little sore.

This should be the link to the picture of me coming out of the water. I'm not sure if it will work or not.

http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/slideshow.jsp?auto=0&aid=768a5498cf43b70aefef&idx=150