new favorite things about triathlons

I will write a longer post about this past weekend and the Lonestar 1/2 Ironman in Galveston on Monday (I'm a wee but tired right now...and I didn't even do the driving home - thank you, Laura!), but I had to share some of my new favorite things about triathlons while they are fresh on my mind. That is, if you consider my mind fresh since I woke up at 4:45 a.m. and had a nice little activity for approximately 6 hours in between!
Anyway, until later...here are my thoughts:
- wetsuit strippers...this was a highlight of my day!
- when your nutrition works (yeah...I might finally have it down pat)
- riding with an aerobottle...how did I last this long without one?!
- not bonking on the run...seriously, what an amazing feeling to actually be able to finish strong (even though I didn't quite negative split the 1/2 marathon like I wanted to)
- T3 blue, T3 blue, T3 blue all over the place...happiness is racing with teammates who are as awesome as T3!
- watching T3 join together in encouraging one another, cheering one another on, PR-ing all over the place, and picking one another up both literally and figuratively
- having some of our coaches at the race...doing awesome...working hard (racing or announcing)...cheering us on...being excited to see us finish...or getting in touch with us before the race to wish us luck. As a T3-er, I felt so supported by our coaches today it was incredible.
- leaving some goals for next time!!
- the fact that this "race" was really just a training day/weekend...back to the normal routine tomorrow! Really, we've lost our minds!
- out of town triathlons with great traveling buddies...especially Laura and Blythe
- having teammates who will let you go grab food with them after the race wearing shorts and your compression socks...yeah...some things should not typically be worn in public - like this outfit. But I did.
- and my new favorite race time for myself...seriously, this makes me giggle - 5:59:25. I wanted to go sub 6 hours someday (although I had not committed to this race being the race for it given we're in the middle of IM training)...and surprisingly I did! But it's a good thing that I didn't stop to do a single other thing along the way or else I would have missed it by a hair instead of making it by a hair.
(Thinking of all of my teammates tonight as everyone recovers from racing - whether it was a great race or a terrible race, I'm guessing we all learned something from it...and it took something out of all of us. For those who got hurt, feel better soon!)