I was lucky enough to take a few days off work, to total five days spent at Lake San Antonio surrounding the 2006 Wildflower Triathlons. Paul, Sylvia (Lucas), Yoshi (the canine) {pictured, above}, Natasha & Tony and I all headed up on Wednesday afternoon. We arrived to overcast weather and cool temps >> Yoshi promptly began chasing the wild turkeys, deer and squirrels that were constantly walking through our campsite.
As the days passed, the weather cleared up to wide-open sunny skies each afternoon, high temps, but always cool in the shade. We visited, lounged, had a few cocktails over the campfires, and waited for the thousands of athletes to descend on the park. It was really wonderful getting to know Natasha Badmann (6-time IM HI champ!) and Tony (pictured, above) -- what wonderful company they are! The down-time with those who arrived early in the week was really peaceful. Each day, athletes trickled in, until Friday when it became a steady stream of cars and RV's looking for prime positions near friends.
Saturday, I swam in my first-ever long-course relay. Our team was named Tri 4 Beer (pictured left). Charles Sharp pounded the 56 mi bike course, while Stephen Baumhauer ran his first half-marathon and had his first taste of what Triathlon is like. After my a.m. swim, I had the pleasure of watching LA Tri Clubbers and Tri buddies from everywhere come in at the Long Course finish line.
Everyone I saw and spoke to seemed to have an amazing outing that day >> something must have been in the water! (or, should I say, LAKE?). Anyway, congrats to EVERYONE who finished... especially.... Alma for her 5:46, and Andrew for his 5:14! (pictured, right)
Sunday... ah... Sunday... I earned my FIRST DNF in the WF Olympic!! I have to admit, I did not properly train for this event... and, you can't fool around at Wildflower. I swam, ran out, had a 6-minute or MORE T1 while I debated if I should bike-out or not... then, Andrew Hannan prompted me to get my ass in gear... so, I biked-out... going an avg. of 13 mph (yikes) and hit a max of 39 mph on Lynch Hill... then, threw on my running shoes to earn a T2, and turned in my CHIP!
As little as 20-minutes later the stronger women age-groupers started coming in. Again, everyone seemed to have better-prepared for the day than me, and they all had HUGE smiles on their faces. Congratulations all-around to all participants; especially the first-timers like Catherine & Lesley!! (pictured above, Liz Kollar, Heather Richards, me & Lesley after her first WF).I love this particular race-weekend (when we have good weather). I'm already looking forward to next year... and maybe I'll put in the time to train this time, and do it right.
