The swim was interesting because I had only open water swam once before this. I tend to swim to the right instead of in a straight line which made me go a little off course. Its pretty crazy to be swimming with 30 others and getting kicked in the face, flailing into other peoples stroke and almost running into the next wave of swimmers. I swam it in 11:39. Next was the transition to the bike which was really crazy. I had to make sure I had everything (helmet, water, race number, shoes, socks) and what not before jumping on my bike. The bike course was not what I was use to. We started out on a hill that just kept getting steeper and steeper (kinda hard when you don't have any momentum leading into it). Once at the top of the hill it is an extremely fast and scary ride down. I got going 35 mph and people were passing me and I was passing others. One dude biffed it at the bottom and got pretty messed up. Then it was another grueling hill climb (traffic was still allowed on the streets too), and another shot down a hill. It was pretty intense being so close to other bikers who would weave for no reason and all of the sudden slam on their breaks. Then we road a moderate incline back to the transition area and repeated for 3 full laps. I did it in 44:08.
The run was pretty hard too. There aren't very many hills here in Scottsdale so I never had the chance to train on them. The run when back into the desert and we had to run on two HUGE and steep hills. There was only a handful of people running around me during this part of the race. Most everyone walked up the hills. I am proud to say I never walked!! Once we made it out of the desert it was a slight run downhill to the finish at the Ritz Carleton. The finish line was way out of sight so I never really kicked into my higher gear because I thought I still had a ways to go. It kinda bummed me out because I was saving some energy for the last 1/2 mile. So I came around the corner and there was the finish and i wasn't even that exhausted! I think it was because I trained so long and regularly. But boy were my calves sore from all those hills! I finished the run in 28:05. I feel like I could have easily shaved 2 or 3 minutes off of my run...but crap, I finished! And I did have the fastest run in my division which I didn't think was possible. Here is a pic of me and my boys at the finish line--
Here are the results in my age group. I came in 6th with a time of 1:26:57!! I came in 92nd out of all the men and women in the race which was about 230 people.FEMALE AGE GROUP: 25 - 29Place Name City Sta Swim Trans#1 Bike Trans#2 Run Time
1 EMILY WILLIAMS HENDERSON NV 14:38 1:18 37:18 1:16 28:15 1:22:44 2 SARAH RINGER LAS VEGAS NV 10:56 2:07 39:35 0:46 30:31 1:23:54 3 LETA ROSE HENDERSON NM 9:44 1:08 43:19 1:17 29:59 1:25:26 4 KEIRA WALLAND HENDERSON NV 9:55 2:04 42:30 1:55 29:56 1:26:19 5 AMBER RAMIREZ LAS VEGAS NV 12:10 1:17 40:51 1:28 31:01 1:26:45 6 KRISTEN D. SCOTTSDALE AZ 11:39 2:19 44:08 0:48 28:05 1:26:57 7 MICHELLE O'BRIEN HENDERSON NV 11:33 2:04 43:19 1:10 30:21 1:28:25 8 BRITTANY POLLOCK LAS VEGAS NV 10:55 1:44 43:08 0:23 34:14 1:30:23 9 JENNIFER KALE LAS VEGAS NV 11:03 3:17 44:25 2:07 30:39 1:31:30 10 REGAN STOKES LAS VEGAS NV 14:10 1:58 42:29 0:58 32:24 1:31:58 11 KATRINA DORTON LEHI UT 12:57 3:06 44:57 2:08 29:48 1:32:55 12 AMANDA MAPES LAS VEGAS NV 11:58 3:16 41:22 2:13 34:40 1:33:27 13 JENNIFER SIMMS LAS VEGAS NV 11:17 2:03 43:33 1:25 38:15 1:36:32 14 LINDSAY BAUER HENDERSON NV 14:04 2:45 46:13 2:00 33:31 1:38:32 15 LISA SKIFTON LAS VEGAS NV 13:00 3:21 42:35 2:50 38:05 1:39:49 16 KELLY OLMSTEAD LAS VEGAS NV 12:45 2:07 43:32 0:48 42:00 1:41:10 17 ELISA ARNOLD LAS VEGAS NV 12:41 2:13 51:59 1:32 33:29 1:41:53 18 HEATHER CROCKET SALT LAKE UT 13:59 1:19 45:12 1:46 40:58 1:43:12 19 FRANCESCA BACA HENDERSON NV 15:01 1:03 52:50 0:50 36:23 1:46:06 20 JOELLEN GIANI LAS VEGAS NV 14:16 2:35 51:47 1:26 36:51 1:46:54 21 ANNE NICKSICK LAS VEGAS NV 16:16 2:02 57:20 1:40 37:31 1:54:48 22 KRISTIN HUBBARD HENDERSON NV 18:06 3:47 49:25 4:18 39:59 1:55:33 23 SHANNON RICHARD HENDERSON NV 11:34 3:54 1:00:04 1:31 39:07 1:56:09 24 NATALIE MONSEN LAS VEGAS NV 13:50 2:03 1:01:16 0:53 48:36 2:06:37 So since we were in Vegas and I had never been...we have to do the Vegas thing which for a Mormon consists of people watching, eating, riding the New York, New York roller coaster, watching a Cirque De Sole show, and playing penny slots (I lost 50 cents). We also saw the fountains at the Bellagio (Saweet). So Zac and I went to get some lunch after the race and we left Jaitz in the hotel room. We roped him off in a section of the room so he wouldn't have free reign to chew on stuff. So when we got back from lunch and I came in the hotel room and called for him thinking he'd be in his section of the room...this is what I saw....
Somehow he got on the bed and I have no idea how. He can't even jump up onto our small couch yet and this thing was WAY off the ground. He is a magician.
This is Zac and me at the Bellagio waiting for the fountains and stuff.
You guessed it...the fountains!! All in all it was fantastic and I am so glad I did it! I have to thank my one and only Zac for being there to cheer me along. Thank you for coming with me and spending all this money on me and caring so much for me. You made me feel like I was the best one out there. I love you. This is the longest post of my life....
