Phillips Sprint Tri

How nice it was to wake up in my own bed the morning of a race!

Saturday marked the 2nd annual Phillips Triathlon.

Believe it or not, Phillips is more rural than Medford. It's also only one hour north of my hometown. This allowed me to do my premorning race ritual at home. A second bonus was that the race started at 9:00am. I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night! Not that it would matter. I'm usually up by 4:30 anyway; race or no race.

It's a small race with a lot of newcomers to the sport (I hate that term, newbie). No timing chips. Needless to say, the obsessive/compulsive side of me does not do well with that!

Anyway, the day came together well. Pontoon boats carried us across the lake for the swim start. It was a nice point-to-point swim. I was out front in my wave and had nobody crawling all over me. Love that!

The bike was GLORIOUS. Nice slight rollers. Similar to what I'm used to. Everything was firing just like the book says it should. I was able to hold 90% of my FTP for the duration of the 18.5 mile course. Better yet, I felt great.

My legs felt good for the run and I wanted to push it. I had it in my head that I wanted the overall win. I've occasionally placed well in my age group but I've never been able to win the overall. I know this was a small event. That is precisely why I thought I COULD win. That is why I wanted to win. Because this might be my only chance. I kept telling myself the she-beast runner of all time was right on my tail. No looking back or she would catch me. No slowing down or that woman I've dreamed up in my head from the last wave would surely beat me.

When it was all said and done, I did win, by about 4 minutes! It was fun and it felt good! Even if I hadn't, I put in a solid race; decent swim, solid bike, hard run. Check out the cool race bling. Overall winners got these plates made by a local pottery artist. Age group winners got a small canoe paddle with the same design engraved on the paddle. Some of the perks of small town racing!

I celebrated by buzzing home and watching my girls swim in an invitational. I am amazed by how they've improved over a few years and love their persistence and enthusiasm.

Well, that's over and less than 24 hours later I'm plotting and strategizing to meet my goals for the upcoming Spirit of Racine half ironman on 7/19/09. I'm really looking forward to some solid racing in an effort to bolster up my fitness and confidence for IM Louisville. More on that later!