updates!

a coupla things.
the other weekend we all went to the US Women's Triathlon Series race in Federal Way. i wasn't so sure about this race for a few reasons - one being that my knee is still a problem.
there was an expo there and we had a booth and it was sunny and warm and awesome. it was so great to hang out in the nice weather, talking about triathlons and stuff, and just chilling out without a care in the world. ok, i was a little concerned about getting dehydrated by sitting in the sun so much but what's a girl to do?
in the morning after waking up in the 4s, i stopped or swung by 3 starbucks in the hopes of getting some coffee, none were open. i made th hr drive down to the race site, and parked about a million miles away. this was actually pretty good since the ride from the lot to the race site turned out to be my warm up. it was so fun to see all the girls in transition! the race was so mellow and it was just so fun to see everyone. we were racked by wave, so we were all over the place but we all met up for some pre race chatting.
we meandered to the water for a warm up swim, but a minute after ignoring the "swimmer's itch has been reported at this beach, swim at your own risk sign" they said we had to get out of the water for the race meeting, etc. so no swim warm up. the water itself was really warm so that was nice, but it would have been good to get a few more than 3 strokes in before hand but it was what it was.
it was a deep water start which was kind of cool, and the swim was good. the water was warm but it was foggy and hard to see the buoys. i was sighting often which was good because every time i was very off course, at least what i could tell as being off course since really i was siting off of other people a lot of the time. i swam all the way to the end to the point where the volunteers reached down to lift us out. they were grabbing my arms before i even stood up. i think i swam more than 750 since i was so far off course all the time.
transition was 1/4 mile run up through some grass and through the parking lot. transition was nutty and they through in the run through the parking lot to even it all out. t1 was quick once i was actually in it - no socks, no gloves, and out i went.
i was riding hard from the beginning. they totally shut down some major roads so there were no worries about cars or anything, that was very cool. there were some hills, but not any long sustained climbs but i started passing people, and i even started lapping people on the 2nd loop. i also got to see every one of the girls i knew that were out racing, so that was pretty fun, too. i did not get passed by anyone. i didn't take my garmin or hr monitor, i was just going hard and that seemed to work out pretty well. i wound up with the fastest bike split of the day! thinking back there were a few places where i think i could have even ridden harder.
i wasn't sure what to expect out of the run. the tape from PT stayed on, even after the 40 minutes in the pool the day before, and i think it helped. i didn't have any pain! at least not in my knee! i was huffing and puffing and working pretty hard. i will admit i wasn't going all out, but i'll also admit i was a bit afraid too, even step expecting it to begin hurting. i was going at a comfortably uncomfortable pace but frankly i was just worried about getting it done. despite all the huffing and puffing i was feeling like i was going pretty slow. the only chatting i did was to tell the police man who was riding a police bike that he really should be wearing a helmet (next time i saw him he had put one on!), but i was surprised that no one was catching me. eventually one girl did and she flew by me, she was out of site almost instantly. the 4.1 miles went by pretty quickly and I was really happy to be done. and as a bonus, i won my age group! yahoo! what a fun race it turned out to be! it was so fun to have all the girls out there and it was a good confidence booster after having had such a rough couple of racing and training weeks.
i have since run one more time since then for 10 minutes with no pain. my knee was all taped up again, but i have been swimming like crazy and aqua jogging and using the elyptical, and doing some good mtn biking and road riding. i did my first wednesday night mtn bike race this week - wow! its been a long time. i realized it was only the 2nd stand alone mtn bike race i've done this year, which is very different than last year. i am eager to get this whole racing thing on the road again.
other news, pawpi seems to be getting better. the vet called to say that the antibiotics she is on this time should get rid of what they found in her bone cultures. she seems like she is recovering quite well, too. she is pissed off having the cone on still, really i can't blame her since she has had it one a lot since february.
this coming week is going to be crazy busy at work. crazee. followed by a weekend of camping at colchuck lake. we're taking the kids and hiking in. yikes!!