Look at those big smiles at 7:00 in the morning, fully aware that we're getting ready to torture ourselves for approximately one hour and 35 minutes (me) and one hour and 28 minutes (Lanie).
The inaugural Tri Indy Triathlon & Duathlon this past Sunday, August 15th, was a BLAST! I finally got over my fear and managed to battle through my stupid knee issues and finish my first multi-sport event, and I am HOOKED. I'm pretty sure that I will never be doing the distances my cousin Chris does (Ironman) -- actually, I'm positive -- but sprint distances are a blast and Olympic distances aren't even all that bad. I think I'll stick with those ;)
Lanie and I both did the duathlon, because we hadn't really had time to train for swimming. Our race started at 7:45 a.m. in front of the NCAA Hall of Champions downtown. The first run (2 miles) followed the pedestrian path up the White River toward the zoo, across the bridge, and back down the other side of the river on the IUPUI campus.
From there we transitioned into the bike event, which was a 12.5 mile loop through seemingly every imaginable part of Indy. I didn't have a speedometer (that was dumb), so I had NO clue how far I'd gone or where I was. I just kept biking my heart out and feeling giddy every time I passed someone. The bike course was pretty good, with lots of police protection at every intersection and lots of volunteers shouting out sharp turns and such.
I felt pretty good when I arrived back to the transition area after the bike, knowing I just had to conquer the last 3.1 mile run. Unfortunately, my knees had been acting up for the past several days, and although I had them taped, the combination of sweat and biking had loosened the tape to the point where I just had to rip it off. I have illiotibial (IT) band issues, which are pretty common in people who run, bike, etc. a lot. They tend to flare up when I'm training for any kind of event, and sometimes the pain is bad enough that it keeps from competing (i.e. the Susan Komen 5K in Columbus back in May, where I had to walk the last half of the race). But, somehow, I convinced myself on Sunday that I was NOT going to let me knees stop me, and I didn't. They starting hurting pretty horribly a mile into the second run, but I was determined to finish. And I did!
It was an amazing feeling running through that finish line. The announcer said something like, "Here's Stacey Young-Caudell, from Bloomington. Hopefully you're going to go celebrate at Nick's later!" (Nick's, for those of you that don't know, is a well-known IU bar in B-Town.) I immediately sat down in the grass and drank a cup of Gatorade, in lieu of passing out, and waited with Lanie for the results and watched all of the sprint and olympic distance people finish.
One of the best parts of the whole thing?? I won my category!! Yep, first place. One of the funniest parts of the whole thing?? I was the only one in my category!! Instead of entering my age category, I entered the "Athena" category, which is women 150+ lbs. Now, a majority of the women in the duathlon looked to be 150+, but they all opted for their age categories instead. So, I won! I got a kick out of that, especially since I got a trophy:
Needless to say, I will continue to enter the Athena category in the hopes of accumulating more trophies :) Lanie actually won her age category, 21-24, and so we went home exhausted and satisfied with matching trophies.
Lanie finished 38 out of 77. I ended up finished 51 out of 77. My only goal for the race was to finish ahead of the 72 yr. old man, and I did that, so I felt fulfilled. Can't wait til next summer to get some more races under my belt, definitely including the swimming portions.
In other -- more important news -- my newest little cousin was born on August 18th, but I was just informed yesterday. Apparently I was supposed to know that she was going to be born on August 18th since it was a scheduled c-section, but, umm, I forgot? And Mom gave up trying to call and tell me after I didn't answer the phone twice. Anyway, I believe her name is Alexandra Helena Day (but I could be spelling that wrong) and I don't know height, weight or any of that fun stuff yet. But I will update when I find out!
Stebby is coming in town tomorrow for the weekend! Can't wait! I need a weekend of mayhem. Then Monday is my graduate school orientation, and then super early Tuesday morning we fly to Hilton Head for a week of fun in the sun!!!
The inaugural Tri Indy Triathlon & Duathlon this past Sunday, August 15th, was a BLAST! I finally got over my fear and managed to battle through my stupid knee issues and finish my first multi-sport event, and I am HOOKED. I'm pretty sure that I will never be doing the distances my cousin Chris does (Ironman) -- actually, I'm positive -- but sprint distances are a blast and Olympic distances aren't even all that bad. I think I'll stick with those ;)
Lanie and I both did the duathlon, because we hadn't really had time to train for swimming. Our race started at 7:45 a.m. in front of the NCAA Hall of Champions downtown. The first run (2 miles) followed the pedestrian path up the White River toward the zoo, across the bridge, and back down the other side of the river on the IUPUI campus.
From there we transitioned into the bike event, which was a 12.5 mile loop through seemingly every imaginable part of Indy. I didn't have a speedometer (that was dumb), so I had NO clue how far I'd gone or where I was. I just kept biking my heart out and feeling giddy every time I passed someone. The bike course was pretty good, with lots of police protection at every intersection and lots of volunteers shouting out sharp turns and such.
I felt pretty good when I arrived back to the transition area after the bike, knowing I just had to conquer the last 3.1 mile run. Unfortunately, my knees had been acting up for the past several days, and although I had them taped, the combination of sweat and biking had loosened the tape to the point where I just had to rip it off. I have illiotibial (IT) band issues, which are pretty common in people who run, bike, etc. a lot. They tend to flare up when I'm training for any kind of event, and sometimes the pain is bad enough that it keeps from competing (i.e. the Susan Komen 5K in Columbus back in May, where I had to walk the last half of the race). But, somehow, I convinced myself on Sunday that I was NOT going to let me knees stop me, and I didn't. They starting hurting pretty horribly a mile into the second run, but I was determined to finish. And I did!
It was an amazing feeling running through that finish line. The announcer said something like, "Here's Stacey Young-Caudell, from Bloomington. Hopefully you're going to go celebrate at Nick's later!" (Nick's, for those of you that don't know, is a well-known IU bar in B-Town.) I immediately sat down in the grass and drank a cup of Gatorade, in lieu of passing out, and waited with Lanie for the results and watched all of the sprint and olympic distance people finish.
One of the best parts of the whole thing?? I won my category!! Yep, first place. One of the funniest parts of the whole thing?? I was the only one in my category!! Instead of entering my age category, I entered the "Athena" category, which is women 150+ lbs. Now, a majority of the women in the duathlon looked to be 150+, but they all opted for their age categories instead. So, I won! I got a kick out of that, especially since I got a trophy:
Needless to say, I will continue to enter the Athena category in the hopes of accumulating more trophies :) Lanie actually won her age category, 21-24, and so we went home exhausted and satisfied with matching trophies.Lanie finished 38 out of 77. I ended up finished 51 out of 77. My only goal for the race was to finish ahead of the 72 yr. old man, and I did that, so I felt fulfilled. Can't wait til next summer to get some more races under my belt, definitely including the swimming portions.
In other -- more important news -- my newest little cousin was born on August 18th, but I was just informed yesterday. Apparently I was supposed to know that she was going to be born on August 18th since it was a scheduled c-section, but, umm, I forgot? And Mom gave up trying to call and tell me after I didn't answer the phone twice. Anyway, I believe her name is Alexandra Helena Day (but I could be spelling that wrong) and I don't know height, weight or any of that fun stuff yet. But I will update when I find out!
Stebby is coming in town tomorrow for the weekend! Can't wait! I need a weekend of mayhem. Then Monday is my graduate school orientation, and then super early Tuesday morning we fly to Hilton Head for a week of fun in the sun!!!
1 comment:
Congratulations!!
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