Papillion Triathlon Race Report

Well, I raced and I survived. That's all I really was hoping for.

I woke up with a throbbing headache. Not a good sign as I tend to get a headache after I race about 90% of the time. I got up, gathered my belongings, took two Aleve and was off. Oh and I managed to shut the back hatch of my Saturn Vue on my arm after I loaded my bike. That left a lovely bruise!

I got to the race and got set up. I picked up my packet and got body marked and I told myself I could do the swim and turn in my chip if my head was worse. I have been fighting some nasty headaches that seem to happen after I swim and I hadn't been in the water FOREVER. Swimming is natural for me and I wasn't worried about the swim itself but I was worried about how I would feel afterward.

The swim went well, I was slower than I would have liked but that was to be expected. I came out of the water with the same headache I went in with and so I got on my bike and took off. The volunteers were making everyone walk with their bikes in transition which slowed down both T1 and T2 a bit. The bike course is 3 hilly loops that weave through a narrow sidewalk trail, through a high school parking lot, and then on busy (closed) highways. It's a decent ride and I actually started to feel a bit better as I rode. I was passed by guys as usual and I was only passed by one girl! Yay! I came in off the bike and took off running. It was really really hot by now. 99 degrees at 9 am and a heat index of 107 degrees. Yuck. The run is out and back. The out section is flat and then uphill which makes the back part a tiny bit better. I was hurting and hot and had a headache and was a bit light headed but I didn't get passed by anyone and even made a few passes myself. I had chills coming into the finish line and I was glad to be done. I actually found out the next day that I had been fighting a UTI for over a week (oops - let that go a little too long) and started a round of antibiotic.

Time: 1:24:24
Overall Place: 47
Place in Gender: 4/86
Place in Division F3034: 2/21

Swim: 11:07
Tran1: 0:56
Bike: 45:45
Tran2: 0:56
Run: 25:43

So I'll take 4th place with a UTI and a doozy of a headache. Not bad and soooo glad to be back out racing.