Norway Triathlon

I raced last Saturday on our hometown course. Later that day we packed up our house, searched high and low for our two kitties, and moved into our camp for the week. I've been on vacation at "the Island" this week and it's been heaven. Real life just slips away when we're out here. Our camp is on a small island in the basin of Sebago Lake. We get here by boat...we are truly secluded until we make an effort to be otherwise. I've headed to the mainland each day for my workouts...and those have gone well. I have been focused with each one and also on a mission to Get Back! Today, I left camp for a little (albeit NOT easy) 5 mile run. I found myself truly irrated with the real life activity that was all around me. Traffic, stop lights, trucks, fast food restaurants, and EEK...the grocery store! I was forced to drive there and pick up a few items and I must tell you, I believe it was my fastest trip of all time. (and I can be fast at the store..believe me...)
Thankfully, I landed back on the island with many hours of fun left. I was back in my bikini and on the beach within 10 minutes. I watched the boys and their cousin make sand castles, play on the rope swing, and have football throwing contests. We chatted with 2 little boys (maybe 7 and 9?) driving their own little boat around the island on a hunt for turtles. After a few hours we moved back to the dock for water skiing. After only ONE try each, ALL three kids were up and skiing around the lake. My 8 year old was first. (he has skied before) Next up, the 10 year old and thank GOODNESSS he was able to get up too. He looked like a pro out there. Totally comfortable and even waving as he flew by us. After that, Nick. He's 6. One try. Bam. UP and skiing just like his brothers. It's the "No brother left behind act" here at camp. Later, we grilled, we made smores around the campfire, and then one last skinny dip before bed.
Good stuff.
Oh yeah...I raced. See! I forgot...I have been preoccupied with fun at the lake all week and totally forgot about my blog. I also must add that it's pretty cool that I can even get online here now. The other island secret is that there's NO electricity. It's just a little island after all. We have gas lights, gas powered fridge and water and candles. But! My awesome friend and IT guy hooked me up with a cool little adapter that allows me to use the computer. So the generator is on so I can get this blog up and chat with a few friends.

One of my best buds from childhood, Alina, came last Fri night to stay with me and get ready for her annual Tri in Norway Maine. Alina is a serious Rockstar swimmer but she only does one Tri/year. So far, it's the one in my little town. It made the day really fun. I was so fired up to swim with her.
We got our bikes and gear set and hit the sack early for our pre race sleep.
Here's how close I was to home...I Biked to the race for my warm up! It took about 20 minutes...perfect.
Mark was even racing too. We saw a lot of friends from our town...it was a treat to race with people I rarely see at these events. My Mom and Dad came, Mark's parents came with my kids, and Mary even came with her kids and Alina's! It was very cool.
Ok...to the swim. THe water was like a bath so wetsuits were banned. Yay!!! I was pretty fired up for the swim because I really hoped to stay with Alina. She's super fast but swimming next to her reminds me of our years growing up on swim teams together. We can swim stroke for stroke pretty well when we meet at the lake so I was hopeful.
We were in wave 2...off we went. I did what Jen teaches us to do and Took Off... of course, with Alina. We cruised along towards buoy #1. I felt awesome. I felt like a real swimmer again with my arms free and was really able to dig into the water. I saw Alina sight and take a sharp right..we were off course so I followed her. We rounded the buoy and began passing the first wave. I felt so strong so I jsut went for it. I lost sight of Alina but knew she was right there. I loved the swim and just felt like I could go forever. I saw the crowd on the beach and knew I had passed almost all the people ahead of us. It was a cool feeling...
out of the water and off on the long run through the woods to T1. 1st in water...11 minutes.
Off on the bike...I ride these roads All the time. I just hammered along and loved being at home. It was 11.3 miles on an out and back. I was passed by 1 fast guy. I tried to keep him in sight but he was flying.
I headed for home and saw Mark flying towards the turn. Fun to see him out there.
Into T2 and I started messing with my shoes. I heard a familar voice and looked up to see Mary. (hadn't seen her yet that day. ) HI!! I wanted to stop and chat. But alas, it was t2 and I had one more leg to complete. I headed off on the 5k and felt strong. This course is not that easy...the run is basically UP for the first half and then a lot of it is down and somewhat flat to finish it up. I was passed by 2 men I believe..I almost caught back up to on of them but lost him towards the end.
I finished as 1st woman and 4th overall. Mark was 2nd in his Age group and 9th overall. I think Alina was 8th in our age group and she looked Strong finsihing hte race!!!
It was a blast.

I am trying to shift gears now into race mode again. Vacation has turned me into an unfocused lazy girl but I have a big race on Sunday... more to come on that.

Happy Summer!!