Sunday morning Del and I got up early for a bike ride. The weather forecast wasn't looking great and Jason had already decided to cancel his Shoal Creek group ride, so we decided to ride the Shoal Creek loop since we would never be more than about 2.5 miles from my house if it started to storm. The sky looked ominous at first, but it ended up being a beautiful morning to ride. We rode 4 loops of the "Shoal Creek Veloway" and with riding to and from my house it totaled a little over 17 miles. Del didn't want to ride any more than that since he was racing Monday.
Then we went to the Palmer Center and Auditorium Shores for his packet pick-up and bike check-in. We checked out everything at the expo, including the cool new Rocket Science tri suits and the Blue bikes. They had 2 bikes set up on trainers, one for tall people and one for short people. Del and I got on them, but the tall bike was way too short for him and the short bike was way too tall for me! I couldn't pedal at all and almost couldn't get off!
Del at bike check-in
We had Homeslice pizza for lunch. Del really enjoyed it and said he was going to stop on his way out of town on Tuesday and get some pizza for the drive to Houston, too bad they're closed on Tuesdays. We waited a couple of hours for the pizza to digest then ran about 5 miles on the Town Lake Trail. Del really enjoyed running on Town Lake too, he even stopped a couple of times to take pictures!
Pre-race dinner was at Kerby Lane
Race morning I got up fairly early and headed down to Auditorium Shores to cheer on all my friends racing.
I got there just in time to see Del's swim wave get in the water.
The first wave of girls taking off.
Del getting out of the water. He said he didn't like going up the stairs after gettng out of the water.
Annette was biking with a relay so I talked with her while I was trying to get to my bike spectating point (all my normal ways to get around Auditorium Shores were blocked off). I didn't get to see Annette bike since the relays started quite a bit later, but she had a great ride and her team did really well.
View of transition from the 1st Street bridge
View of the swimmers from the 1st Street bridge
My bike spectating point was at the triangle in the road between Ceasar Chavez and 1st Street. The bike course was 4 loops and from where I was I could see everyone 3 time on each loop, that gave me lots of opportunities to see and cheer for everyone!
I'm not sure how many times I saw Del on the course, but it was a lot!
I also saw Coach Jen lots of times on the bike course. Kevin Saunders from KGS bikes was at the triangle island taking pictures of all the cyclists too. So I talked with him for awhile and he took this picture.
After a couple of loops, Del knew exactly where to look for me and gave me lots of fun poses for the camera, too bad I wasn't very good at catching them!
I also saw Peggy, Kendra, and Chris on the bike course, but I didn't get the camera ready in time to get pictures. After Del finished biking I headed over to Jack & Adam's to watch the run, but again all my routes were blocked, so it took forever to get over there and I missed Del on his first run loop.
On my way to Jack & Adam's I saw Coach Jen, she looked fast and strong even though it was getting HOT! I finally got to Jack & Adam's and volunteered at the water station there for awhile. No pictures- but I got to see almost everyone I know who was racing, Del, Jen, Chris, Kendra, Peggy, Paulette, Kelli and I'm sure I'm missing one or two! It was definitely hot out by then and lots of people looked like they were not enjoying the run, but I have to say all my friends looked great out there even with the heat!
Del post-race
Auditorium Shores was insanely crowded when I got back from Jack & Adam's! I found a couple of my Tri Zones friends and congratulated them, but it was tough. I was calling Del trying to figure out how in the world I would find him when he walked up right behind me!
That evening we all went to The Grove and hung out on the patio and had dinner and some wine and enjoyed the last few hours of a great long Memorial weekend.
Then we went to the Palmer Center and Auditorium Shores for his packet pick-up and bike check-in. We checked out everything at the expo, including the cool new Rocket Science tri suits and the Blue bikes. They had 2 bikes set up on trainers, one for tall people and one for short people. Del and I got on them, but the tall bike was way too short for him and the short bike was way too tall for me! I couldn't pedal at all and almost couldn't get off!
Del at bike check-inWe had Homeslice pizza for lunch. Del really enjoyed it and said he was going to stop on his way out of town on Tuesday and get some pizza for the drive to Houston, too bad they're closed on Tuesdays. We waited a couple of hours for the pizza to digest then ran about 5 miles on the Town Lake Trail. Del really enjoyed running on Town Lake too, he even stopped a couple of times to take pictures!
Pre-race dinner was at Kerby Lane
Race morning I got up fairly early and headed down to Auditorium Shores to cheer on all my friends racing.
I got there just in time to see Del's swim wave get in the water.
The first wave of girls taking off.
Del getting out of the water. He said he didn't like going up the stairs after gettng out of the water.
Annette was biking with a relay so I talked with her while I was trying to get to my bike spectating point (all my normal ways to get around Auditorium Shores were blocked off). I didn't get to see Annette bike since the relays started quite a bit later, but she had a great ride and her team did really well.
View of transition from the 1st Street bridge
View of the swimmers from the 1st Street bridge
My bike spectating point was at the triangle in the road between Ceasar Chavez and 1st Street. The bike course was 4 loops and from where I was I could see everyone 3 time on each loop, that gave me lots of opportunities to see and cheer for everyone!
I'm not sure how many times I saw Del on the course, but it was a lot!
I also saw Coach Jen lots of times on the bike course. Kevin Saunders from KGS bikes was at the triangle island taking pictures of all the cyclists too. So I talked with him for awhile and he took this picture.
After a couple of loops, Del knew exactly where to look for me and gave me lots of fun poses for the camera, too bad I wasn't very good at catching them!
I also saw Peggy, Kendra, and Chris on the bike course, but I didn't get the camera ready in time to get pictures. After Del finished biking I headed over to Jack & Adam's to watch the run, but again all my routes were blocked, so it took forever to get over there and I missed Del on his first run loop. On my way to Jack & Adam's I saw Coach Jen, she looked fast and strong even though it was getting HOT! I finally got to Jack & Adam's and volunteered at the water station there for awhile. No pictures- but I got to see almost everyone I know who was racing, Del, Jen, Chris, Kendra, Peggy, Paulette, Kelli and I'm sure I'm missing one or two! It was definitely hot out by then and lots of people looked like they were not enjoying the run, but I have to say all my friends looked great out there even with the heat!Del post-raceAuditorium Shores was insanely crowded when I got back from Jack & Adam's! I found a couple of my Tri Zones friends and congratulated them, but it was tough. I was calling Del trying to figure out how in the world I would find him when he walked up right behind me!
That evening we all went to The Grove and hung out on the patio and had dinner and some wine and enjoyed the last few hours of a great long Memorial weekend.
3 comments:
That definitely seemed like some weekend--and look at you, all decked out like a competing athlete to get those photos taken!
Why weren't you racing? How did Del do in the race?
Richard- I had to be easy to see, that way if I miss someone, they might still see me for exampe- the Houston Marathon when you saw me!
Matt- there are just way too many great races in Austin! I'm doing 6 this season and could easily do 8-10 more, had to draw the line somewhere! Del did Awesome! Can't remember his AG place, but it was impressive!
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