Couples Tri 2012

Cool finisher medals! Photo by Ed Sparks sparksphoto.smugmug.com

Couples is one of my favorite races. It's a Jack & Adam's/High Five event so it's really well organized and has a super fun atmosphere. The course at Decker Lake is fairly tough, but I kinda like it anyway. I had a pretty tough race at Couples last year since I raced with bronchitis and a sinus infection. I hoped to redeem myself this year. I hadn't raced a tri since February, so I was really excited!

Connie and I Coupled again this year with the same name "Heather & Connie's Excellent Adventure" and we did packet pickup and lunch together again too. We had a great time (maybe better than last year since we actually knew each other this year!).

I went to bed but got woken up by thunderstorms, I knew that might make the bike course wet and slower and it would make the run muddy, I knew my chances of PRing the course might not be very good on a wet course, but I knew I'd still have a fun race so I wasn't too concerned. I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm and got up to check the weather forecast, it said 70% chance of thunderstorms at 7am- oh no! I knew if it was stormy they wouldn't let us swim. I just hoped the forecast was wrong.

I got to Decker early enough to get a sweet parking spot and as soon as I got out of the car, I heard Logan announce "there is no chance of rain until 11am today" hmmm, I hoped he was right! I got my transition area set up with the other Tri Zoners racing in the "female friends" category, then headed to the tent to hang out. I planned to use Pre-Race for this race, I knew it could be really good or really bad. At 7:40 I drank my bottle of Pre-Race. A few minutes later Eva asked what Pre-Race was (I'm sure she was immediately sorry!) I could already feel it coursing through my veins as I jumped up from my chair and animatedly told her some of my crazy Pre-Race stories! **If my experience with Pre-Race today makes you want to try it, PLEASE see the disclaimer at the bottom of this post**

I got down to the swim start too late to do a warm up swim and I really wanted one. I couldn't stand still, I really wanted to get in the water! Finally it was our turn and I got in the water next to Nicki and Kim. The Female Friends wave is usually not very friendly at the swim start and this year was no exception, I swam the first few strokes Tarzan style to try to find some open water, I got kicked, hit and grabbed but nothing hard enough to really hurt. After a minute or 2 I found some space and could really swim, I knew I had to take it a little easy the first couple minutes since I didn't get a warm up swim. But soon I was warmed up and feeling good, around turn buoy 1 and onto the straight section, I took this a little wide to get around a few slower people, maybe I should have just swum over them, oh well. Turn buoy 2 and the home stretch felt the fastest! I crossed the timing mat at 19:03, compared to 18:10 in 2010 (my previous Couples PR, I'm not going to compare to 2011's dismal times), a little slower, but I had a good warm up swim and a great start in 2010.

coming out of the water. Photo by Miguel Ortiz

I hurried through T1 in 3:22 compared to 3:50 in 2010. I could feel the Pre-Race as I fumbled with my bike glove, then took a deep breath and chilled a little. This is actually my fastest T1 ever at Decker.

I rolled my bike to the mount line and waited a few seconds for the people in front  of me to go, so I wouldn't run into them. I hate the mount line, it's always crowded and unpredictable, I'm always afraid of accidents at the mount line. But I got going with no issues and sped down the first little hill. On Decker Lane I passed by Kim H. with a flat, Oh NO!! I've been working hard on my biking this year, so I really hoped to have a good ride. I hoped my Pre-Race focus would be on a fast bike. Turns out my Pre-Race focus was on optimal gearing. (I thought about gearing when I rode Decker with Sandra a couple weeks ago, so I assume that's where that focus came from) I tend to be a lazy shifter and am generally happy to coast down hills. But today, I HAD to have perfect resistance at all times! When I turned onto Lindell my average speed was 17.4 mph- unheard of for me! I got up Little Tard with no drama and as I flew down Blue Bluff, Sandra flew by me- wow she's fast on that new tri bike! I was having a great ride and so much fun! And I don't think I've ever pedaled so much on downhills! As I was working my way up Big Tard feeling super happy with my ride, I felt/saw someone passing me really close, I heard her say my name so I knew it was someone I knew and I didn't need to worry. Just as I looked over to see who it was, Laura reached over and pinched my ass!! haha!! Later she told me that she could hear me laughing as she came up behind me, I don't remember LAUGHING while riding up Big Tard, but I was happy enough that I believe it! Thank you Pre-Race!! I finished the ride in 42:37 compared to 48:02 in 2010, and at a pace of 15.8 mph, my third fastest pace in any tri ever (and at DECKER!)

I rushed through T2 as well in 1:44 compared to 1;51 in 2010. This is also my fastest T2 ever at Decker.

I think I'm trying to wave at Ed here. Photo by Ed Sparks sparksphoto.smugmug.com

I started the run right by Laura, we chatted a little, I told her I had an awesome bike, I assumed she'd get ahead of me since she's a fast runner, but I was keeping up right behind her! I stayed with her almost to the top of powerline hill, then I had to walk for a minute and let her go. I also saw David spectating (while I was walking- sigh), at the top of powerline hill, I ran down the hill and into the woods still feeling good. Mile 1 was 10:44, maybe a little too fast for me on the wood chippy trail at Decker. Mile 2 was slightly slower even with quite a bit of downhill, my legs were starting to feel a little tired. Pre-Race makes me hungry (faster metabolism?) so I probably should have drunk more Infinit on the bike, I only drank about half my bottle. Mile 3 includes that huge hill, I walked most of it- I'm not sure I've ever run the entire thing, but today I walked quite a bit of it, even when I saw Lynn cheering at the top and heard her encouraging me to run! But I got to the top and was able to pick it up and run well on the flat into the finish. Run time was 34:42 compared to 37:20 in 2010. Under 11 minute miles at Decker! I'm blaming that on Newton running shoes instead of Pre-Race!

Finish Line!! Photo by Ed Sparks sparksphoto.smugmug.com

Overall time was 1:41:31 compared to 1:49:14 in 2010, a PR by 7:43!!

After finishing I went back to the big hill and hung out with Lynn, then ran in with Connie so we could finish as a team, hopefully Liz got a good picture :)

Even if Liz (official race photographer) didn't get a good picture, at least Ed did! Thanks Ed! Photo by Ed Sparks sparksphoto.smugmug.com

For all my concern about the weather, it was actually a beautiful day for a race! The bike course was dry and the run course wasn't really muddy at all!

As always, post-race at Couples was a lot of fun! I think my favorite moment was when I heard my name, I turned and saw some brunette I didn't know, but then I did a double take- it was Kim H. in a brunette wig! and Eva had a blonde one! Legally Blonde & Brunette wore backwards wigs post-race!

Thanks for being such a great Couples partner again Connie!!

**Pre-Race Disclaimer- Pre-Race is a supplement by First Endurance, it is completely legal but it is very powerful. It contains caffeine-which really affects me- and other interesting stuff that does things like "increase mental focus" which sounds great, and it is when you can focus on the right thing. I have had some great experiences with Pre-Race, and some really miserable experiences with it! For me, I don't necessarily get to choose what I will focus on, but Pre-Race definitely makes me focus on something! When it's the right thing- it's great, but when it's the wrong thing it's pretty awful! If you choose to try it, please try it in training a few times before racing on it and please start with just half a scoop! The scoop is tiny, but a little goes a LONG way!! Obviously it affects different people differently, and it REALLY affects me, just ask those who hung around me today!

Kerrville Half Iron Triathlon Race Report

Pre-race
The alarm went off at 4:45, we planned to leave at 5:45, but we were ready at 5:30 so we just left then. It was COLD out, I had a jacket and Jeff's watch cap, but I took a big heavy blanket too, the jeep ride over was really cold, but once we got to transition I wasn't too cold as long as I stayed wrapped in the blanket. I got my transition stuff taken care of and hung out with all the Tri Zoners and Del. Jeff and I pre-race
Theresa in her pajama pants and me wrapped up in a blanket
Me, Del and Julie pre-race, Del put his wetsuit on early since he didn't bring a jacket

I went up to Julie's hotel room instead of waiting in the porta potty line and borrowed the spi belt she wasn't using- Perfect, Thanks Julie! (I planned to use my spi belt for the run, but I couldn't find it, so I was just going to use my race belt, but I forgot to pack that, so Kristen was going to bring me one to use, but Julie's extra spi belt was even better) I stayed wrapped up in the blanket until it was time to put on my wetsuit, but I kept my jacket, hat, wool socks, and shoes until just before the start, luckily I had Jeff to hand that stuff off to at the last minute. Getting into my wetsuit while still wearing a hat, jacket, wool socks & shoes

I lined up to get in the water and Kim E was right by me! Then I realized Emmie was videoing us getting in the water so I hammed it up for her a little.Swim
I usually wear a digital watch in the swim, but I forgot that too (anyone counting how many things I forgot for this race?) So I was just planning to swim at a moderately hard effort. The water felt great and was clean and clear! I started toward the outside, but still had a lot of contact at the start. Within the first few hundred meters I felt a sharp pain in the top of my foot, I was pretty sure someone had scratched me hard and probably cut my foot (it looks like that's exactly what happened, I have a fingernail sized chunk of skin gone from my foot). I thought once I got around the first turn buoy it would clear out and I'd have more space to swim, but one girl kept running into me (she's probably saying the same thing about me) I just couldn't get away from her, I'd pass her, or slightly change direction and get away from her, but a few minutes later, there she was again! The last time I saw her was right before I turned to go in to the finish, so she was with me off and on the entire swim. Other than that I had a really good swim, I felt great, the swim was beautiful, I really enjoyed watching the sun rise as I was swimming toward the dam. I feel like I probably could have pushed the pace and gone a little faster (might have been an easy way to make up a minute). My swim time was 42:58, my second best swim time for a half.Pretty swim course

T1
I got dragged out of the water up that steep ramp by the awesome volunteers and before I realized it I was at the wetsuit strippers and I hadn't even unzipped my wetsuit yet! They did it for me, pulled the top down, I plopped down and they yanked the bottom off and handed it to me as I jumped up and jogged up the big hill. I saw and heard the entire Tri Zones More Cowbell Corps as I went up the hill, it was great motivation for getting up that hill! I got into transition and saw that my feet were covered in mud, I sat down on my towel and cleaned my feet before putting on my socks & shoes, it took FOREVER! I looked at my arm warmers and decided I didn't need them since I didn't feel too cold standing there in transition, so I shoved them into the gear bag too. I got the rest of my stuff on and took off. I was sure it was a super slow transition, but when I got on my bike I saw that swim + T1 was under 50 minutes, so I was happy with that. T1 ended up being 4:33, which is actually really fast for me (I think faster than I usually transition at Decker) so I was shocked (in a good way)!

Bike
I was originally worried about the bike course, in Kerrville, they could have made it really difficult, but Shayla and I drove the course a couple months before the race and saw that it was definitely doable. There were a couple of steep hills that concerned me, but I knew I could do them. My biggest goal for this race was to have a good bike ride and come as close to 16 mph as I could, I knew that would be tough for me on a slightly hilly course, especially one I hadn't ridden before.

I started the bike and immediately I was FREEZING! I rode by Jeff and yelled "I should have worn my arm warmers, I'm FREEZING!"Starting the bike and telling Jeff I'm freezing.

Even though I was cold, I felt strong and fast, it was a great feeling! My shifting seemed to be working fine. Del passed me and I wondered how he had gotten behind me, I'm still not sure, but it was good to see him. I flew down highway 27, my average speed was 17.5 mph even with a few rollers, that's amazing for me! I assumed I had a major tailwind, but I kept looking at the grass and leaves and they didn't seem to be bending with the wind. Some of the road was nasty chip seal, but for the most part it was smooth or there was a narrow strip of smooth road between all the chip seal.

I turned off highway 27 and thought I'd get more hills, but it stayed pretty flat with a few little downhills. Then I turned and saw the first river crossing and knew I was about to hit the first of the steep hills I was worried about, I downshifted like crazy before the hill so I wouldn't get bogged down on the steep part especially if my derailleur decided to have issues right then! I heard someone yell my name and talk to me from behind, but I couldn't tell who it was. I started up the hill and realized it was NOT that steep at all and I had NOTHING to worry about! I don't know why I make hills so big and bad in my head! Just past the hill Kathleen passed me, it was her behind me on the hill.

Around mile 20-something a guy in arm warmers passed me and I thought, "yeah, I still wish I had worn mine, I'd still be a little happier if I had them on", but I wasn't so cold that it was a big issue. The view in this area was beautiful- similar to our campsite, I could see the river and all the trees. I couldn't believe how much I was enjoying this ride! Then a bug flew into my mouth! Hack, cough, spit- YUCK! Ok, so maybe it wasn't the perfect ride :)

At the U-turn of the out & back I stopped to fix my speedfill straw, I have only used the speedfill for a couple of rides, and Jeff and I put it on last minute before taking my bike to transition on Saturday so I didn't realize that something was messed up making it almost impossible to suck Infinit through the straw! I had my aerobottle too, so I had been fine so far, but I needed it for the rest of the ride. I pulled on the straw and adjusted it in a couple of places and it seemed better, so I took off again. It worked perfectly the rest of the ride (I'm not even sure what I did that fixed it).

The big hill on Wharton is the one I was most worried about, when Shayla and I drove the course I had said "ok, maybe I don't want to do this race!", but again, it was no where near as bad as I made it out to be. It was tough, but totally doable. There was a family cheering halfway up the hill which was perfect! I thanked them for being in the perfect place! I got out onto hwy 173 and the chip seal was almost unbearable! I knew it wasn't very far, but wow, it just hurt! Just as the chip seal ended, Coach Gina was on the course NOT cowbelling, but she did cheer for me :)Coming into town after lap 1

Coming through town was great with all the spectators! I started lap 2 and saw that I was still averaging just over 16 mph- awesome! I got out onto Hwy 27 again and felt a little headwind, not bad, but enough to slow me down a little. I tried hard to keep my speed up. I leap frogged with a few other girls and even rode beside one and talked for a few minutes. I knew where all the hills were and what to expect on lap 2, which is part of why I love multiple loop courses. On the short out & back, I finally saw Kim E. I knew she had to be behind me out of the swim, and she's a faster cyclist than me so I knew I'd see her eventually.

This time when I passed Coach Gina on 173, she saw me coming, ran to her car, pulled out her cowbell and ran after me cowbelling like crazy as I rode by! Highly entertaining! Thanks Gina! Kim was right behind me when this happened and on the run she asked "who was that woman chasing you with a cowbell?" Kim finally caught me at mile 53, I was pretty proud of myself for staying ahead of her for that long :)Coming into town after lap 2

Riding into town was awesome the second time too, still lots of people out cheering. As I passed Jeff and Kristen, Jeff yelled "Kim Evans is right in front of you! Kim Evans!!" I said "I know, she just passed me" so he said "Well Go Get Her!!" I pulled into transition right behind her. Spinnaker did great, not a single shifting issue! I guess I must have a good bike mechanic :)

My official bike time was 3:31:43 for a pace of 15.9, my garmin said 16.1 mph, I have it set on auto pause, so I'm pretty sure the stop to fix the speedfill made the difference. Still it's my fastest bike pace at a half by over 1/2 a mph!! I guess antelope really does make you faster!!

T2
I got into T2 and couldn't find my spot at all!! I knew where my rack was, but there was no opening! I asked a volunteer what to do, she asked if my bag was tied onto the rack, Yes! I found my bag, someone had racked their bike right on top of my bag! The volunteer found some space a couple of racks down, so I put my bike over there and went back to get my bag. Ugh! I chilled out, got my stuff together, put on my compression socks and stuff and headed out. Kim was still putting her shoes on, so I asked if she wanted to run with me. Normally Kim is a MUCH faster runner than me, but she had an ankle injury and was planning on doing a slow lap or 2 and DNFing. Sandra cheered for me on the way out! T2 was 3:31, a lot faster than it felt!

Run
I decided to try running without my Fuel belt and Infinit for this race. It's a pain to mix Infinit along the way (especially in a full Ironman) and the fuel belt chaffs my back. So I was going to experiment at this race, and if it worked out I would think about Ironman without the fuel belt. I had some Honey stinger gummies and planned to use water and if I needed it Pure sport. I knew things could go badly, but I didn't think they'd get too bad since I used Pure Sport and water on the run at the Austin Tri last month.
Over half the run course was on trail, it was a little harder to run on, but it was really pretty.

I started the run, and Kim caught me pretty quickly. We chatted and enjoyed the run, we got to the trail section and decided it was not "a very technical trail" as Kim had heard, but it also wasn't a groomed crushed granite trail like Lady Bird Lake Trail. There were a few steep hills, but it was really pretty on the trail. I'm not really very good at trail running, but I don't mind it either. The trail was harder on my feet, but easier on my knees, it slowed me down a little, but it was pretty. Overall I guess I was indifferent about part of the run being on trail.
I finished my first package of Honey stinger gummies and decided my stomach wasn't 100% happy with them, I've used them before, but not during a race and my stomach is extra sensitive during races, so I switched to Pure sport. We saw everyone out on the course, I kept having to interrupt my stories to Kim to yell "Go, Theresa, Red, Kim G, Julie, Nicki, Laura, Jill, Andrew"etc, etc. It was really cool to see everyone so much! I think every time we crossed the bridge we saw Mohamed! We ran the first lap fast (maybe a little too fast) and Kim decided she'd do a second lap. At one point I looked at my Garmin and saw we were doing a 10:20 pace, that's WAY too fast for me for a half marathon!
Near the end of each lap Katherine, Kelly, Linda, etc were cheering, they had a white board and wrote messages for me each lap. I think the first one said "you ROCK Heather".

Jeff and Kristen had come out to the trail to spectate so we saw them before the turn around, after the turn around Julie passed us, then saw Kristen with the camera and told me "hey come up here so we can get a picture together" Instead, I decided to run right past her! So I really was faster than Julie for about 2 seconds! Look, I'm faster than Julie!
I even stayed ahead of her for a second or two! As Julie said, I must have eaten more antelope than she did!

At the end of lap 2 Katherine's sign said "Heather, Cozumel is Calling". Kim stopped after lap 2 and I kept going. I knew if I could keep up that pace I'd definitely PR! But, I noticed I was more salt crusted than normal and started to think...my Infinit has almost double the sodium of Pure sport and those gummies had almost none, this could be bad. I wasn't feeling too bad, my stomach was getting just a tiny bit upset from the Puresport and I was slowing down, but nothing major. I saw Del and I think I actually said "how are you not finished yet?" Come on Heather, have a little tact! He was having nutrition issues and feeling awful- Sorry Del!Me giving Kristen a hard time for standing at the top of a steep hill taking pictures of people walking!
Proof that I started running again a the top of that hill

Almost halfway through lap 3, Kim caught me! She said "the race staff wouldn't let me quit" cool, I got some company again! :) Toward the end of lap 3, I encouraged Kim to go ahead, I knew she wanted to be done, and I knew she could run a lot faster than I could at that point (she ended up finishing 10 minutes ahead of me). My legs were feeling heavy and my stomach was getting a little more upset. I still felt good enough to have fun, but I was definitely slowing down and my breathing was getting bad. Without my fuel belt, I also didn't have an inhaler- oops!

At the end of lap 3 Katherine's sign said "Almost BEER Time!" so I said "you know I still have another lap to go, right?" And with major "Momma Mudge Attitude" Katherine replied "I KNOW THAT, HEATHER!!"Turn around to start lap 4

I made the turn around and started lap 4, I passed Katherine and company again and this time the sign said "We Know you have a Lap to Go HO!" hahahaha! Jeff was out on the trail (without Kristen this time) and I ran by and said "I thought you were going to be at the finish?" he said "don't worry I'll be there too" I had no idea there was a little bridge that made it easy and fast for them to get across the river from the finish to that spot on the trail! I got close to the turn around and saw Connie, I walked with her a little and told her how happy and proud I was for her, she was going to finish her very first half iron!

I saw Jeff one more time and he asked how I was doing without my fuel belt, "not so great, I really need my Infinit" Experiment Failed! I will be using my Fuel belt and Infinit for Ironman Cozumel! By this time I was super salt crusted and getting a little dizzy, I had less than 2 miles to go, so I wasn't really worried, but I was ready to be finished. I knew I was really close to a PR time, but I just couldn't force myself to go any faster. I knew if I finished by 3:00 pm I would PR by over 3 minutes, it was 3:03 when I turned to the finish chute! I was so close that I had no idea if I PRed or not, I had to wait for the results to be posted. Turns out I was 57 seconds off! My run time was 2:52:57 and my overall time was 7:15:53, just 57 seconds slower than my best half iron at Longhorn 2009.Post race
I got congratulations hugs and high fives from everyone and drank some of my Ultragen. I couldn't eat or drink anything else, my stomach took awhile to settle down. I was very happy with my race, I told Jeff I definitely want to do Kerrville again next year! I had a really fun race, I liked the course, I loved the spectator support, and I enjoyed the weekend in Kerrville.

***I forgot to mention how nice all the volunteers (and spectators) were at this race! Obviously all the volunteers and spectators from Austin and Jack & Adam's staff know what to say and do and as always I really appreciate it. But some of those people from Kerrville were out there, probably at the first triathlon they'd ever seen just killing it with awesome encouragement and support and it made the race just that much better. So THANK YOU to all of you!

*** all pictures by Kristen Carey or Jeff McMahan

Texas Tri Series Party

I had been looking forward to the Texas Tri Series party for a long time. I knew it would be hard to beat last year's party, but I knew it would be a lot of fun! The Tri Zoners decided we all wanted to go early and have a pre-party drink, so Kendra (my date) and I got there around 6 and met everyone in the lobby. We scoped out the awards, hats, and t-shirts before anyone else got there, I love the shirts and mine fits perfectly- Yay! First thing I said when I saw them was "this shirt is totally going to Cozumel with me!" I made sure I was at the front of the line to pick up awards and stuff, then went into the party room and saved us the two best tables, right in front of the stage!
Annette, Kristen, Kendra, Julie, Eva, me, Cindy, Vanessa, Carol, and Kim. Photo by Miguel Ortiz
Tri Series finisher award and t-shirt! Photo by Julie Wolf
Eva with her award

We enjoyed lots of free beer and wine and watching the slide show, while we waited for dinner time. Of course every time a Tri Zoner came on the slide show we all cheered. did I mention there was free beer? Photo by Miguel Ortiz

I don't know if I was extra hungry or if dinner was really that good, but I really enjoyed it! But I took forever to eat, I was too busy talking to everyone to finish eating, so they started the prize giveaways before I even finished eating!

The entire party is always a blast, but the prizes are the best part, because, honestly, it's fun to win anything, even if it's just a $1 coupon or something. They give away tons of small prizes at the Tri Series party, to the point that almost everyone wins something. Then they move on to the bigger prizes, I'd say valued between $100 and $400 and there are more of those than you'd think. Then the biggest prize of the night is 4 entries into the entire Tri Series for the next year- that's 5 triathlons and worth well over $600!! So you know we were all WAY excited!!
The first big Tri Zones winners were Cindy winning a bag and Kristen winning a bookThey both ended up trading for visors. Photo by Miguel Ortiz
Then I won a visor- yeah I got pretty excited about it. Photo by Julie Wolf
Eva won a visor that matched mine. Photo by....no clue, but it was on my camera
Vanessa and Miguel won matching hatsThen Vanessa traded for the book. Photo by...ummm ME, with Miguel's awesome camera!
By the end of the small prizes, every Tri Zoner had won something, most of us had won the visors like mine, Julie won a huge bag of Shot Bloks (which is on her head in the picture). Then they moved on to the bigger prizes- we didn't all win those prizes but Kendra won a swim speedsuit worth $300! Based on last year and this year, it looks like being my date at the Tri Series party is good luck!**

They give awards for the winners in each age group over the entire series and both Julie and Kim won their age groups! Then they recognized the volunteers who had volunteered at every event, including Annette and Tom & Carolyn who didn't get to come to the party.

Then they did the Grand Prize drawings. Last year Ingrid won and put my name down (cool story here), and Julie won too. We were all on the edge of our seats hoping Logan would call our number! He called out a number that was about 8 higher than mine and I knew it was someone from the second Tri Zones table, so I immediately pointed toward them and started screaming and cheering, it was JULIE again!! What a lucky lucky girl!!
At the end of the party with all our cool Tri Series winnings! Photo by Miguel Ortiz
Julie was the BIG winner of the night! She posted this picture on FB, notice the huge pile of Shot Bloks under the plaque and the pile of money that says "2011 Texas Tri Series"

** it turns out the speedsuit doesn't fit Kendra, but it does fit me, so that's actually 2 years in a row that my "date" to the Tri Series Party has won a big prize and then given it to me! Do I have the greatest friends or what?!?

"Irongrid's" (and my) Austinacious Weekend

Ingrid came to visit this weekend to have some Austin fun and fill me in on all the details of her Ironman Florida race. Friday night we went to the Red Licorice Events "birthday party" Ingrid was a little disappointed that they didn't have cupcakes from Hey Cupcake since it was a birthday party and they have cupcakes at all their races. Ingrid says you can't have a birthday party without cake! We were however really impressed with the blender bikes! They were putting lots of tequila in the blenders and having races to see who could blend a margarita and drink it fastest to win prizes. Ingrid and I opted out of that since we hadn't eaten dinner. They also had very discounted sign up for all the 2010 Red Licorice races at the party. Ingrid and I had talked about doing a relay again, like we did at Cinco Ranch in 2008. We went back and forth about whether we wanted to sign up, but I finally told Ingrid, "if Kim can't run we can get Cassie or Del to do it, or David or Matt, or someone from Tri Zones" Ingrid said "ok, we have tons of options" and she signed us up. So team "Straight 'n Sour" (a play on the Sweet 'n Twisted tri that Red Licorice does every summer) will be racing at the Champions Tri in March! We were a little disappointed that we didn't win any door prizes at the party but we hoped we were just saving our luck for the Texas Tri Series party the next night.

Saturday morning we met Sandra and Nicki to run at Brushy Creek. As soon as Sandra saw us she said "Irongrid congratulations on Ironman Florida" Sandra is a writer so she's really good with words and Ingrid loved the new nickname!
"Irongrid", me, Sandra, and Nicki at Brushy Creek

Sandra, Nicki and I were running 10 miles and Ingrid did about 5. It was a great run except that my left quad kept hurting more and more as we went on, Sandra finally talked me into walking the last mile just to make sure I wasn't making anything worse. I wasn't happy about that, but I know it was the right decision so thanks Sandra!

After the run Ingrid and I planned to go to the Mellow Swap, but while looking up the times I found out the Austin Bike Zoo was making "pedal powered ice cream" so we decided to check that out first.
Ingrid with the Austin Bike Zoo's butterfly bike
We got there and tried some pumpkin ice cream made with coconut milk-yum! Jeremy and Sachi from the Austin Bike Zoo were really nice and they even let us pedal to make some ice cream.
I pedaled for just a minute since I was a little worried about my quad from the run.
Then Ingrid pedaled, and pedaled, and pedaled! It only took about 15 minutes total, that's faster than my electric ice cream maker can go!
You can see the set up pretty well in this picture. The coffee ice cream that Ingrid made was awesome! So yummy and much more frozen that most ice cream when it comes straight out of the ice cream maker. So we say pedal powered ice cream definitely wins over hand cranked or electric made! Ingrid is now obsessed with getting/making/or buying a bike that can blend and/or make ice cream!
The Mellow Swap was next, Ingrid got these great new sunglasses and I got a new running skirt.
We also got to meet Elliott of Austin on 2 Wheels fame, he was at the Mellow Swap with his Violet Crown Bikes. Elliott is really active in the Austin cycling community and I have read his blog for awhile now but hadn't met him until today.

Gordough's was next, I knew Ingrid had been looking forward to it all day. Gordough's is a doughnut trailer on South Lamar, but that really doesn't describe the gooey yummy goodness that is their doughnuts at all!
Ingrid created her own doughnut topped with peanut butter, chocolate, marshmallows, graham crackers, and grilled bananas. Look how happy she looks! and that was before her first bite!
I had the "funky monkey" with cream cheese icing, brown sugar, and grilled bananas. These were SO good! Definitely worth completely negating any health benefits from the 10 mile run I did that morning!
That evening was the Texas Tri Series party. This was my first year to complete the series but I had heard the party was really great. We were not disappointed.
Drew and Nicki at the party
All the tri series finishers got a tech shirt, socks, and a big metal finisher award- very cool. They had lots of beer, wine, and appetizers.
Julie and I at the party
They had a cool slide show of people from all the races going, we all loved seeing people we knew on the slide show. We all saw each other on the show and they had the cutest picture of Tom and Carolyn too. Dinner was salad and lasagna and they had cake for dessert! Ingrid was so happy to finally get her cake after Red Licorice didn't have a cake!
Ingrid, Annette, and Kim with their cake. Kim didn't really eat 2 pieces, I saw her give the big one to her husband!
They gave out awards for volunteers and tri series winners. Julie won her age group and got this award, behind it is part of the finisher award we all got.
They gave out tons of door prizes. Ingrid, Nicki and I won shirts, Julie won a visor that she really wanted, Nicki also won a pair of shoes and I think everyone won a water bottle or two.
Nicole and Sandra
The grand prizes were 4 entries into all the Tri Series races for 2010, that's worth between $600 and $700! Julie's was the second number they called, she was so excited that Dan said "now that's the kind of excitement we like to see when someone wins!!" When she sat back down I was hugging her and so excited for her! Then they called Ingrid's number!! Really? Wow Ingrid won too! I was so excited! She went up to give them her name and when she came back I hugged her and she said "When they asked my name I said your name, so YOU won!" I asked "Really? Are you serious?" She said "YES!" with the biggest smile on her face! I gave her a huge hug and said "I love you Ingrid! You're the best friend ever!!" I think I even cried a little! Later Ingrid told me "I was wishing in my head 453, 453 (my number) because I really wanted you to win, so when they asked me my name I just said your name" WOW! How many people can say they have a friend like that! What a selfless thing for her to do for me! I really hope karma repays Ingrid big time!
me, Dan of Jack and Adam's and Julie. Texas Tri Series 2010 here we come!!! I think my hands are still shaking in the picture from all the excitement!

Ingrid and I had planned to ride on Sunday morning, but I did a test ride around the neighborhood to see how my quad felt. It didn't go horribly, but it didn't go great and Ingrid informed me "you are NOT riding today!" So instead of ride then brunch, we just went to brunch at Chez Zee. Ingrid was craving creme brulee french toast so she got that and eggs sardou- yum! I got a crabmeat omelet-yum!
Ingrid wanted to make sure the leftover boxes were in the picture as proof we did not eat all that food at once! What a great weekend!!