After a stressful week… a blur of ice packs, ibuprofen, my foam roller, ace bandage, and pillows for elevation… my IT band healed enough to hobble across the finish line at the Vermont Sun Triathlon this past weekend! It was a huge answered prayer to be able to tackle the goal of my first tri. It was equally as wonderful to spend the weekend with great friends, new and old. On Saturday we drove up to Vermont with Brett and Emily (Brett, our actual professional triathlete friend who encouraged us to sign up). We checked out the race site and took a dip in the lake. Still feeling like walking was a little risky for me, I opted to go with Emily to help set up the campsite while Brett, Nate and our friends Aaron and Tiffany went for a bike ride around the course. I’m very proud to say that Emily and I set up our tents… all. by. ourselves. I should have known we were in for a great weekend after that feat was accomplished. After picking up the crew post-ride we all went to the grocery store, returned to our site, and began cooking a feast. While we were cooking, Aaron went to go meet his friends Pat and Dan. Since cell phone service is non-existent in the middle of the Vermont woods, he found them en route and led them to our nifty little site. Happy campers eating a wonderful, yummy, scrumptious dinner below: 

Around 11:30 we headed for bed. Nate and I were so excited to be in our awesome new tent and using it in the woods for the first time (instead of our friend Benn’s front yard - which was super fun but not the tent’s natural habitat). Below, Nate and I wearing our Christmas Eve-like excited faces before settling in for a night of deep sleep interrupted only once by some very noisy (and creepy) owls. 

We woke around 5:00am to start getting ready. This consisted of downing a bottle of water ASAP and cramming in as many bananas, peanut butter covered bagels, and rice cakes as I could. After arriving, registering, getting our numbers written on us in 5 different places, setting up our transition area, and warming up… it was off to the lake for the start of the race! Below, Tiffany and I gear up for the start: 

Tiffany is an incredible swimmer… I lost sight of her almost as soon as I got in the water. I am pretty slow, but I must admit, I liked the swim way better than I thought I would! The lake was gorgeous and crystal clear. And warm. Perfect.

I have always considered the run to be my favorite part. What an exhilarating feeling to blast through the finish line on your own two feet. However, I’m not sure if it was my injury or the incredible Vermont scenery, but I adored the bike portion of this race. My Specialized Allez plus my cycling shoes took me faster than I’ve gone before. I let go of my fear of speed (braking only once on an incredibly steep downhill) and just had fun. I yelled “on your left!” (and “you’re doing great!”) to the riders I overtook countless times and the rush felt wonderful. The run was another story. My leg did far better than I thought, but I still ran about 5 minutes slower than my usual 5k time. A fine sacrifice to not overdo it in order to hold onto my hope of doing a marathon this fall. My favorite part of the run was getting to pass by Nate. The course was an out and back so by the time I was on the first half of the run, Nate was already on the second half. It was great to see him looking strong and having fun! Here he is coming into the finish: 

I ended up placing 4th in my division and beating Nate’s first triathlon time - a fact that sadly makes me very proud. Afterwards, I had the on-site sports medicine chiropractor work on me and after his “adjustment” (ouch!) and deep tissue massage (OUCH!), I do feel a lot better. 

Our friend Brett naturally walked away as the Overall Winner of the race. It was so great to be able to cheer for him and be a part of his career! 

Below, our whole group. What a great cohort of people to spend a momentous weekend with. And three first time triathletes! Congrats Dan and Tiffany! 

Now that I’ve accomplished one out of three of our major races, next steps are…

• Deciding if I will do our 10 miler in RI at the end of July
• Figuring out how to both heal fully and begin physical therapy
• Try to get back into my marathon training after missing a month of long runs

I am praising God for allowing me to be able to do this fun, challenging, amazing event. He is absolutely our Healer and makes all things work for our good. He pushes us, teaches us, cries with us, and listens to us. Right now, a song comes to mind…

A grateful heart I give

A thankful prayer I pray

A life of praise I live before you

Amen.