Valley Girl 2008

Almost exactly 1 year ago, I completed my first triathlon. It was Valley Girl 2007 and it was a total blast. I had trained for about 10 months with friends, and the race truly was the celebration of all I had accomplished during that time. The race was such a great experience that it led to me joining Tri Fusion and continuing to do races this year. Valley Girl 2008 was my 4th race this year, and my 5th race ever.

Since Valley Girl was the only race I did last year, it was obviously my "A" race for this year. It was the only race where I could truly show improvement and compare times. This being said, I was SOOOOO nervous for this race because I really, really wanted to improve my time from last year. Last year I swam to the best of my abilities, used my friend's husband's mountain bike, and walked the entire run course. This year, I have been really working on my swimming (it is my best of the three!), I got a speedy fast tri bike, I learned how to run, I completely changed my eating so I am now "fueling" my body correctly, and I have lost 40 pounds. In my heart, I knew I would do better than last year, but the question was how much.

Now flash to last Sunday at 7:45 a.m. I did not sleep great the night before, I had to get up at 4:30 a.m., my stomach was in total knots, and I thought I might throw up. Totally ready to race, right!?! My dear friends Christina, Jen, Laura, Rhonda and Ali were racing with me, and it was so nice to hang with them before the race started. This race was a little different than all of the others I have done this year because Jessi and Tiff weren't racing. These two ALWAYS help get me pumped for the race and offer me serious words of encouragement, so it was hard not having them there in the morning. But I knew they were coming to cheer and I would see them soon enough :) Luckily, Jen was there to mother me and calm me down! She is truly gifted at this! Here Jen and I are before the swim start, acting like we are totally ready to rock this race!
When the race started, Jen and I decided to go for it and start on the inside of the horse shoe. I was a little nervous we might get run over, but we thought we were hard core enough to start with the other serious swimmers. As soon as I started swimming, I was able to settle into my steady pace. My stroke felt strong, and I felt like I was cruising. As I turned to my right to breath, I saw Jen swimming right along side me. We stayed that way for almost the entire swim, and it was such a comfort to have her right at my side. We could have held hands if we wanted to :) When I came out of the water, I was surprised to see most green caps still swimming. Out of 65 girls in my swim heat, I was 13th out of the water! Really!?! I ended up beating my time from last year by 1 second, but the swim was actually 135 m longer. Not bad!

Next I headed to my bike. I hopped on with minimal effort, and started the bike course. Right away, I heard Roger in the mega phone, and I immediately started laughing. I knew it was him when he yelled, "Goooooooo Tricia!" I also heard Jessi, Tiff, Natalie, Greg, Phaedra, Steve and Emma yelling their little hearts out! Hearing my friends cheer for me is one of the best feelings in the entire world! It totally gave me a boost on the bike. It was also a wonderful surprise to hear Laura S., Kim and Joey cheering out on the bike course! It was so sweet of you guys to come out and you spread the cheer love throughout the ride :) Two of my goals on the bike were to stay in aero position as much as possible, and to stay at a steady pace on the flat parts. I worked hard on these goals and was pretty happy with the outcome. I shaved 12 minutes off my bike time from the year before! As I headed into T2, I heard Tiff in the mega phone and again it warmed my heart and got me ready for the run.

The second I started the run, my awesome race took a turn for the worst. I got a side ache on my right side. I tend to get side aches from time to time when I run and I am NOT great at pushing through them. But this was a race, so I was going to do my darnedest to finish strong. About halfway through the run, my side ache went away on my right and showed up on my left side. Are you kidding me!?! I could tell that I was dragging, but one of my run goals was to run the whole thing, so I decided to push it the best I could, knowing I would never regret it :) As I finally hit the park, nearing the end of my race, I was THRILLED to see Jen, Natalie, Tiffany and Laura running towards me! Natalie was even running in heels, and she totally looked like a supermodel! As I have said before, this is my ABSOLUTE favorite part of a race. They offered me much needed words of encouragement, a few laughs and some major motivation to finish strong. I pushed it to the end, and beat my run time from last year by 12 1/2 minutes.

I ended up shaving a total of 25 minutes off my time from my race last year! I was pretty stinkin' happy with that PR! My hard work really has paid off, and I can't wait to see how fast Trish 2009 can be!

Now, I have a few shout outs to take care of. First thanks to Tiffany for coming out to cheer for me and for stealing the bull horn from Roger so I could hear her voice when I needed it! You are SUCH an amazing friend who has been by my side through all of my transformations this year. You and I have both blown our old selves out of the water this year and I have loved going through the process with you and celebrating all of our successes together! I love you lady!

Next, thanks to RT, Jessi and Emma for coming out to cheer. You guys have been majorly busy moving, and I was very touched that you took a break from the madness to come and cheer at my race (on like 5 hours of sleep)! Rog, the mega phone was AWESOME and I appreciate every word of encouragement! It brought a smile to my face every time you cheered for Tricia :) And Jessi, thanks for taking pictures and for cheering me on. You have been a constant cheerleader for me over the past two years and I value your friendship beyond words. I love when I finish a race and I get to see your beautiful smile and get a famous Jessi hug and kiss and hear you tell me you are proud of me. It is the BEST! I love you guys lots and lots!

To Greg, Natalie and Steve (I think that is Steve's arm) thanks for coming out to cheer as well. I am always impressed when people come to a race, early in the morning just to cheer! Natalie, I was surprised and ecstatic to see you coming to run me in! Now that was sweet :) You have been such a supportive and dear friend to me and I love you to pieces! I have really enjoyed hanging out with all of you over the past few months, and you are wonderful friends!

Thanks to Phaedra for coming out to cheer and take pictures! Most of these pictures are courtesy of P and the one on my bike is phenomenal :) I totally heard you cheering lady, and it was AWESOME to get to see you in transition before the race. You are sneaky! Thanks again to Laura as well for coming to run me it! I was totally surprised to see you and I loved hanging out with you before the race! Ali and Rhonda rocked this race also, and it was so fun to race with my teammates. Loves to you friends!

A super special shout out to Jen and Christina, my racing buddies. Jen freakin' rocked this race! 5th in our age group...WHAT!?! I am so proud of you woman and continually surprised by how smoking fast you are! I loved that we got to race together, and this will go down as one of my favorite swims EVER! And Christina, I know you had a tough race, but you finished and you still had a smile on your face! Did you ever really think you would do a triathlon, let alone 2!?! You are amazing woman! I love you both girls!!

Finally, a HUGE thank you to my fabulous parents! They weren't sure if they were going to make it due to the heat, but they toughed it out and cheered their hearts out! You both have been so supportive of my triathlons and I think you are really starting to get into it :) I am so grateful you came and I LOVED seeing you at the finish line! You guys are terriffic and I love you times a million!