Sat - when I finally got up (about 10) noticed Kim had called my phone and said she & Cindy were heading to MF at 11 to pick up packets and scope out the course. I decided to tag along, since I already knew the course.  As we were leaving Kim's house my mom called. She's getting 'worked in' to see the doc at 1:30 Tuesday. The biopsy showed a malignancy, but everything seems jumbled and confused since the only information I'm getting is third-hand, and it's coming from mom, who only talked to a nurse on the phone. My sister Carolyn is going to the Dr. appt with mom. Arrived in MF for Kim, Cindy and now Stacy and Kenneth to get packets. Kenneth was not actually doing the race since he was being treated for an ear infection. Let me just say that in the 3 weeks since The Flood, Marble Falls was very well cleaned up. The road through Johnson park had been patched, the debris that once clung to the twisted framework of the bridge across Johnson creek had been cleared and the roads were mostly open. We scoped out the lake, which looked great, with none of the hunks of floating debris I had seen first weekend in July. Decided to have lunch at the Bluebonnet, in case we didn't get in the following day!  I directed Kim on where to go so that they'd know the bike and run routes. 

Got back home about 5, tried to take a nap because I had a headache (again). Got up about an hour later and did a small bike (6.5 miles) and run (10 min) then packed/showered/ate dinner. I really tried to get to bed at 9 but for some reason could not find the carbiner flashlight I attach to my tri bag (and I knew I'd need it at 6:00am). Finally gave up and put the bigger flashlight in my bag and went to bed about 9:45. 

Sun - woke at 4:00, got ready to put in contact lens and... uh, where'd it go??? crap, must have gone down the sink drain. Fortunately I just got a new pair, so I grabbed the spare and after a couple of ins & outs, decided it'd have to do since it was now 10 after 5 (I intended to leave at 5:00). It was really foggy going through CP, and I worried about my late start, and the dangers of driving 1431 before daylight in fog. It cleared up after a while though, I arrived in MF just about 6:10, parked in an office complex lot and when trotting off to the race site discovered I'd parked close to Stacy. Racked between Cindy and Stacy (LOTS of room!!!!) and found Erik, who was getting a new "tattoo" (Virgin +1). Chris Spencer and David Loadman both came up to me to say hello, Chris remembered that he knew me through Jon and they were both glad I'm "in the sport". That was really nice. Got our pre-race photos taken a few times, Stacy & Kim checked out the water, and pretty soon we were off swimming! I think the swim was "Short" (either that, or it's been "long" the past two years) -- the final buoy is usually closer to the bridge so that there is an angle back to the boat dock. Although at the far buoy on the right side, there was another one out toward the middle of the lake, so maybe they added a little distance there instead. Oh well. 

By the time the race started, I was not feeling so well. I hadn't gotten any decent sleep in forever (having trouble breathing due to allergy/sinus issues so I am probably gasping for air in my sleep). I just was not looking forward to the race. The first time I did this race, I was the only TriZone person there, but I was in pretty decent shape and considering the length of the event I hoped to come in somewhere around 3 hours. It actually took 3:01. DARN! But I wasn't last.. in 2006, I had put on "a few pounds" and wasn't in as good a shape as 2005, and I was till the only TriZone person there. 2006 time: 3:12. So given how I felt, I would have been happy to come close to 2006's time, or even 3:15. however, the weather was great (a little overcast) and the water temp was PERFECT!  just cool enough to make you want to swim 1,000m. I started out breaststroke though because of the breathing issues and then I discovered my goggles were not doing as well as Couples. I'd do 40-50 strokes of freestyle then 6-8 breaststroke. It's not like there was anyone behind me. Snorkel-boy was there again, he swam next to me for probably 400m, then called the kayak over and handed them his snorkel saying "it's leaking". I think I finished the swim a little faster than him because he was swimming the "Tarzan stroke" (freestyle with head above water).  Michelle was there, for the third year in a row, to pull me out and slap me on the ass!

I was glad to be done with the swim but didn't have it in me to run up the hill. I just walked to T1 only to find... no bike. I knew it was near the basketball hoop so headed over to my row and Carrol was walking thru transition and said, "oh yeah, some guy came in here and grabbed your bike and then realized it wasn't his. So he laid it on the ground". Meanwhile I'm trying to go through the process of T1 wondering who touched my bike and why. I replied, "Well, that's so sad for him, but now I'm unsure of the state my bike". Took off toward the mount line and noticed my rear view mirror was all cattywhompus. I tried fiddling with it while riding, for about 5 miles, and finally decided it was going to fall off, so I stuck it in a pocket of my tri singlet. Crap! now I won't be able to see behind me. Not that there was anyone to see, since I'm the last person out on the bike course.

Felt slow going out, and hoped the gu I did in T1 would kick in. I chased, caught and then was passed by one guy (probably Snorkel-boy since he was behind me in the swim). He passed me on the right... uh........ so as we were ascending another hill I wanted to pass him, so yelled 'on your left', he got over and then I saw ..... a rattlesnake. I hope it was a dead rattlesnake. It looked pretty plump so it must have been a freshly dead rattlesnake. Did I mention I hope it was dead? So it was MY turn to pass on the right. No way was I gonna come close to that rattlesnake. He passed me again at some point and I just didn't feel competitive enough to chase him. After the turnaround I noticed a sound coming from my front wheel like it was rubbing. OH great, I thought. Mr. Confused must have done something to my wheel. But it turned out that the wind must have caught someone's helmet number and it blew off, catching in my front tire. I still had to stop though, so that took a little time. And oh yeah, after the turnaround, you get to go UP the hill you just descended. Lovely. At this point I just wanted to survive the bike, maybe put the hammer down a little in the final miles but not too much since it was a 4.4 mile run staring me in the face afterward. 

After what I'll call the' road surface change to the butt-numbing ride back into town', I caught up to and passed Stacy. I passed another guy on the final uphill and hollered, "it's all downhill from here" and he answered, "Thank god". On the final descent, I started cranking it up and the sheriff was there directing traffic for me, however the light turned green anyway! whee!!

flew into transition, Stacy right behind me, and got changed into my running shoes, grabbed my hat and waist pack, and headed out. stacy got out on the run sooner than me since she didn't strap on a hydration pack. I passed her going through Johnson park and remarked how perfect a day it was for the race. But I didn't look back. I figured she might want to walk and for me to get through it, I just needed to keep running. By running, I mean Not Walking. I knew that my bike was not the best one I'd had (especially with the stopping), and the swim was just survival, so I aimed to do same on the run.  Saw Joey, Cindy, Kim and Erik on their way to the finish line and wahoo'd them. Joey said, "go catch Maggie!" and of course I knew I couldn't catch Maggie -she's a IronWoman. I grabbed water at the first stop to help wash down the 2nd gu I had in T2. I didn't stop again till the halfway point and drank a little eload from my waist pack. I just kept running, slow and steady. Took water at each stop to splash on my face & hands. Before long I was running up that final hill, surprisingly strong, toward the finish. Cindy said, "I think you just had  a PR" and I replied, "nah, that was in 2005 when I was in good shape and nearly broke 3 hours". They pointed to the clock and said, "remember we started at 7:12, and that's the realtime clock". I was too excited to see Maggie, Rachel and Joey sitting on one side of the finish and Cindy, Kim & Erik on the other. Grabbed some COOOOLD water from the cooler and headed back to watch Stacy finish. She came in a few min later, also lookin' STRONG! WAHOO! I'd successfully convinced my buddies that Marble Falls Triathlon is a whole lotta fun. I met Erik's dad and stepmom who were visiting from back East. His stepmom said to me, "let me just say I am totally in awe".

then came the awards ceremony. Both Kim and Cindy got 2nd in their age groups! SWEET! I still didn't care about my time, only that I'd successfully finished my 3rd MFT. Was I surprised when I got home, logged on and saw:

1,000m Swim:31:44
T1:4:17.5
23 Mile Bike: 1:25:31.6
T2: 2:17.4
4.4 mile run: 52:48.1

overall time: 2:56:38.9!! A PR by nearly 5 min over 2005!! Even with the bike weirdness! COOL! CINDY WAS RIGHT!
Afterward, Steve drove over to the the Bluebonnet to meet us (he was having breakfast and we had lunch). We love to Tri for Pie!!!!