The Pictures... And The Details

 Upon checking in on Saturday I found out I was gifted a super race number. How could it not be a good day with a number like this?

Nalani got #8. We felt like superheros the day before the race given that they wanted to mark us with our numbers a day early. Isn't it always necessary to sleep the night before the race with your number already stamped on? And, um, check out her guns, huh?

I got home from check in and woke Moana up from her nap... Instantly she saw the number on my arm and asked, "Can I touch it?" Lol. So freakin' cute. Then she asked, "Can I have one?" Of course you can, Sweetie. (Mama's dream come true.) So I marked her up. Just like Mama. Isn't this the reason we have kids? To have a little Mini-Me running around?

So the swim start for the race was at the same beach where we filmed the triathlon scenes for Hawaii 5-0 last fall... Today was not nearly as brutal as what we practiced back then. I like this photo below though... Top 4 OA women right there with Bree, Rae, Nalani, and me right on the front line waiting for the signal to go. The looks on our faces are priceless, huh? Bree's looking all serious, Rae looks nervous, Nalani is in her normal la-la land (all smiles), and I'm just like YEP, Let's do it.

Interestingly, all three of those gals beat me out of the water (along with several other women). I don't think I had a bad swim. Hawaii just has some bad ass swimmer girls!

Nalani and Rae are both athletes I coach, so naturally I was glad that they both had good swims. But, um, that does not mean I did not make it my mission to hunt them down on the bike! (I actually had this thought while I was swimming... Just get out of the water so you can get on your bike... What has happened to me?? The swim has been my favorite part of triathlon for like 16 years... Apparently in my old age I can't keep up with these young whipper-snappers in the water anymore.)

Onto the bike... I caught Nalani pretty early on. Next up I caught Kathryn. Took me a bit longer to catch Rae but I got her ~15 min into the ride. At the first U-turn I saw that Rae and Nalani had rallied and were not very far back... my first thought was What? Why am I not dropping them?? Ha! Then I reminded myself the obvious... Um, Hello? I taught those girls how to ride a bike. Good job, Michelle... making life harder on myself helping these girls who were now hunting me. Clearly I had my work cut out for me getting the time I needed to hold them off once we dismounted our machines...

At that point I calmly reminded myself that the only gal out there who has even possibly been riding more than me was Bree... I had the utmost confidence that I could drill myself on the bike and still be able to run (pretty sure this is where a solid foundation of base fitness comes into play) so I upped it a notch and by the time we got to the next turn-around I saw that (OMG!) I was gaining time on Bree and creating solid gaps between myself and everyone else behind me. Sweet.

I swear I do ride in my aero bars and typically have my feet actually in my shoes. No one ever seems gets a picture of that though.

I came off the bike and Bree was actually in sight... OMG again. This is where I started to wish that I was a good runner. BUT, I kept my head on straight and just did what I could do and just hoped it would be enough to hold off anyone from catching me. I would have been super happy for Rae or Nalani had either one of them caught me, but it wasn't like I was going to give it to them. They would have to earn it. And one of these days they probably will. But not today! Turns out, I can run my current 5K pace for a 10K... after an hour of hard riding. Super.

How can you take me seriously when I am wearing this cat suit?

The finish line was a very happy place. All smiles with Rae who finished ~a minute behind me.

Nalani was happy about 4th OA and a 5 min PR over last year. I was happy about the champagne, even though it was in a plastic cup.

Awards. This was fun. I was buzzin'... some from the champagne and some from the awesome endorphins. Moana got a nice little taste of the podium too.

It was awesome today to finally have a race that felt reflective of the training I have done. I think it will just get better as the races get longer. Honu is in 3 weeks.