2014 Wahine All Womens

wa·hi·ne

wäˈhēnē/

noun

1. 1.

   a Polynesian woman or wife, especially in Hawaii or New Zealand.

Mary, Kristen, Me & Julie

Today was the day! Mary's first "real" running event put on by AA Sports. Technically, this one is her 3rd, but this is a biggie put on by AA Sports in Portland and they do a pretty nice job putting on a multisport event - I love coming to Blue Lake and haven't been since 2011 and now I'm itchin' to get back into all three sports.

BUT...this is about Wahine.

The power went off at our house right when we were getting ready to leave so it was perfect. Coffee, showers and breakfast all done so not a big deal. Off we went to pick up Mary...we ALMOST made it a quarter mile down the road from her house when I remembered that I didn't grab my watch. Dang! Back home we go!

We met up with Mary's co-worker right after we parked it and then we became a trio. As we were milling around Kristen arrived and we all got to hang out for a while before the Du and Tri races started. While we were getting our race bibs and timing chips on another woman came up to where we were and we eventually all were chillin' together waiting for the action to start.

The Duathlon started at 8 a.m. so we saw Kristen off before heading over to the lake to watch the different waves of swimmers get started. After watching several of the wave getting started, the first swimmer was getting ready to come through the finish chute to the transition area...then pretty soon the Duathletes were coming through and about 30 minutes into the race we saw Kristen come through...looking pretty fresh really.

Now it's 8:30 and us 5k'ers make our way to the start for our race. Oh, I had decided a few minutes before that since Mary and Julie would be run/walking together that I would try to race this morning...just for the fun of it.

The race started and I actually felt pretty good for about a half mile. Then we hit the ratty beat up bike trail and it was HOT. Holy Cow! I KNOW that it gets warm going out, but this morning had to be the warmest race yet! I'm thinkin' that I might want to train a little during the warmer part of the day...somehow. So, I ended up walking...A LOT! Kind of like the last time I was there with Robin (but I had to do the run twice then). It was slow going, but once we made it past the turn-around it wasn't that terribly anymore.

So, my race ended up being just over 44 minutes and I was probably 5 minutes ahead of Mary & Julie. So after getting some water Tom and I made our way down to the other side of the finish to look for Mary...I spot both of them while they were still a distance off and met them as they were coming up the last little hill getting ready to turn to the finish. Mary wasn't looking that happy at that point and she did a little running and a little walking and a little running and finally ran through the finish arch. She did it! She finished her first 5k race put on by a bonafide race organization!

Finally...done!

Seriously - why are you point that at me?

Yaay Julie and Mary!

Almost there!

For me it always take a few minutes to realize what just happened, but since I have a few races behind me, I know that what I'm doing is fun - even if I don't feel like it is. Well, this was true with Mary as well...after hydrating a bit and catching her breath she said she had fun! Yahoo! 

I'm so proud of Mary - she worked toward this goal, it was a little scary and seemed a little out of reach, but with some encouragement and a couple of other opportunities to be in a race situation, she did it! One day she is going to be quite the athlete and I'll probably be trying to out stay ahead, but I'll be there cheering her on and celebrating too. 

So, for next year I'm thinking that we should do the Duathlon as a team with me doing the first run and ride and Mary finishing us up! 

Wahine baby! 

More Bling to add to the collection