Train-n-Tri: Wildflower Virgin No More!

Wildflower 2012 - 30th Year Anniversary

I went.

The first thing I did after checking into registration was to find the swim area. I thought I might be freaked out when I saw it, but actually I was calm and kind of excited for the swim. The buoys didn't seem very far out....and they weren't because I was only signed up for the Mountain Bike Triathlon, so the 1/4 mile swim was a shorty.

Then I rode up and down Lynch Hill on my mountain bike.

I camped out with my Triathlon Connection friends.

And obviously ate with Triathlon Connection Friends!!!!

Then it was time to compete!

I have been practicing my open water swim and my mountain bike riding skills for the past two months. Since the run was only 2 miles I didn't too much running practice, much to my coach's chagrin.

My transition area is all set up....My stuff is all on the yellow mat.

Then I waited in line for the PortaPotty....along with several other people....several times!

Then it was time for the swim. Wetsuit on, SwimSafe on, cap on, Zoggs on, noseclip ready!

I followed all the advise I have received and jumped right in during the warm-up, getting my face wet and going underwater several times. I swam a bit and then hopped out. The water felt great! I wasn't scared at all. I felt ready to swim!

Then the gun went off and I was off. That's me on the left with the orange goggles. I was in and swimming and those other ladies are still standing there talking about how awesome it was going to be to see Macca in the water for the Olympic Distance the next day.

Then I was out!

And I ran all the way UP the UPHILL ramp. I even managed to get unzipped and my arms out of the my wetsuit before I hit the transition area. When I got to transition I had cap, goggles and SwimSafe off and earplug out (that's a lot of accouterments).

I put my race belt on and sat down to put my socks and shoes on. I almost started to put them on standing up, but then I thought of Lance Armstrong and how he tried to put on his socks and shoes standing up at his first 70.3 and he got off balance and wobbled and had to sit down anyway. I saved myself those precious few seconds and just sat down to begin with.

I wore my Nathan backpack, just to make sure I was getting enough hydration. Look how good I am, running with my bike out of transition and sucking down water at the same time.

The course was not as hilly as I had expected. All those rides up Skyline Drive in Corona, the big flipping hill my friend Edith made me ride up to where the handgliders take off by her house, and the fast riding in Sycamore Canyon with Robert and his friends prepared me for the Wildflower Mountain Bike course. There wasn't any single-track and really nothing too technical. It was just fast, fast, fast riding, and keep riding through the sandy parts and avoid all the people who didn't know how to ride, and didn't know how to downshift BEFORE they got on a little hill.

And before I knew it, it was time to ride down Lynch Hill and into transition for the 2-mile run....which started with this.......

the Stairs of Champions...and I did RUN up all the stairs. When I got to the top I heard someone say, "Did you just see that old lady run up those stairs?" I am hoping they were looking at the blurred age on my right calf that made my 52 look more like a 62, than at my face....but I took the compliment anyway and ran on.

The run was a mile out of rollers with a quick hose off at the turn-around

and then a mile back of the same rollers.

It was hot and there were several people puking on the side of the road. I just kept plugging along, enjoying the run because I knew it was going to be over soon enough.

And then my race was over, but WILDFLOWER was NOT!!

We celebrated Sinta's HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

(and don't go any further if you are do NOT want to see naked people....that's right, part of my WILDFLOWER weekend included naked people. Well, they did have shoes on. So don't go any further if you do NOT want to see naked people with shoes on.

So obviously you wanted to see the naked people, aka, streakers. They run through the camp every year. Sorry if the picture is small and a little out of focus. Next year I'll try to have my camera on close-up to get better pictures.

And still WILDFLOWER was not over!

The next day Robert and I check results and found out I got 2nd place in my age group. We stopped by and picked up my medal.