tri tragedy

 It started out well. 

See how happy and hopeful I look?

I thought I was prepared. The weekend before the race I even biked all of the way up to the windmills on Ammon Mountain!!! Seriously, I did!! 

This race promised 12 whole miles of uphill on the bike, and I showed up ready to kick some butt.

Unfortunately... well, we'll get to that.

My third triathlon was the PumpkinMan Race on October 15th in Las Vegas, NV. 

The swim for the race was the exact same as the swim for my first triathlon, and I was excited to get another crack at it, since the first time didn't go so well.

 And I must say, I exacted my revenge on Lake Mead in a big way! In fact, my swim was my best time yet!! I killed it for sure and it felt so good. 

...until I got on my bike.

 Now I have mentioned many times my love affair with my bike. But things started off really rocky this go around, and it wasn't my bike's fault. It was mine. 

You see, I didn't check to see what gear my bike was in before the race began, so when I hopped on and locked my shoes in, I tried to start pedaling. And hit a wall instead. 

Not literally, it's just that my bike was in the highest gear. And I couldn't push forward. 

Stupid Ammon Mountain.

So...

I fell over. 

Like a tree.

TIMBERRR!!!

No joke. 

So horribly embarrassing. PLUS I got a nice big cut on my knee and elbow for good measure.

Yeah. 

Then I proceeded to get up, fix my chain (which came off during the fall), fix my gear and bike up 12 miles of baking hot desert hills. 

But I couldn't seem to get my head back into it. 

In fact, about 10 miles in I had to stop. 

To puke. 

Yeah.

I'm sorry to say that my run wasn't much better. About a mile and a half in there was a water station with a bunch of high school kids volunteering. One of the girls had a big Gatorade cooler thing and asked me if I wanted cold water dumped on me (it is really hot in that stupid desert!!). I said, "Sure!" ...I got water dumped on me as I ran by... but I also got a big knot on my head. Yep, the girl beaned me in the head with the cooler as she tipped it upside down. 

Right. 

No big deal, but just goes to show you how ummm fun this race was? 

My family was there and they were all so supportive as I came in half an hour after my estimated finish time.

At least I wasn't last, right?
So, what does this mean for my future in racing? 

It means that next year, PumpkinMan, your gourd is mine!!!