Pumpkin Man Tri 2011

I know you guys have just been DYING to hear my race report. But right now, I'm just a little obsessed with Halloween. I've spent almost every waking hr (and some not so awake) unproductively working and spending money on something that comes once of year.

Yes, I'm that kind of lady.

So in order to get this up before the big Halloween ____ (I'm reserving judgement on how it's going to turn out), I'll put up some pictures and try and keep my comments brief.

Luckly, my wonderful parents (the best ones I've EVER had) came up to take pictures and be my chase team. Emily was very sad not to be able to come. Mom and Dad cheering together almost made up for her :-)

Of we go. Look at that tiny wave of competetors. Melissa's wave went 5 minutes before me (remember, I compete with the old and fat ladies) and her's was at least twice as big as mine.

Which means I had a hard time finding a rabbit to follow. Either they headed out way too fast or I'd find someone but would soon have to pass her. Plus I was still a little stuffy from my cold (although a swim does clean you out... just sayin').

Look at me coming in with those pink cap ladies! The pink caps were Melissa's wave. Made me feel fast... but really they were just slow.
Here I'm telling mom my throat hurt.
And off I go. I've never worried about transition times cuz I'm usually just glad I got to the next milestone but this one was pretty slow.
I had pushed it on the swim cuz that's the part I usually enjoy and then I was determined to push it on the bike. So here still feeling pretty good.
Here... not so much.
I don't know what I was thinking when prepping for this race. I only put one water bottle on my bike and so ran out coming up the last big hill. I had thought about putting a bottle here at T2 but thought... one hr bike ride, one water bottle. (K, guess I do know what I was thinking.)

Just forgot to factor in my water needs after the swim and before the run which would have been taken care of by another water bottle. I had to wait until the 1st mile on the run at the water station for a cup of water which made me feel so much better... for about 1 minute. Talk about a miserable run. Emily asked why I didn't just stay and tank up at the water station either coming or going but apparently I can't make good decisions when I'm dehydrated.

I'm not putting in any pictures of me "running" in. I look terrible. One lady who caught up to me with half a mile left asked me if I was OK or if I needed a gu. It wouldn't have helped with such a short time left so I declined. I must have looked pretty awful.

So lets just take show the end results. YA!! I finished! And I got 2 dumb little water bottles that I can down in all of 2 seconds!
But my wonderful cheering section was there and with a lot of water, food and rest, all was right in the world.
Wait.. was that my name they called during the awards ceremony? Yup... 3rd place in the fat ladies division.
The lady that placed second in the fat ladies devision passed me with only a mile to go on the run...

Sigh. Still, for having been ill the two weeks before and not preparing like I should have... I'm OK with my showing.

For a mildly driven athlete... I'd say it was alright.

PS. A big thank you to Melissa who fed my parents and let me come soak in her hot tub, Melissa's parents who praised the canned peaches I brought for desert, and Dan for making awesome breadsticks. And thanks again to Mom and Dad for driving 20hrs round trip just to spend 2 days with me! I love my family/friends.

Summerlin Art Festival (Chalk Art Festival)

I like to go to things that are free in Vegas... plus I love concrete and I love chalk.

Unfortunately, chalk art and rain don't mix. The poor artist, waiting for the rain and clouds to go away.
It had stopped raining by the time I got there, but everyone was cleaning up.

Even the ones under canopys had to wipe everything down.The two days it rains in Vegas of course have to happen during the chalk art festival. I was sad not to see the chalk art so I looked at some of the other booths.

Do you remember Mom's Halloween wicked witch she made with stuffed nylons? Was just as scary as these flat babies. At least these don't have warts.

What I was really looking for was pottery. Being from New Mexico, I like looking at beautiful pottery at a fair. Art and function.
That yellow pitcher in the middle. So pretty. Unfortunately there were only 2 potters in the whole place and the other one was just huge vases. Ugh. Gimmie some mugs any day.

I wandered around looking at ugly jewelry and even uglier paintings hoping the weather would clear.

Then the wind kicked up again so even though it dried out, the sidewalks remained covered.
Nice concrete though. You could kinda see the pictures underneath the plastic, but most of the other artists hadn't been able to finish before the rain came.
I took a picture of this artist with chalk all down his legs and his dirty hands.
Then I went home.

And that was my adventure for the weekend.

I had this ready to post three weeks ago but... well, my excuse is that I've been ill. So I thought I better post this before the triathlon this weekend. I'm sure u'll ALL want to hear about that :-)