This story actually starts a couple of months ago. My husband had registered for TriLouisville, a local triathlon that he’s competed in a couple times before. Like always, I planned to go watch him and figured I would either skip my run that day or do it in the afternoon, once the race was over.
Then I saw a post in the Tri-Loco Facebook group, asking if anyone was interested in putting together a relay team. Tri-Loco is a regional (Indy, Louisville, St. Louis) tri club that my husband has been a member of for a few years. I am by no means a triathlete, nor do I aspire to be one. I can’t swim and my biking is purely recreational. But the relay intrigued me! I participated in one at a much smaller tri a few years ago. Before I jumped in headfirst, I reached out to the guy who made the post and said that as long as the team was doing it for fun and not to win, I’d be interested in participating as the runner.
A few weeks after that, I found out that I was placed on a team for the Olympic distance with a local law school student, Kendall, and a guy from Indianapolis named Gary. Kendall would be our swimmer, Gary would cycle, and I would be the runner. We chatted logistics online and planned to meet each other the day before the race.
Jump to packet pickup last Saturday. Mike and I were heading to get our things when he pointed out a woman who walked by us. “I think that’s Kendall,” he said. “Yell her name for me!” “Hey, Kendall!” Sure enough, she turned around and we spoke for a few minutes. We were both planning to go to the Tri-Loco carb-loading party in a couple of hours, so we parted ways.
That night when we both showed up at the party, we found one of the Indy guys and asked if he could point out Gary to us. He was there, and finally our team met in person! We chatted some over the next couple of hours, then headed home.
Finally it was the day of the race, and Mike and I woke up at 4:30am. Gross. But luckily we live near the race location, so were able to sleep in a little more than most! We grabbed a decent parking spot then headed into transition so Mike could set up. I also saw Kendall and Gary again, so we grabbed a quick pre-race photo.
While Mike was setting up, I also jumped into a photo with fellow members of Mom / She Runs This Town (SRTT). A few of them were participating in the tri, and several of them were signed up for the duathlon.
Then it was time to head down to the swim start. As we were walking, it started to rain – lightly at first and then it started coming down harder. Not a huge deal at the time, but we were hoping it would stop soon so the cycling portion wouldn’t be any harder. The race director went over the rules, and then Mike and I said goodbye and he lined up to jump in. My friend Jennifer was down there already. She was doing the Sprint distance, which started 30 minutes after the Olympic. It was her first tri, so I hung out with her and another woman I know from the tri community, Stephanie, until it was time for them to line up.
I had both Mike and Kendall’s shoes to take back to transition, and I realized that by staying and talking with Jennifer and Stephanie that I might have missed Mike coming out of the swim and leaving on the bike! I hustled up to transition and saw that his bike was still there. Whew! Within just a few minutes, he came running into transition. And fortunately, the rain had stopped by that point.
He wasn’t as rushed in transition as he usually is, which I interpreted to mean he had a bad swim and wasn’t trying to hurry out on the bike to keep up momentum. Luckily, I was wrong!
He headed out on the bike, and I walked over to where the athletes were exiting the water so I could look for Kendall. I could see Gary waiting in the relay tent in transition, so I was hoping I would see Kendall coming up the hill and could yell at Gary to get ready. After about 10 minutes, Kendall headed out of the water and Gary took off.
After making a stop at the porta potty (nothing will humble you more than needing a porta potty during a race), I headed down to watch the cyclists. My friend Krista was volunteering and standing with our friend Niki’s husband and daughter. It was a perfect spot because they were by bike in and bike out, and due to the type of course it was, we had the opportunity to see our people several times. By that time, Kendall had gotten her shoes, shorts, and some water and joined us to spectate. We were able to cheer on Mike, Gary, and several of our SRTT friends.
Gary had told me that he would take at least an hour on the bike, so when about 40 minutes had gone by, I headed up to the relay tent in transition. There were four other runners waiting, none of whom I knew, but I did chat with one of them quite a bit. Finally, I saw Gary come into transition, so I headed out for my leg!
The course was a 5k, so the Sprint participants only did one loop while those of us doing the Olympic had to go around twice. My first loop was amazing! I was pulling sub 9:00s and smiling the whole time. I saw a few of my friends from SRTT and it was so fun cheering for them! Kendall was also out there cheering for me, which was awesome! But when I headed out for the second loop, the heat really started getting to me. I did see Mike coming in toward the end of his second lap, so we were able to high five. But after that, my pace slowed down quite a bit. The course had a LOT of turns, as it follows the sidewalk down at the riverfront. Nevertheless, I kept going and before I knew it, I was heading down the chute toward the finish line.
I looked to the my right and saw not only Mike filming me and holding his hand out for a high five, but also a ton of my SRTT ladies cheering for me! That moment pretty much sums up the best part of racing; seeing your friends and loved ones and getting to cheer for them, and the elation you feel when you see them doing the same for you.
I crossed the finish line and checked my watch. While I was pleased with my overall time (9:00 pace), the course was short. I ended up with 5.93 miles (an Olympic distance is a 10k, or 6.2 miles). Later, I spoke with a few friends who also came up short, so I was glad it wasn’t just me!
Finishers received a mini Louisville Slugger, which was fun and different from the usual medal.
Once I finished and reunited with Mike, we hung out at the Tri-Loco tent waiting for the awards. I had been checking the online results, and it was showing our relay team coming in second in the mixed-team (co-ed) Olympic relay! The awards were fun; several Locos podiumed, which is always awesome, and it was a good time sitting around and talking with everyone.
They finally got to relay but only announced the team that came in first. Boo! Gary had already left since he had to drive back to Indianapolis, but Kendall and I decided to take the opportunity to get our photo on the second place podium.
I also saw most of the SRTT ladies again, so we had to get a finisher photo.
Overall, it was such a fun day. Normally I’m just there as a spectator, which is fun in its own way. I’m usually running around, trying to find Mike as much as I can so I can cheer and take photos. But this year was even more special since I participated in the race, too. I would definitely do another relay, and would even consider doing a 70.3 relay (as the runner, of course)!
I Was Running 