The Nations Triathlon

Let me just say that before the race it was miserable- pouring rain (hence our soaked bodies in the first picture) and we had to be there by around 6 am. Kerwyn started 95 minutes before I did but we both stood in the cold for a long time. I was soaking wet and cold for 3 hours before my race started. I regretted signing up for those hours of shaking in my pruned body.

As you can see once I was close to actually starting the race I was very excited to just get started (hence the thumbs up). I went into it with the mentality that I just didn't want to drown in the Potomac River and I was planning on a leisurely ride and walk through the city (I trained, but not as well as I could have). The swim went ok, but I hoped for a better time. However I also hoped to not get clubbed in the face with someone's nasty foot so it just wasn't my day in those regards. I drank a fair amount of the Potomac but my body has managed it well (it couldn't be worse than the Zambezi River).

After lazily drying off and getting on the bike crazy competitive Angie reared to life when I felt as strong as I ever have on my bike. Despite the rain I pushed my tempo faster than I thought sustainable and saved nothing for the run since I was planning on walking it anyways. When I got off the bike my legs felt better than expected for the brutal transition to running. So I decided to keep running as I believed I was having the race of my life. It was rainy and cold which is pretty ideal weather for running at least (apart from the water-logged shoes).

It turns out my overall time was 10 minutes slower than my last Olympic distance triathlon but I was still happy with my performance. I spent 8 minutes in the first transition since at that point I didn't care about my time so that didn't help the cause. Here's the breakdown for all 3 of you who care:

Swim 1500m 34:35
Transition 1 8:31
Bike (40K) 1:20:20
Transition 2 3:04
Run (10 K) 59:30

Overall 3:05:59
I came in 190 out of 393 for 25-29 year old females. Yes, it was that huge of a race, plus I'm in a pretty big age group.


I'm sure there will be many more triathlons to come in our future!

Washington DC

Kerwyn and I had a great time traveling to DC and participating in the Nation's Triathlon. We didn't die and it was our first road trip together and we weren't even tired of each other by the end so it was a success all around. We stayed at my aunt and uncle's apartment in VA which was great (thanks again!). They have a trail we could bike all the way into the city on which we did. It was surreal, but nice (catch the Notting Hill reference?) biking around the White House and all the monuments. We had a nice stroll through Roosevelt Island with Brad, Jodie and Meryl and they were able to help us maneuver the tricky logistics of such a huge triathlon. They even stood in the rain cheering us on.

We took a tour of the US Capitol building complete with tours of both the House of Representatives and Senate galleries. By the way, those tickets are harder to get as US Citizens than as someone from another country which we found to be quite ironic. I am somewhat obsessed with the State of the Union address every year and so it was amazing to sit in the gallery where that occurs. The picture of us with cool headphones on is in the Rotunda ignoring our incredibly lame tour guide.

We also wandered through the Library of Congress, Bureau of Engraving and Printing (the new $100 bills to be released next year are pretty nice), the typical monuments.... Our bike ride into the city was a fantastic way to spend a day and burn some serious calories. The crazy hair was immediately after I took my bike helmet off so please don't judge.

Muddy Buddy

Upon the immediate return from our honeymoon we repacked and headed to Chicago for the Muddy Buddy race with our friends Osi and Enola. We had a fun day wandering around Chicago and then on Sunday got up early for our race. It was much more intense than we expected. It was 5.6 miles or something like that of running and biking- in a fair amount of mud obviously. The biking was ridiculously hard (thanks to the mud and hills) and the running was just tough because I wasn't in shape to slosh through mud with water-filled running shoes.
It is called Muddy Buddy because it is a team event. We had a competition- girls vs boys (they won by 2 minutes). They started over an hour before us and so were already cleaned off when we finished (hence they are clean in the pictures). The end of the race is a swim through a mud pit which ensure that your entire body is covered in mud. It was a blast!

Married Life

Our honeymoon in St Lucia was great but being back home and settling in together has been even better in my mind. It has been a blast being a newlywed for the past nearly 2 months. It is amazing how much you learn about someone by living together! Kerwyn is seriously hilarious. He makes me laugh on a daily basis. Sometime you should ask him about his laundry regimen. He is very particular about the way his clothes are washed and I have yet to understand it, but it cracks me up every time I think about it. The transition has been really smooth for us and tons of fun. I'm sure my work schedule (or lack of one) this year has helped significantly. I never thought I could love someone as much as I love Kerwyn. I am so excited for our future together! Just for fun here are a couple of pictures from our honeymoon. Yes, we look dorky in our horseback riding helmets- that is the beauty of the picture.