Here we gooooo!

It's hard to believe the first race of the season is already over...which means triathlon season 2011 has officially started!!! Of course, just like the spring has been in eastern Washington, the race was cold and wet.  In fact, you might have heard me cheering at the top of my lungs Sunday morning when the race director announced they were cutting the swim short because the water was so cold.  That was my favorite part of the race.  Oh, and the last mile of the run when the feeling finally returned to all 10 toes.  The swim went surprisingly smooth, other than having to dodge some bobbers and crazy side kickers, nothing catastrophic happened.  I brilliantly placed the only thing that was supposed to keep me warm, on my transition towel, under my helmet.  Of course, the absorbent towel created a mini-lake under my helmet for my "warm" gloves to paddle around in.  Ok, so I guess my 4" shorts and a tri-singlet will keep me warm?  Answer = NO!  By the time I knew I needed to get some calories, my hands had frozen into the position of hooks, making it nearly impossible to get anything out of my jersey pocket.  Luckily, it seemed I wasn't the only one suffering from the cold temps, by the time I entered T-2 I had a pretty good lead.  Since my feet were frozen in one position, it was easy for me to slip my foot into my running shoes...not able to feel a thing, I just hoped my toes weren't bent backwards or sideways and off I went.  By mile 5 of the run, my toes finally regained feeling and I actually felt warm!  What a great way to end the day - feeling good :)
This race was so much more than a victory for me!  I have been working extremely hard on my self-talk during a race and I feel like I've made huge improvements so far this year.  Not to say I don't have a long ways to go, but at least for once I finished the race with a positive attitude!  Actually, I was shocked at how good it felt...of course the wine tasting afterwards helped a bit too :)
Thanks to everyone who has helped me get to where I am - I could never have found this road alone!