First Place at Steamboat!

This triathlon was a blast... I think it was because so many friends and clients were here! Also, I never imagined I could have a repeat from New York and WIN again!

The day started off with a strong swim, I felt slow initially, but I think it was due to the water temp being colder than my past races that have been borderline, non-wetsuit legal; and lack of opportunity to warm up. By the time I hit the first buoy, I felt like I was cruising and kicked it up a notch. Raced into transition and got my wetsuit stuck around one ankle. I need to cut my suit, I can't afford those seconds at Age Group Nats. The bike felt great and I was hauling, picking off everyone in sight. I could not believe how I flew up the last 2 mile hill that I thought would be a challenge. Getting out into the run, Ocky, a swimmate and friend yelled "Your in third, you've got plenty of time!" Well, I didn't exactly know what all that meant. Third overall, third age group, plenty of time to move up... or fall back ;-) I just clipped along on the unfamiliar run course. When I got to the turn around, I shortly saw a girl that I had passed on the bike in my age group. I knew I had to hold her off. I kept turning around to see if I could cut the pace just a bit as my legs felt awesome, but my lungs were in my throat with the higher elevation. I finally decided to stop worrying about her and run my best run. I focused at that moment on relaxing the shoulders, doing cadence checks and running my most effecient run. As I entered into the finish area and could hear the music playing, I said to myself "No way! This is MY race!" My song that I had picked for this race to help get me psyched... was playing for me at the finish. Blue by Eiffel 65. No Way!

When I called Melissa to tell her I had won AGAIN, she was so thrilled. When discussing the race, she was very pleased and said relative to my age group "Trista, you crushed the bike! Nice work!" That was very rewarding for me to hear that from her. Also, John Hughes and Paulo had commented to me "Trista, you looked so strong out there on the run. I couldn't believe how good you looked. You never had two feet on the ground! Nice work." This meant so much to me, it brought tears to my eyes with emotion. I have worked so hard... and its showing :-)