Morton Plant Sprint Tri report

Ok, for the record, I'm over the inclimate weather for races! I'm the gal who, if it's raining, I don't ride outdoors (unless I get caught out in it). I went into Florida 70.3 on May 15th 100% healthy and came out of it banged up and totally psyched out by the early morning bad weather. I managed to reinjure the bad hammy a bit so had to lay low for several weeks to get over this. I swam mostly, ran a little bit and bike very little going into today's race. I knew it was going to be torture and a great workout for sure! We planned this mini summer break to recover from a ton of early year racing but I took it to the extreme! Anyhow, figured I was about 90% healthy now so decided to give it a go in my unprepared state! The forecast was typical for Florida's west coast, 50% chance of rain...........which usually comes later in the day. Got up early and it was dry but the radar was not as optimistic. Rode the bikes the 10K to the race (one of the WONDERFUL bonuses of this race) for a little extra warm up (or training, I thought!) which was dry but lot's of lightning in the sky! Racked the bikes, got transition set up and waited......in multiple downpours! We were shepherded out to the beach in the rain and lightning and waited. And waited. The race officials were totally top shelf here in keeping us totally updated on conditions and ultimately had to decide the bike course wasn't safe enough to ride. It was totally the right call on the day. The race became a swim/run competition and I, not so secretly, was very happy! I felt good about my recent swim training so it became a bigger weapon for me. We finally got going, the gun went off and I went out very hard. Too hard! Got around the first turn buoy and dropped the hammer and got into the lead of my wave (women 40 and over and athenas). I decided even if I was coming off a break and jumping in this race that I was going to go full gas! Out of the warm Gulf, onto the longish run to T1 and getting to put on run shoes was fun! I did have to dump the rain water out of them but this is part of the adventure of the day! I had an uneventful run, just tried to press the pace as much as I could. I was just catching some of the athletes from the previous wave and encouraging them in the ongoing downpour! First part of the run was in the sand and the latter part on pavement so not a fast course. Ended up winning Masters which I was very happy about! The Dane won his age group as well so good result all around. Our friend Linda, who rode to the race with us, won her age group....again. Val represented in the Athena group without her strength, the bike, so great result for her! All around, fun time. I am very happy that we got to race despite the horrid conditions, lots of credit to the superb race directors!! Thanks! Our next triathlon is likely going to be Top Gun Sprint tri which is a super fun race and great prep for Hy-Vee in Sept. Hoping for better weather in the late season races! I will, for sure, be in better shape!
KAMAU