Can you believe it? It’s already time for another half marathon tomorrow! Time to get prepped.
I went to Pasadena to pick up my bib (and super sweet t-shirt). I met a bunch of fun people today, and got some random free stuff. Here’s a little gloss over of the expo.
I went to the Dodge booth ’cause this guy, Andrew, handed me a card, and told me to go get it scanned and I’d see what free thing I won.
I told him if I didn’t win something good I wasn’t going to be friends with him. (Apparently free stuff wasn’t good enough for me unless it was free stuff I wanted.) Luckily, I won a t-shirt, which as far as I was concerned, was the greatest free thing there, so I happily reported back to Andrew that we could indeed be friends – as long as he read this blog. (Nothing’s ever good enough for me, huh?)
Later, I met Annie at the TriRock booth. She is incredible! She had a video of herself doing a triathlon, and she had great stories of her super distances. I asked if she had a blog, ’cause I just had to read more about this girl and follow some of her future amazing adventures. Turned out, she does have a blog where she’s also in the middle of a year-long challenge. She refraining from buying anything new for a year (except food). Basically, she pretty much got cooler by the second.
I also met Jenni and Rob from Team Challenge. They did an awesome job convincing me I should do a triathlon.
I told them I just learned how to ride a bike… and I use the term “learned” quite loosely. Rob said, “Perfect. We do our first ride in a big parking lot. We’re here for all levels.” I also said I didn’t know how to swim. They said they help with that too. They make sure that every person on their team is totally prepared for her triathlon.
They also made it sound really easy, because it was a sprint triathlon. So they were all “oh, only a 5k at the end, a super short swim, etc.” Sounds doable, right?
Of course, in the middle of writing this blog post, I’ve done a little internet surfing, reading up on triathlons, and they sound either awesome or terrifying (or both?). All in all, riding a bike sounds pretty dangerous.
A couple of fun eats at the expo included marshmallows in chocolate fondue (to spread the word about “America’s Sweetest Race.”)
There was also Eoni, this cool-seeming company, giving samples of super yummy banana chocolate chip deliciousness that was low in sodium and high in fiber. (I need to remember this brand on my next shopping trip.)
But enough with the food and new friends. Time to go home and get a good night’s race. Tomorrow is race day, baby!
It was cool meeting you Aurora. I wish you all the best in your 52 races this year. By all means, do try a tri next year. But don’t try to fit it in amongst your running. Your running will give you cardio help in your swim, but your biking and swimming workouts won’t really help your running. I’ve done one sprint tri, enjoyed it, and may do another one day, but running is what I love. Good job on making it back after a sprained ankle!
I was much happier with how I did this race than Surf City. I also don’t usually look at elevation charts, but I actually did the night before this race and got a little scared. Didn’t think I’d be able to run the whole way, but I did, and I came in at 1h59m, within a minute of my PR! Then I went and sang in a wedding in Riverside. It was a LONG day, but totally amazing.
You’ve inspired me. I’m going to try and do better about blogging my running this year. Hopefully I’ll see you in Portland in May!
Hey Karl!
Thank you so much for finding my blog and writing such nice comments.
You’re right that this is most likely not the year for me to try a tri. However, I am looking at possibly doing a few more bike rides here and there to start getting more comfortable on a bicycle.
Congratulations on running the whole way with all those hills (especially after doing a half marathon only two weeks ago)! You are awesome.
I can’t wait to read as you blog more this year. See you in Portland!