| Since we had decided to drive, I decided to see if there were any races that weekend and there happened to be a Sprint Triathlon only half an hour from our hotel. And I could easily fit my bike in the car…I couldn’t help myself, I signed up, heeehee. Sunday morning I left Ryan happily passed out in the warm bed at the hotel and got myself and my gear over to the park by 6:45am (kind of late for a tri actually). |
It was sprinkling a tiny bit when I got there but not too bad. I set up my stuff and set my transition area towel over my shoes hoping it would keep them dry from the light sprinkling rain. I went to go see where they were doing body-marking (they write your number and age on your arms/legs with a sharpie) but before I could even get over there it started POURING rain. And it didn’t stop…I stood on the beach in my tri-suit, shivering in the cold rain for about an hour and a half. They finally started my wave at around 8:30am. The rain was so loud that I couldn’t hear the announcer and I almost missed the start of my wave! I got in line just before the gun went off and ran into the water. I was so cold and flustered that I did pretty poorly in the swim. But I let myself side-stroke a lot of the race to calm down.
By the time I got out of the water I was feeling better. All my gear was drenched from the rain (and it was still raining) but I hopped on my bike and headed out. I had to be a little more cautious because of the rain and wet roads but I think I still managed around 16mph (a little slow for me but not horrible). The last few tri’s I rocked the bike but then ended up walking or going REALLY slowly on the run. But this tri was different – I felt good on the run for once. Even with a rough start and a hilly run course I still finished the 5k run in 25:30 which is pretty good! It may not have been an ideal race at the beginning but I still had fun and finished the race with a big smile on my face.
By the time I got out of the water I was feeling better. All my gear was drenched from the rain (and it was still raining) but I hopped on my bike and headed out. I had to be a little more cautious because of the rain and wet roads but I think I still managed around 16mph (a little slow for me but not horrible). The last few tri’s I rocked the bike but then ended up walking or going REALLY slowly on the run. But this tri was different – I felt good on the run for once. Even with a rough start and a hilly run course I still finished the 5k run in 25:30 which is pretty good! It may not have been an ideal race at the beginning but I still had fun and finished the race with a big smile on my face.
My plan for after the race was to get cleaned up, eat a big breakfast/brunch, get a pedicure and then nap until it was time to get ready for the wedding. However, we had heard there was an awesome museum at Wright Patterson AFB and I wanted to do that too…so in my usual fashion I decided I didn’t need any break. I showered, we had a quick lunch at a place near the hotel and drove down to Wright Patterson to see the museum. If you are ever in the area, I STRONGLY recommend going to this museum. There are three gigantic hangars of airplanes to see and get right up next to. There are so many stories and memorabilia there too – we had about 3 hours to spend there and I felt like we were really rushed and barely got to see everything. And did I mention that this gem of an attraction is completely free? You really can’t beat it!
We got back to the hotel in time for me to get a 20 minute cat-nap and then very quickly get ready and drive to the wedding. Fortunately the wedding was right down the road so it didn’t take long to get there. Amy and Michael had a beautiful wedding at a place called The Willow Tree. The ceremony was outdoors and then the reception was partly in a barn and under a big tent. Everything was beautiful and I think the bride and groom had a great time. We were so glad we got to be there for them on their wedding and make sure they knew their friends wanted to be there, even if not all of them could make the trip up from Florida.
See how much we did in just one weekend? I’m sure if we had flown we would have just taken a shuttle to the hotel and mostly stayed in and hung out. Not only was it cheaper to drive but it really was like a mini-vacation. I had so much fun exploring new places and activities with Ryan – we need to do more of these little trips!
