Danskin 2007

I signed up for the 2007 Danskin Triathlon back in February of this year! So this past weekend has been long awaited and at moments, a dreaded day. From my poor sportsman-like conduct from last year (when I ditched my friend Sarah once I jumped on my bike), I knew I would be competing in this race alone.

As Sunday, August 19th rolled around, I believe Mother Nature woke up on the wrong side of the bed as she decided to put myself and the other 3,495 Danskin participants to the ultimate test with endless amounts of rain, cold, waves and puddles. It definitely did not compare to the 70 degree weather from the year prior.

I knew in my heart that the pain I would endure during this race could never amount to the pain all women battling breast cancer would experience through their treatment. So when moments got tough, I repeated my mantra of "the pain is only temporary" to keep me focused and moving forward.

The swim has always been a challenge for me. Granted I would love to do the freestyle through the entire race, I find myself most comfortable doing the breast stroke. Yes I get passed and yes my arms hurt like crazy, but I get through the swim and then move on to two sports I know best, biking and running.

Biking was insane! I found myself and all other riders being gusted back and forth by the powerful winds over the I-90 bridge. As much as I dislike seeing people get hurt, the bridge was not the place to be and women were tossed about keeping the medic teams very busy!

Running was like a peace of mind. The feeling of ground under my feet, Snoop Dogg blasting in my shuffle and the long breaths of relaxation were pure heaven! The running went by way too quickly.

Here is statistics on how I did at the 2007 Danskin Triathlon:
Overall Rank 197 of 3496
Class Rank 20 of 183
Swim 15:26
Bike 40:36
Bike MPH 18.3
Run 23:52
Run Pace 7:42
Final 1:27:04

I knocked off 9:23 from my 2006 time!
I placed in the top 10% of my age group!
I placed in the top 6% of the entire race!

The biggest thanks goes out to Shawn. Not only did he come to support me, but he got up at 6:25am and then stood in the rain for over 3 hours until I finished!