Leigh's Race Report

Hey Everybody,

As Mary said below this was me and Anne's first tri and it was AWESOME!! Here is the race report:

I have to say the entire week leading up to it I was very nervous. We biked the bike course the Monday before and Anne and I did fine. Then we biked it again on the Wednesday before and we did well but I just wasn’t in a very good mood and things were really annoying me so it wasn’t that great of a bike ride. I was a bit discouraged by the time we got done and that made me not want to do the race on Saturday. Thursday morning we got up extra early and went to the pool where the swim would be held and did the 400 meters. We did that fine. That is the easiest part.

Friday night: Anne and I ate a baked potato and got everything packed and ready. I was really nervous that I was going to forget something. Although by the time I went to bed I slept okay and my nerves had settled down a bit.

Race Day!!!: We got up early and got everything loaded in to the car. Went to Kroger and grabbed some Gatorade and a bagel. The fog was REALLY bad and I kept thinking they were going to have to delay the start (which they did). We got to the race and there were people everywhere. All these people looked like professional athletes. Many of them on $5000.00 dollar bikes and had top of the line gear. I never ONCE got nervous. It was weird, it was like “okay, we are here, no backing out, gots to do this, what is the point of being nervous right?” Ken and Mary got there a bit after we did. We unloaded bikes, and pumped tires and went inside to pick up our packets and get our numbers marked on. That was so cool to me. Once they put the number on my arm and leg I really started feeling like a triathlete. I was so excited. Not nervous AT ALL! Then we went to transition and loaded our stuff up, I got everything the way I wanted it and we headed in to the pool to start our swim. Swimmers started every 20 seconds and Ken was worried because we were in the middle of the pack. He said we should have been closer to the front because we are strong swimmers but it worked out okay. We weren’t there to race; we were there to finish. A co-worker of mine was there and she came over and brought me a four leaf clover and told me good luck, which was so sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anne went before me and then 20 seconds later I started the swim. We had a great pace and we both came out of the pool with in 20 seconds of each other. We clocked almost the exact same time of 9:36 or something like that. Then we went to transition and jumped on our bikes. We took off and for me this is the part that gets very hard. Anne is a machine on the bike and she really kept our pace up. I just kept grinding to keep up with her. The course is gorgeous (through horse farms) but tough with rolling hills. After about 12 miles I was very ready to get off the bike. Once I saw the transition coming up I was soooooooooooo excited. We did the 15 miles in under an hour which I was very proud of because we had been doing 12 miles in about an hour; so Anne did very well in making me push hard to get it in under an hour. Once we got to T2 I seriously thought my legs had fallen off. They were numb and I was just doing good to stand up and walk. We were in transition 2 for about 20 seconds and off on the run. The run was tough but it went by pretty quickly. We came around the corner towards the finish and EVERY BODY was there yelling for “THE TWINS.” I was laughing because I didn’t expect that. It was GREAT, I couldn’t believe that it was over. I mean we did a tri and it took less than two hours. That was so wild to me. Mary was bouncing around all over the place saying she “felt like a proud mom” because we did it. It was the best feeling. I loved every second of it, even when I was tired and ready for it to be over, it was still fun!! The day was perfect and Anne and I were on cloud nine. We both crossed the finish line at the exact same time. It was Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 Friends - Anne, Ken, Mary, Leigh after the Heart and Sole Tri

Happy! This was the very first triathlon for Anne and Leigh. Yes, they are twins and the chants of "Go Twins" was heard through out the morning of April 22, 2006. It was Ken's and my first triathlon last year. Ken knocked off 20 minutes from last year and I came in 15 minutes faster, also! Happy! I have worked really hard on not falling off the bike (clip out issues!). Leigh and Anne were nervous about their first, but loved the experience and are ready for the next one!

We four are training for the Mooseman in NH the weekend of June 3rd and 4th. Leigh got us into this one and can explain all about it. Anne and Leigh are competing in the international distance and Ken and I are doing the half iron man distance.