Rosh Hashanah

Happy new year (Rosh Hashanah)! I wish good tidings to all my Jewish friends. Although I'm not, I love holidays!

Saturday agenda-5k

For so many years, I missed this event due to relay commitments with multirace series. After completing it, I realize I didn't really miss out, based on the award I got. My lack of fitness was evident based on the clock but this was due poor training as a result of injury & personal problems. However, I love the theme & idea of the race. The masters (40+ in age dubbed 'over the hill) went first (loved that) then 5 minutes later, the sub-masters (called the young & the restless) got to go. This staggered start is similar to the run for the roses, in which all ladies went 1st then the guy can try to catch 'em if you can! Unfortunately, the fastest of the tail group cant get to the top runners but instead must dodge the slower ones. Despite a dismal time, I won my age group & was 4th overall.

Sunday agenda-trilogy finale

I still laugh at how multirace runs a trilogy with 4 events, but this year, I am thankful. Our swimmer, Jenny, could not make the 3rd one, which would have been the final. This is dubbed the bonus round, true if you do all of them; the event with the slowest time gets dropped. Despite being 14 weeks pregnant, she agreed to swim (I was assured she was cleared by her doctor) in order to keep the team intact, as required by the new rules. She warned us (Matt, the runner & I) that we'd have to step it up because of her condition. Thank goodness we're good as a team. Can you believe she still broke 8 minutes? Of course, that's way off her normal pace which is often top swimmer out of the water but better than average. For some reason, our runner struggled, but despite that, he was among the top 3 fastest for the final leg among relay teams. I prayed for a great time on the bike because that it the longest portion of the tri & often dictates whether or not anyone sees the podium; the Lord answered. Although I failed to get the 22 average I set out for, I was in the upper 21's & got my personal best. The time was the 2nd fastest of all relays; woooo! If I didn't have that stellar performance, we were in jeopardy of getting beat by a team only a few points off our lead, and worse, a spot on the podium. We were the top co-ed relay team (even listed on the results) all the way up to the point awards were given out, then all of a sudden, we heard we were 2nd. Some mystery team was snuck in at the last possible moment to dash our hopes. That team just happened to win all splits as well. Ok, so we are runner ups and they won this battle but our combined efforts put us in the position to win the war (series)! This was our only loss (not first) but the fact we did so well was a testament to our determination. Imagine, a pregnant woman, the runner on a bike & the runner having a tough day, get set up (mystery team) & still go home with hardware; God is good.

Honorable mention

* Linda completes the 5k & the tri (#3)
* Linda completes the trilogy series & makes the top ten (#8 (pts)) of her age group
* George wins age group in 5k & du despite injury