Wildflower Triathlon, Long Course. May 2, 1998, Lake San Antonio, California.Ah, the season opener! I love Wildflower. I did my first half-Ironman here in 1996 in a slow but steady 6:38:50. Finishing that race was one of the greatest moments of my life. That promising debut was followed with a truly dismal performance at the 1997 edition of Wildflower. No excuses, I simply was not prepared. This year I'm hoping that I've sufficiently overcome the difficulties of training through El Nino's wrath all winter to be able to survive this toughest of Half-Ironman races in good shape. No major expectations, I just want to finish strong.
Update: Well, Wildflower was pretty wet and ugly this year. I had a surprise PR for the swim (36:01) and an even more shocking PR for the run (2:23:xx), but headwinds on the bike robbed me of a race PR. So, my second-best of 3 Wildflower Long Courses clocked in at 2:41:17. A tough day in many ways, but a satisfying one in the end. And hey, I got my Lottery Slot validation out of the way nice and early. :)
South Bay Triathlon, International Distance. May 17, 1998. Uvas Reservoir, Morgan Hill, CA.
A fun event with unusual distances: .75m swim, 16m bike, 5m run. In stark contrast to Wildflower just two weeks earlier, South Bay 1997 turned out remarkably well for TriBaby. I knocked a minute off my '96 time, despite the fact that I was racing it "easy"--- wore no wetsuit for the swim, held myself back on the bike, and ran real, REAL easy on the run. This year I'm just looking to have a good time at this very beautiful and very fun local event.
Danskin San Jose. June 20, 1998. Lake Almaden, San Jose, California.
.75k Swim, 20k Bike, 5k Run
Come on, any self-respecting tri-gal has got to do the local Danskin! The highlight of TriBaby's '97 Danskin was her run split--- I averaged an amazing 7:54/mile pace (take my word for it, that's amazing for this Clydesdale). Read the race report for more info.
San Jose International Triathlon. June 28, 1998. Lake Almaden, San Jose, California
1k swim, 40k bike, 10k run
I'm looking forward to going "back" to San Jose in '98 for this race. Another fun one put on by J&A Productions, I skipped San Jose in '97 in favor of the Alcatraz XVIII triathlon held the same weekend. The best thing about San Jose this year from TriBaby's perspective is the fact that they are offering a meaningful Clydesdale division this year: Women Clydes must weigh in over 160 pounds. Woohoo! I won't have to compete against any of those 140 pound runts!
Half-Vineman Triathlon. July 25, 1998. Santa Rosa, California.
Final race before tapering for Ironman Canada. Another TriBaby favorite, and another opportunity to race as a Clydesdale. I won the division in '96, and took second place in '97 when I also set my PR of 5:37:07 (ok, so the swim was short; but I also happened to run faster too).
Ironman Canada. August 30, 1997. Penticton, British Columbia.
I love IMC. I signed up for 1998 the day after finishing the race in 1997. Good thing, too, because regsitration for this one filled up in ONE MONTH! By September 23, 1997, Ironman Canada '98 was completely full. Talk about a popular event! And for good reason. See my race report if you need to know why.
But now what? I'm doing Ironman Hawaii just 5 weeks later. Can I really do Canada and expect to finish Hawaii too? I'll be wrestling with this question most of the season, I'm sure. Stay tuned to see what I end up doing...
Ironman Triathlon World Championship. October 3, 1998. Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
What can I say about this? I'm still dumbstruck by the concept of ME going to Ironman Hawaii. This is simply the Mecca of triathletes the world over, and my own pilgrimage is sure to be a journey to remember.
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