triathlon

Dave and I decided to do another triathalon in Rock Hall. We did one at the end of September (my first) and it was a lot of fun. We stuck with the sprint distance, which is a 1/2 mile swim, 16 mile bike ride, and a 5K run. This was Dave’s first race since injuring his foot back in January. He did great, beating his time from September. I trained a lot for it and also beat my time from September by 10 minutes! That also put me in 3rd place for my age group, which was 40-44 (they made us compete as the age we will be at the end of the year), so I got to stand on the podium!

Pre-race photo op
transition from the swim to the bike

3rd place in the 40-44 age group

A few months ago the Sharp’s bought a new sailboat and after the race the new name was put on: Kind of Blue. It’s a Catalina 42, which is a good bit bigger than their previous boat, Stolen Moments.

On September 30th, Dave, our friend Don, and I all did the Waterman’s triathlon in Rock Hall, MD. This was my first tri ever. Dave had done a few in high school, and Don has been doing them the last several years. We all did the sprint distance, which was a 750M swim, 15 mile bike ride, and a 5K run.

Dave and I trained a bit over the summer, mostly running and biking. We both had gotten very few swims in. I was extremely nervous about it – he was totally chill. We were fortunate enough to have the most amazing weather possible.

The three of us before the start. I wore a full wetsuit because I really didn’t want to get cold. It was surprisingly easy to swim in and did the trick.

Here is Dave and Don’s group, men 44 and under, before the swim start. I went with the last group, which was novice of all ages. I hated going last because my only thought was that I was the last person on the course! Even though I really struggled on the swim, luckily I was still able to pass some people (though not many!).

Next up was the bike. No video of me, but below is one of Dave coming in from the bike to run transition. Bike is both Dave and my strongest leg, and we both did pretty well.

Dave bike

Last leg was the run. Transitioning from the bike to the run is a bit like running in jello, at least for the first quarter mile or so. I was very wobbly, but kicked it into high gear. So did Dave and Don (although I wasn’t there to witness it, apparently there was some close competition on the run between those two).

Below are videos of both of us coming over the finish line.

Dave Finish

Jess Finish

We all ended up doing really well!

Dave came in 54th overall man and 6th in his age group with a time of 1:27:27

Don came in 65th overall man and 7th in his age group with a time of 1:29:23.

I came in 36th overall woman and I WON the novice group with a time of 1:40:20.