The morning of the race we arrived at Albie beach around 7:20am. The first thing you need to do is get your race bib and get your number written on your arms. Sara got hers first she was excited because she got number 33 which was her age. Then it was my turn, I was number 1! Haha another up side of being an Achorn, put it's at the top of the alphabet! They added a paddleboard option for the race this year so when we got our shirts they were giving out paddleboard shirts. I asked if there was a way for me to trade in that shirt for a Chunky Dunk shirt since I was doing that and not the paddleboard race. That was when they realized they were giving out the wrong shirts! Luckily we got the right shirts! However when I was walking back over to tell Sara to go switch her shirt she was realizing they gave her the wrong bib number. She was in fact number 65 so when she went back they had to fix it. She ended up with block numbers to cover the 33 they had already written!
After all that was figured out it was time to setup our transition areas. Which basically meant setting everything up on a picnic table on the beach!
When they finally announced it was 8:15am and that all racers needed to be on the beach we headed over. As I was walking over someone approached me and asked, "Hey how did you get a FD trisuit?" I was first off surprised that someone recognized FD but thrilled at the same time. After chatting for a minute; which also meant we weren't listening to the annoucements; it turns out we were both Alumni of First Descents! Rev it was so nice to meet you and hopefully you will get a FD trisuit too! I love when my FD world gets smaller and smaller! We decided we would meet up after the race!
After that I did pay attention long enough to hear that all the waves were starting together in the water. We all walked into the water and waited.
The horn sounds and we were off. I was doing fairly well but it was extremely difficult to see the buoys. I thought I was sighting well until I realized I was looking at the wrong buoy so instead of being on the outside of the triangle I was kind of in the middle of it. When I finally got myself back on track I was sure I had added time to my swim from last year. I got more and more excited the closer I got to the shore! I finally got to a point where I could touch the bottom so it was time to stand up!
Swim: 21:39
I actually did run to transition which doesn't usually happen. I was much better prepared for transition this time then last year. I got my sneakers on, FD t-shirt, visor, race bib, Garmin and sunglasses. Then I was ready to hit the run!
I went into the run feeling really good. I had my cheering team back on the beach of Lewis, Nick, My mom and Janet that gave me a little extra boost. They all made sure to tell how well I was I doing on time! I immediately started with my run intervals. I love this run because it is a trail run so you get some great scenery and let's face trail runs are easier on your legs then pavement because they are more forgiving. I pushed myself to really stick with the running intervals. I may have varied them periodically but I never just walked or gave up on the run which I was happy about. I even actually passed some people this time around which almost never happens. As I ran there were lots of people yelling thins like good job, keep it up, you got this. I made sure to give it right back! It is great to cheer your fellow racers on! On my way back Sara and I crossed paths and cheered each other on with a high five. I couldn't wait to be done but I still felt pretty good! I finally got to the parking lot of Albie beach and decided I was going to run all the way from there until I crossed the finish line and I did it!
Over All Time: 1:04:56!! almost 6 minutes faster!!
I was so excited!I got to cross the finish to my cheering section which also included Rev my fellow FD alumni! She had done the swim part of the Chunky Dunk and waited for me to finish. As it turns out she had met my mother and they chatted for a little bit. But it was nice to have an extra cheerleader there, who wouldn't like that? We even got a picture together!
While we were waiting they started to do the awards. Sara asked when they were done all done were her last place award was? She ended up getting us both an award which was a Chunky Dunk Duathlon beer mug!
After we packed up and headed home we both had to have a photo session with our t-shirts!
Since neither of us drink beer however we put our beer mugs to good use later on that night with some frozen grapes and wine...yum!
Thanks Sara and Janet for opening your home to us yet again! It was great!
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