Seattle Danskin Triathlon 2011

Yesterday I had the awesome opportunity to complete my second Seattle Danskin Triathlon. I can't tell you enough how much I love this event. You can read my detailed post about my first adventure last year (2010) here.

This year I had a couple friends join me. Say hello to Doris and Anna. The three of us were together at an event this past January and the topic of the triathlon came up. I invited them to come stay with me at my parents house and participate in the race. They showed up.

I loved, loved, loved having them here.

We met up on Saturday and took care of the pre-race details including registration at Seattle Center and racking our bikes at the event location.

There was lots of chit chat, lots of laughing, lots of eating really good Thai food near Greenlake, and then more chatting.

On Sunday morning we were up bright and early - around 4:45am or to make the drive up to Seattle.

One of the best parts of the weekend was that my parents came along too and took all the photos you see below. It is so much more fun at an event like this when you have someone cheering you on - the support is awesome.

We met up with my cousin's wife Cristina again. She's the one that got me into this in the first place.

This year there were a little over 2000 participants.

It was definitely colder this year than last. Like 20 degrees colder. We were all a bit nervous about the temperature of Lake Washington (lots of people wore wet suits but none of us wore one) but it all ended up being just fine.

This event is so inspirational just to witness. The number of volunteers is amazing. From the lifeguards and swim angels (people who are there to bring support to anyone who might need it during the swim) to all the people along the race route - it's just the coolest experience. These are the lifeguards paddling out on their boats getting ready for the swim portion to begin.

Anna and I before putting on our caps. We were in the same wave at 7:38am.

Doris was a couple waves ahead of us. It was both of their first time. They both beat me.

Love this one of me and Cristina.

Anna and I heading into the water for our wave to begin. We were right up in the front.

That's me out in front with my head up. I ended up doing a lot of breaststroke again after my fast sprint at the start. I totally know if I trained even a little more regularly I could easily shave time swimming freestyle the whole way (even though I can do a pretty fast breaststroke).

Making the run from the water to the transition area to grab my bike.

And here we are at the finish. There's a lot going on in between - a 12 mile bike ride and a 3.1 mile run but there's not a lot of great places to get photos. The bike portion felt much faster to me this year and I was able to run all but just the one main hill on the run portion. Loved coming in and having a big group hug.

I ran into one of my childhood friends - she's also an Ali. I saw her last year and I was so glad to run into her again this year.

The best part this year, besides lower my time by 8 minutes, was having Anna & Doris stay with me at my parents house.

Looking back through the photos tonight the number one thing that stands out to me are the smiles. Huge smiles. I love that about photography - how I can look back at an event or a series of images and see a common thread. The thread from the last couple of days was definitely smiles.

2011 OBSERVATIONS

• 
  Did I train more this past year? No. Overall I think I trained less this year compared to last year.




• 
  Did my time improve? Yes, by about 8 mins. I'll chalk that one up to being more comfortable with the event and that it was about 20 degrees cooler. In 2010 my overall time was 1:57:o2. This year it was 1:49:28.




• 
  Did doing it again make me want to train more again (just like I said last year)? Yes. Totally. I just need to make it happen.




• My transition times were still slow - especially the bike to run (mainly because I had to go to the bathroom). There's lots of places where I could take more time off - especially if I can learn how to run faster (which is totally possible if I were to really put in some effort at training).

Totally signing up to do it again next year. And maybe I'll do a couple more...