THE LIFE OF RICKIE: O.K. Not Really

Let me start with my weekend recap before I get to the real results from the triathlon.

Friday night I went to the Brewer Game with Tree. We got in some tailgating and made some friends while out in the parking lot. There was one group across from us, who had claimed to us that they were "experienced" tailgaters. First their grill didn't work. We offered up ours for them to use once we were done. Then we notice that they are flipping their burgers and brats with plastic forks. We gave them our tongs. Our next give away that they weren't well versed in tailgating was the Styrofoam cooler. That was followed by the fact that they were drinking Bud Light, which was warm because they were stored in a Styrofoam cooler. On to the game, I think we got in around the 2nd inning. The game was fun as the Brewers won without much problem and we had great seats. Thank you Nate. I owe you yet again. I won't even go into the fact that my brother, Jon, and sister in law, Julie, had suite seats and preferred parking and called me to tell me about it. And then they were too good to come and meet up with Tree and I for a beer. After the game, Tree and I met up with Nate at Shepard's. I told Tree before hand that we need to make sure Nate doesn't pay for anything since he set us up with great seats, especially on such short notice. Tree didn't let me down. We got the bar and Tree orders up a pitcher of beer, then asks Nate what kind of shot he wanted. Nate saidJagermister. Tree ordered up 4 shots, one for him and I, and two for Nate so he can catch up. Nate gave up a 5 second fight before doing both shots. I expected nothing less. Of the 648 competitors in the triathlon, I would venture a guess than none of them other than Tree and I were out until 3 in the morning Friday night.

Saturday was a very low key day for me. I wanted to rest up for the race. I went to Ethan's soccer game, then Nick's soccer game. I got in a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day. And went back to bed right after the Brewer game.

Sunday I was up early and met Tree in Delafield at 5:30. We drove together to Lake Mills for the triathlon. Tree and I have done a couple of these triathlons and we both knew we weren't going to win. That being said, we pretty much joked around the entire time leading up to the race. This was met with much resistance as most people participating in the race had their "game" faces on. At the start of our wave Tree and I were again splashing each other and pushing each other around. When the starter announced it was 30 seconds until we started, I yelled out "No wait. 2 more minutes." Again, not amusing to most of the athletes. I am a better swimmer than the average person, however, as far as triathletes go, I am below average. The swim course was out, a left hand turn, across, another left hand turn, and then back to the beach. The water was cold. Very cold. As I joked at the registration, I entered the water a male racer, but left as a female racer. Also not funny to those in ear shot. All the way to the first turn, I couldn't believe how cold the water was. After the first turn someone behind me grabbed my foot three times, I thought it was Tree. It wasn't, and I don't know what the person was doing, but it helped keep my mind off of the water temp. I hit the last turn and the beach was easily in site and I was fine once I was out of the water. My transition time sucked, almost 4 minutes. I borrowed my brother's barefooting wet suit which was at least one size too small for me and was difficult to get out of. This transition was also the spot of my one big error. I didn't do that great of a job of wiping off my feet, as a result I put on my socks with some sand and small pebbles still sticking to the bottom of my feet. This resulted in a number of small cuts on the bottom of my feet once the race was done. Lesson learned. But once I was on the bike I was fine. It was a pretty easy course out in the country without many hills and none that were too steep. I got back to the transition area and jumped out on to the run course. The run was along the glacial drumland trail. It would be hard to find a flatter run. This was fantastic. Before the race, I set out a goal of 1 hour 35 minutes and to also beat Tree. I finished the 1/4 mile swim in 10:03. I need to work on my swim this summer. My transition was 3:39. My bike was 46:45 over 15 miles. That is nearly averaging 20 miles per hour. I would like to reach a bit above the mark on the next race. The bike to run transition was 39 seconds. Then on to the run. As I said, it was a fast course and I was averaging 7:42 minute miles. Not too bad. But I was hoping for something closer to 7:20. I finished the 5K in 23:53. That is a final time of 1 hour 24 minutes and 58 seconds. That was nearly 9 minutes faster than Tree who beat me last time by 5 seconds. However, the true winner finished in 58 minutes and 49 seconds. That is ridiculously fast. I entered the Clydesdale division, which is the fat guy division for those that are over 200 lbs. Of the 31 in the division, I finished 11th. 648 entered the race and I took 294th place. Overall I am pretty happy with my performance, but I would like to do a little better with the next race.

Sunday evening, I had my first soccer game with a team that I played with last summer. We ended up losing 3-2, but I didn't play all that bad. In fact I had the assist on the first goal from my position as sweeper. And that about wraps up my weekend.

This is the most training that Tree did for the triathlon.

Me tailgating and acting very serious. If you have ever tailgated with me on a weekend game, you know I take my tailgating seriously. Shermans, please take note of the Boones Farm well in hand. It is going to be a long summer.

Here I am showing Tree how it is done. Listen to Tree commentary. Still makes me laugh. 1/4 of a beer.

As I said Nate hooked us up with great seats. I want to say that this was Prince Fielder's home run swing, but I know that I didn't get a picture of that one.

Shepard's after the game. Nate and Tree. I think Tree is pretending that he doesn't have a beer, but he had plenty. He can use that as an excuse for his Sunday performance.

Here is Ethan getting yelled at by Coach Steve for his inability to pass the ball. This was going on while the rest of the players were still playing at the other end. Steve is nearly as entertaining as the game itself.