RiverCities Tri- Perfect in His Eyes

This weekend we went to Shreveport, LA to race the most popular sprint distance triathlon in the south- RIVER CITIES! It was an extremely buttoned up, well executed, fun and safe race. Not to mention, all the free goodies you get for signing up such as a nice triathlon travel bag, running tee, socks, sunglasses and hat! We had about 20 athletes from Team Imagine who went down and raced. We also knew TONS of athletes from Dallas who made the trip down. It is basically a big exercise party with all your sweaty friends.

Although this was a race weekend, it was a HUGE rest weekend for us training for Ironman. I am used to a tempo run Friday's, 100 mile ride and 8 mile run Saturday and then a 15-20 mile run Sunday. Since this race was just a sprint, it allowed us to get some speed work and some rest. My only other sprint was my first triathlon in April 2009, about 1.5years ago. We have been training for Ironman, not speed specific, so I was not really sure what to expect. In Ironman, we have 112 miles total on the bike giving us 20-30 miles to warm up and get into a groove. In a sprint, the total distance is 18.2 miles which means you need to start hammering right from the get-go! Training for an Ironman and training for a sprint is obviously much different. Getting my legs moving quickly was a challenge.

This year Jason has been having me race the elite wave so that I can experience "true racing" and know where I am in comparison to the competition. To me, it is a little scary and very humbling to be racing against the best. Age group is safe for me as I know I can usually place top 3. Racing elite, I know I will be racing the best and could end up dead last. It's good though because it makes me push myself and changes my mindset from trying to win first AG to trying to win first overall. The hardest part is that I get dropped immediately on the swim and have no one to draft off. I spend the rest of the race biking and running down the competition. The longer the run, the better for me. My run this weekend was great! It was just a 5k and I felt so fresh and amazing. My 5k time was 18:58 for a 6:07 split. It was the 8th best run time of all athletes. In May I ran the Katy Trail 5k and finished in 19:20. To me, this 18:58 shows a strong ability to run off the bike and significant improvement of fitness over the past months. I ran down and passed two of the elite girls during the run. This placed me 4th in the elite wave and 9th female overall. If I raced age group it would have been a first place finish.

It is my desire to glorify God by putting my best effort forth and doing the best in everything I do. Shamefully, I sometimes lose sight on doing it for His glory and then become hard on myself when my expectations don't match up to my performance. When I start to get a little hard on myself re-frame my mind to living for HIS expectations, not my own. I think of the athletic abilities He has blessed me with, and how it must pain Him when I am dissatisfied with these blessings, thinking they are not good enough. He has created me so carefully and perfectly in His eyes, and then I complain that it is not good enough! Wow, who the heck am I to say that His creations are not good enough! Going through this thought process humbles me and shuts me right up! I will never have faith in my own ability, because I will disappoint, fail, and lose. I have all faith in His ability to strengthen me so that I will persevere, achieve, and win!