Monday, January 4, 2016

Complete Disappointment

I have not written for awhile but not for a lack of wanting to. I am going to back track to the summer and hope to get caught up in the next couple of weeks. This summer I raced in Tri Waco. My in-laws live there and my mother-in-law had been asking me to do Tri Waco for awhile. I decided this would be a good year since I had done a full ironman and would still be in shape. I normally run a race a month so I will continue to train. Otherwise I get a little lazy.

I signed up for the Olympic distance because I wanted something a little longer than a sprint distance. I was actually nervous for this race. I have not been nervous for a race in years. However, this time I had butterflies and was a little anxious. My friend Jeff said, "Nerves mean you are expecting something big." I guess that is true because I was hoping to place. I had driven the run course the night before and knew it was hilly. I had heard great things about the bike course. I heard it was on a flat smooth road.

So starting the swim I felt good. It was with the current until the turn point, then it was against the current. When my watch beeped that I had hit a mile I knew I was in trouble. I was only supposed to be swimming 1500 M. By the time I got out I had swam 1.2 miles. That is a half ironman distance. This was not a good sign for placing. My pace was 3:07. My worst swim EVER. Mentally at this point I was a little beat down. The bike course had been altered because of all the rain. It had created a sink hole so they had to change the course. Well, let me say, the course was horrible. It was on newly laid chip seal and the gravel was still really bad on the side of the road. They also coned off the section we were supposed to be riding on and it was not very wide, so cars were very close to us. I saw more accidents than I ever have on a race. I also felt that my teeth had been rattled out of my head. My average on the bike was not horrible but not great 16.9.

I was so glad to get off my bike only to start the run which I knew was extremely hilly. I didn't even get a mile into the run before I started walking. It was extremely hot and humid. I kept thinking how miserable I was and how I just wanted it to be over. My run pace was 12:55. Again horrible. My family was all there but it was my biggest disappointment for a race. I went in with high hopes only to be crushed by the results.



Sometimes I feel like this represents my Christian walk. I have the intentions of having daily quiet times, a more consistent prayer life and daily spiritual growth. Too often though, I miss some days of reading my Bible, and my prayer life seems like the chip sealed road I was just on.  However, I keep on because that is what a relationship is. You don't just quit or give up because you don't feel like it. Christianity is not feeling based. I think we sometimes get bogged down by that. I don't feel like reading my Bible, I don't feel God's presence, I don't feel like praying for that person. When in reality these are the times where most of the growth comes from. I didn't feel like finishing Tri Waco but I did. Growth came out of that. And those days I don't feel like reading my Bible....are often the days God speaks to me the deepest.

Tri Waco, I will be back next year with my husband....but I am only doing the Sprint distance.