Oliver Half Iron

This weekend I took part in the Oliver Half Ironman.  It was my first race after a long hiatus while living in Australia in 2009.  While this isn't an official race report it does sum up my day.  It is written in true Karen rambling fashion.
While I'm still the slowest of the bunch in my possie I had a great race.  My swim was very slow and steady (not an ounce of race mentality while swimming) and I managed to find open water.  It was a very relaxing swim if you can believe it, but I guess my swim time reflects that too.  Of the six times I've done the race it was my third fastest swim (i think?).  The swim to bike transition is really long and if you knew me as a I kid I would never walk around in bare feet 'cause I have super sensitive feet.  Needless to say I felt like I was passed by 100 people from the lake entrance to bike transition all the while my feet screaming at me for not  having socks on them. 
 My bike was good and I was happy with my split.  I had to stop twice for the toilet but riding towards the toilets I felt like I was Lance Armstrong -  so  yes I could be a sprinter! When I add both transitions into my bike split (which was what is what like for the first four years of the race) my bike split was my second fastest but with out the new long transition it would have been my fastest.  That had me quite happy because since my return to Canada I'm always being dropped by my possie.  And yes, my possie is made up of amazing women who ride faster than me, but I didn't think that I had gotten that much slower.  Thankfully I'm no slower than I was before -  my possie is just faster.  I can live with that though as I'm one to shy away from working hard to get faster.  
The run was my third fastest split and I was totally happy with that.  With the year of no running then a back injury that slowed me down for about six weeks (and I've only run 21 km once since returning from oz) I was stoked about my run.  I ran my version of strong and only got stronger as the race went on (I'm certain I had a negative split).  It was my third fastest run but I think it felt like my best run.  I ran strong with a huge smile on my face the entire time.  I even picked off a whole bunch of people (and obviously I was picked off by a ton of the fast ones).  
My finish time ended up being less than a minute away from being a new personal best.  I know if there had been a nice red carpet for me to run on from the beach to the transition it would have been my fastest, or if the transition hadn't have moved it certainly would have been my fastest.  So yah, you could say I was a happy girl.  While I became a stressed, fat, lazy, out of shape girl in Aus, I'M BACK as fit, much happier Karen!!!  
Oh as for the weather it was cool on the bike (but not cold).  There was wind but I don't think it was that bad.  The run was nice too (some wind and a bit of rain for those of us out a little longer).  I was only cold when I was finished but that was quickly fixed with some warm clothing.  
I highly recommend this race and might even do it again next year.   Congratulations to all my fellow racers.  It was fun to see and cheer  you guys on.  Oh and the best part of the race weekend is that it is in British Columbia wine country and  I've come home with 13 new bottles of wine!!  It's time to enjoy them.
As an aside note it was really great to have friends travel the 400+ km to be on the sidelines to cheer for me.  Many pictures were taken so once I get them, and I approve them to appear on this blog, you'll see them too.