The Utah half has become one of the races I look forward to every year. Last year I was in the hospital having a baby during the half and I eagerly anticipated it this year. The course is flat and the spectators and support are always superb!

One of the things I have loved about being on a triathlon team this year is that you have a built-in support system, and every racing experience is amplified. The night before my half I had various text messages and phone calls from my teammates wishing me luck and encouraging me. I was not nervous until the night before at packet-pick up. I learned that wetsuits would be allowed which normally makes a racer happy, but because of an incident with my dog, I was going without one. I figured if everyone was without, the playing field was even. No wetsuit, no problem. As I laid out my gear that night the normal thoughts went through my head, had I done enough preparation?  Had my body amply recovered from the previous week's flu? What flavor of GU should I take on the bike? I went through the race in my mind then laid in bed for two hours trying to go to sleep.

Four hours later, it's race day! The only time I ever have to force down breakfast is race morning. I'm too excited to eat. One of my favorite parts of a race is the morning before the gun goes off. I love the energy and excitement as people prepare to race.  I'm always 'Chatty Cathy' in transition with my transition neighbors. I met a few stressed out first timers, and enjoyed seeing so many friends and familiar faces. Amongst the friendly faces was coach Keena. She came to cheer everyone on and minutes before the first wave was to start she offered me her wetsuit. The miracle was that it fit, and I now had a wetsuit.

The swim was great! A double loop in the boat harbor. Lake sludge or not, I was happy to be there. I felt a little sorry for the race directors, trying to explain the swim route to a bunch of athletes with earplugs in their ears hopped up on energy drinks and adrenaline, was like giving instructions to toddlers with ADD. I think they had to explain the route about 20 times. The swim felt long, but enjoyable, there were no kicks to the face or leaky goggles, I love my swim mask. (thank you HEAD Swimming!)

As I came out of the water, Keena was right there ready to strip her suit off me, (thank you Keena). I rushed into transition excited to get on my bike. This is usually the portion of the race that I gain a little ground. I'm never last out of the water, but I can usually pull myself further ahead in a race during the bike. During the first hour on the bike, I kept telling myself to hold back a little so I could save some legs for the run. The bike course was so beautiful out on country roads and the weather was nearly perfect, a slight head-wind but otherwise great. At the turnaround I noticed myself getting passed quite a lot and my body very thirsty and running out of steam. I tried to not get discouraged and to focus on racing my own race. I instinctively wanted to speed up but my body knew it's limits. I was thankful to all of the policemen that took the time to provide a safe passage for all the racers through the intersections and streetlights that day, and I thanked every one of them as I passed by.

I would love to say that I didn't care what my bike time was, but truthfully I was disappointed in it. It was almost the exact same time I had two years ago and I know I'm a much stronger cyclist now with a much lighter and faster bike (thank you Kestrel!).

On to the run-  I'll give you the mechanics, and leave the dramatics to the end.

The run was different than it was two years ago when I last did it (I don't know about last year), but I really liked the layout of the course. It's very flat and the majority of it was on the Provo River Parkway and nicely shaded. The various out-n-backs kept the run very social and allowed you to high-five friends and complete strangers. The aide stations were well placed, amply stocked and included opportunities to be hosed down like a wet t-shirt contest. The volunteers were abundant, supportive, and crucial to the success of this event.   

As for myself, even with a slower bike time, (3 hours) I was still on track to keep my race within 6 hours if I could just keep a slow and steady run. I learned very quickly in mile one I would not meet that goal today. I barely walked, more liked limped/hobbled the entire first mile, even stopping altogether to try to take in even more salt tabs and get my quads to stop seizing. I remember at one point stopping and feeling like I just wanted to quit.  I started trying to think of funny jokes in my head so I could stop the tears from coming out of my eyes, thus dehydrating and embarrassing me further. My throat started to close up and I told myself to just suck it up! No more pity party, I train on these very trails and I've never let them get the best of me and I'm not a quitter. What happened next is why I love this sport. Everyone passing by me on the out-in-back saw me struggling and I was buoyed up by complete strangers saying "hang in there," "you got this," "you can do it!". One girl, Ashley, even stopped to see if I was alright and another guy gave me his bag of salt tablets. I'm so accustomed to team sports where the other competitors would love to see you fail. Out on the trail it was like being a part of one big triathlon family. It doesn't matter where you finish on the podium, I know I've been inspired by those who have struggled and finished last because they didn't quit. Of course I thought about my teammates cheering me on and my family and friends who overcome hard things everyday, and if I had to limp or crawl, I was going to finish this race.

My legs started to calm down a bit as long as I didn't run over 10 min. miles. I saw Keena running along the trail (that woman is always training, she's amazing!) and she high-fived me and told me to "tough it out and keep going"- I love that.

I was happy to reach the aide station with two of my teammates, Mckenzie and Taylor, they dumped ice down my sports bra so I could snack on ice chips for the next mile (worked quite well). Every couple of miles my legs would start to seize and I would have to walk a little which was frustrating because my lungs felt great. I battled through those 13 miles! Seeing the finish line at the end of a race like that was beautiful.

The post race food was perfect! They had plenty of chocolate recovery milk, bagels, fruit, water, etc. I sat down on a chair just as they started to announce the winners of the day. I think the overall winner came in at 4:20! Amazing. I made a comment to the guy sitting in the chair next to me, "wow, I'm feeling a bit slow..." he looked at me and said "So what! We just did 70.3 miles on foot, bike and in water!"

He was right. I am so blessed to have the ability to exercise and move, and participate in these great events with such awesome people. It's amazing what we as people can do when we let go of our fear of failure and just do our best. I have had races where I got stand on the number one block on the podium and yes, it feels great, but ultimately I don't race for medals, I race for the whole journey.

This would not have been possible without the help and support I have received from family, friends, and sponsors. Specifically, RaceTri for a track record of amazing races and TriEdge for taking on the TriEdge-Kestrel Womens Triathlon Team.

My other amazing sponsors: Kestrel, Flexr Sports, BEARPAW, T3 Triathlon, HEAD Swimming USA, Coach Keena Training (thank you for your wetsuit rescue), and Cool-Aide: Sports Towels (I ran with this towel and it helped me stay cool during the run!)

I have been waiting for this race all year. It was going to be the race that I pushed myself beyond what I thought I could. My only train of thought leading into it was to race against me.

Leading up to the race I had an awesome week of taper! As I flew into Vermont, I decided I was going to stay away from the craziness and enjoy the trip. We spent time in Montreal and Stowe leading up to the race. I got my bike checked in on Friday afternoon and could not believe how big transition was. There were about 3000 racers at this event and it took me a few minutes to even find my bike spot. As I set up my bike, I quickly noted landmarks to make it easy to find the next morning.

I had a traditional, quiet dinner that evening: salmon and vegetables. My goal was to be back to the motel by 8 pm so  I could get all my things together, put on my markings and be in bed by 9:30. I received a phone call from Coach H that evening, and this phone call actually helped me so much on race day! He walked through each and every step of my race with me; what I needed to do, how my body needed to respond. His words echoed in my mind several times as I was on the bike and run during the race. I am very appreciative to him for making that phone call the night before the race.

I woke up feeling well rested and oddly enough had a great night's sleep. I quickly grabbed my breakfast and gear and headed down to meet friends and head to the race. Since Boise 70.3, I have decided to not check the weather as it really doesn't matter and most likely won't be what you thought it was supposed to be anyway. And besides that, we end up racing in whatever conditions the day brings. We got into transition and I got my belongings quickly set up. I loved the “clean transition” they had at this race. We took only what we needed in transition and then checked in our transition bag with the items we didn't need.

I quickly noticed an open spot where a bike was supposed to be next to me and I thought that was weird as this was a championship race. Shortly after I had that thought a couple men came up and placed a dozen roses on the ground, and told me that their friend was to be racked there and she was killed in a bicycle accident three weeks earlier. This made my heart sad as I thought how easily that could be any of us. I later learned she had two children the same ages as mine and was a high school teacher. She was killed by a drunk driver 8 miles from her home on her bike. I spent the next few minutes thinking how lucky I was to be at such a large event among top athletes, how lucky I am to have a body that enables me to do this sport that I love so much.

Around 6:30 am, an hour prior to start, the wind picked up... lovely. Why did the wind have to follow us all the way from Utah?? We all watched Lake Champlain go from a nice calm lake to one with waves and white caps. My wave wasn't set to go until 8:52 and I had hopes that once the sun rose the wind would calm down, but it never did. I thought back to other races that I had wavy swims and knew that I could get through it. My time goal for the swim was out the window; I was going to get in and do what I could. The swim was a little crazy. I felt like I was in the middle of the ocean and wondered if I would feel dizzy when I got out. I couldn't see the buoys due to the waves so I just followed feet hoping they were headed in the right direction. I was able to hang onto the same feet until about 400 yards from the finish and then I have no idea where they went and I was left to spot for a short period on my own. Dang waves! But, I was having a great time out there amidst the craziness and was staying focused on the task at hand.  Swim time: 31:12, 1:55 pace (No PR here)

I quickly ran into transition and was off on my bike. I was looking forward to this bike course. It was rolling hills through the countryside. It was beautiful and parts of it overlooked the lake. I was amazed at how quickly the bike course went by as I was having such a great time and enjoying the ride. I wasn't passed by any women, but quickly picked several off. I took in my nutrition as planned, watched my heart-rate and my average speed. I was feeling great! Bike time: 1:09, 21.5 MPH average

Into transition again and out on the run. Coach H echoed through my head, “fastest transitions ever!” No time to be wasted. My goal was to not go out to fast on the run; I needed to race smart. The first quarter mile of the run is straight up a hill. I really wanted to walk, honestly, but dug in and just ran- there would be no walking today. I absolutely loved this run course- beautiful course. Most of it was along an awesome path with trees alongside. I honestly was having the time of my life. Don't get me wrong, I hurt, I was tired, and I felt like my heart would burst, but I was fully satisfied with my performance and kept my head clear of any negative thoughts. When I heard from the side line I had a half mile to go I knew I was going to blow my run goal out of the water which gave me an extra boost! Run time: 41 minutes, 6:38 minute/mile

End result: 2:24 time, a PR for me. I placed 20th in my age group, 20 seconds away from automatically qualifying for Worlds.

I would call this the race of my life. I am still waiting for the 'perfect' race without any problems as this still brought its' own: not having my bike when I landed at the airport, a windy, wavy swim, bike gears not working right, and the speed on my CatEye not working, but I can honestly say I have no regrets with this race. I laid it all out there and enjoyed every minute raced. I crossed the finish line and literally said, “That was fun!” and I meant it. I learned more about myself and what conditions and preparations benefit me on race day then any other race before this.  I came to truly understand, racing is a journey. I hope I can take all that I learned from this race and implement it into future races.

A special thanks to my sponsors: TriEdge, KESTREL, FLEXR Sports, HEAD Swimming USA, BEARPAW, T3 Triathlon and Coach Keena Training. Thanks for helping me have a great race! Also, a special thanks to my awesome coaches. Their guidance and recommendations enabled me to have a fantastic race and meet my goals.

Well, this race was breaking new ground for me. I had never done a reverse triathlon. Not knowing what to expect, I was pretty upbeat about the new opportunity to race the Telos Timp Triathlon on April 14, 2012.

Race morning was frightful. I woke up around 4:30am to tons of rain; things were not looking good. I prepared myself for the worst (race being canceled) and hoped for the best (slight drizzle for the race). Well, it turned out even better. As I left for the Orem Fitness Center, the rain began to stop. By the time I arrived at 6:30, the rain was gone. Awesome!

Packet pickup was scheduled for the morning of the race from 6-7:30 am. I picked up all my stuff and went to set up transition. One of the benefits of a run, bike, swim order is that transitions should be lightning fast. We had a race briefing about 10 minutes before starting and then headed to the starting line. Since the race started with the run, I worried about getting stuck in a big group of people, so I headed to the front of the pack. As the race started, it was sheer madness; fortunately I escaped with a pack of about 10 runners at the front. We started off quick and ran the first mile at about a 6:20 mile pace. The 2nd mile of the run has some uphill & we saw more runners drop back- 6:38 mile pace. The last mile seemed to be the toughest...as you head towards the transition area, with still about ¾ of a mile to go. You have to run around a track before heading back to the transition area... done. Finished the run—averaged a little over a 6:30 min/mi.

Transition from run to bike was simple; throw on bike shoes, helmet (tough for me as I tried to do it with gloves on) and off I went.

Did I mention this race has a great bike course? The course was very well marked. The bike course starts off flat and then picks up speed as you head towards UVU. Everything is smooth sailing until then. It was not bad maneuvering through the roads on campus until the 2nd loop, when it was congested. The bike course has a couple of decent hills and you hit both within a half mile. Not long hills, but some good grade to them. Second loop was more of the same, just more congested.

Transition from bike to swim was fast; take helmet, shoes off and go. One problem, this transition was new to me & I ended up bringing along my race belt, heart rate monitor, watch & socks—throwing them aside as I went.

The swim was a mess for me. First of all, the pool was super warm. In addition to that, I was worn out. It seemed to be 1000 degrees in there & the 50 meter lanes seemed to be 100 meters or longer each. Nevertheless, the swim was not actually long and was shortly over.

The race had some great post-race snacks—trail mix, bagels, oranges, bananas, water and Swedish fish. Did I mention that the support crew for the race was fantastic... led by many from TriEdge?

The award ceremony and raffles were great as we basked in the nice warm sun (it rained later in the day). All in all, it turned out to be a great race—very well organized and lots of fun! I would give a very strong recommendation for all to give it a tri as it is a great way to start the season off!

Shaun Christian is the Owner operator of T3Triathlon in Orem, UT. He has been coaching triathletes for the last 7 years and has been racing for over 12. He is a USAT Level II Coach, USA Level III Cycling Coach, USAT Youth & Junior Elite Coach, and AFPA personal trainer.