Nancy's Blog

This morning Kent, Ben, Leslie and I along with Angie, Bryan and family and Chris, Dan and family drove over Butterfield canyon to the Tooele side and met our daughter Carrie, Aldo and their family at a camp spot to have breakfast.  It was a little chilly but we had a fire going.  There were 26 of us total.  We had eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and pancakes along with hot chocolate, milk and juice.  We had a fun time together.  We did miss the other 14 family members that couldn't come.   After we were finished we cleaned up and drove back over the mountain.  We saw several deer and lots of beautiful scenery.  After we got back I took a short nap and then picked tomatoes.  Then Leslie and I went to Blackridge reservoir to swim.  There were a lot of people there but not too many swimming.  We were glad we had our wetsuits.  We swam around the outside of the whole reservoir twice.  I had to side stroke part of the time but we didn't stop.  That is the last time we are going to swim before our Triathlon.  After I cleaned up I made spaghetti sauce with the tomatoes I picked.

I had to be to work at 6 am this morning so at 5am I ran down to Parkway Palisades where the BBK's were meeting and said "Hi" to them and then ran back home.  After work and a short nap I did my leg weight/stomach exercises along with 75 mens pushups.

We didn't serve lunch until 12 today so we went for a walk, we walked for about 1 mile.   The only other exercise I did was dig in the mud and help fix my daughters sprinklers.  Tomorrow we are heading to Idaho for our Triathlon.  We're excited to stay with my daughter and her family.  They live in Oakley just outside of Burley.  

We got to Burley, Idaho at about 2:30 pm on Friday and stopped on the way in at the Fairfield Inn to pick up our packets.  Then we drove to where the transition area was going to be and tried to figure out where the bike course was.  We drove around for a while and couldn't figure out the course so just gave up and went to Jenny's.  Jenny and all the kids were excited to see us.  Jenny and Leslie made pickles and then Jenny made us a spaghetti dinner.  Angie and Chrissy came up from Utah also and got there in time for dinner.  They left their kids home for their husbands to tend.  After dinner we visited for a while and then went to bed.  Leslie and I woke up at 4:30 am had a quick breakfast and headed to our race.  We had to set up our transition area and get our bodies marked.  Then they drove us to the start of the swim.  Leslie's start was a different place than mine.  The swim start was on private property.  At my start the owner had started a fire in their fire pit which was by the Snake River.  We were all glad because the temperature was in the 30's.  We sat around and visited until 7:15 when the 1/2 ironman started and we watched them swim by.  Then we had to wait for them to bring the timing equipment back to our start.  Then they had someone sing the national anthem, and then a preacher spoke and said a prayer.  Then the let the Individual Men start their race.  About 5 minutes later we started.  The water didn't feel too cold after standing in the cold for an hour.  The current wasn't as swift as I expected, in fact it was very calm.  I did front crawl for a while and then alternated with the side stoke.  I went slow and steady and made it to the end.  I visited with several other women that were going slow along the swim.  I wasn't the last person but the 3 of us got to the end and the same time and there was one woman behind us.  When we got out and ran on the grass to the bikes I could tell my feet and hands were frozen.  My hands were so numb I had a hard time putting on my shoes, socks and gloves.  I had to ask someone to buckle my helmet.  The first part of the bike ride I was tired because of the cold, but half way through the first lap I warmed up and was able to go faster. The bike was 29 miles.  At the end of the bike ride Chrissy, Angie and Jenny and her kids were there to cheer me on.  I didn't feel too tired and was able to run for 3 miles before I walked for a minute.  Then I walked a little bit each mile.  When I got to mile 6 mark I realized that I  still had a least a mile to go.  The race ended up being 7 miles.  When I got about 1/4 mile to the finish line two of my grandsons met me and ran the rest of the way in with me.  I was glad to be done.  I finished 1st in my age group.   Then we got some lunch while we waited for Leslie to finish the bike ride.  When she finished the bike ride Chrissy ran the first mile with her, then we sat around and visited until Leslie was almost to mile 7.  At mile 7 Jenny ran the last 6 miles with her.  Jenny is pregnant but they went very slow because Leslie was pretty dead by then.  It took Leslie 8 hours to finish but I was very proud of her.  We went back to Jenny's, showered, bought some pizza for everyone and rested until bed.  Sunday morning we slept in and ate breakfast and then we left for home.  I went to Sacrament meeting with Leslie because her's was at 1pm and mine was over by the time we got home.  We were both glad we did the race but we are happy to have a break from training now.