Handful Bra Winner and some other stuff!

Success - I ran 22 miles yesterday, and didn't have any ice cream, brownies, or chocolate or any kind after! No wine either. I made another loaf of Kari's amazing banana bread yesterday and had two pieces with peanut butter for dessert. (Banana bread has officially been ruled acceptable in this competition. I mean, duh, bananas are healthy). Also, this time I even made it with all applesauce, no butter.

 This morning, Lily and I went to a swim, bike, run, hosted by the Baltimore Area Triathlon Club. It was totally official with bike racks and all.

 Last SBR (swim, bike, run) there was a huge range of experience, from people who had never swam in open water, to experienced triathletes. This morning, as we set up our bikes everyone was comparing different Ironmans that they had done, and were totally jacked and tan. AKA - we were way out of our league.

 Nevertheless, we got set up. Then we realized everyone but us was putting on a wet suit. We went and asked the organizer if we needed one. Her response: "I mean, it's not like you'll catch hypothermia swimming or anything". Awesome. Wetsuits keep you warm and provide a speed advantage. Based on our swim skills, we were already at a pretty big disadvantage before the wetsuits even came in to play.

Since we were going to be so far behind anyway, we took pictures of everyone in their wetsuits getting in the water.

 

And of ourselves, looking gorgeous in swim caps and googles.

My clearance tank top from Dick's is just as good as any wetsuit

 I could have done this swim completely drunk and garnered the same results, if not better. I won't get in to all the specifics, but let's just say I added quite a bit of distance weaving around not knowing what freakin boat I was supposed to be swimming towards. The course was something like half a mile, and my time was 21:55.

 Where are all the bikes? Oh, right, everyone's already half done with the bike course by the time we finished swimming.

About 5.5 miles into the 15 mile ride, I got my first flat tire. I'd gone to a flat tire changing clinic when I first got my bike, and I was so proud of myself that I was able to take the tire off, change the tube, and put it back on.

 Oh - one problem. You also need to pump it back up.

 Hmm....didn't Lily and I already have huge problems with not knowing how to operate bike pumps? You would think I would have tested out my little riding pump that attaches to my bike previous to actually getting a flat. Nope.

 Tried it at all sorts of angles.....the tire was not receiving air. Oh, did I mention we didn't bother to take our phones, either? That is the last time I am doing that! For real this time!

Something about this looks funny....why would they make a pump I have to pump in between the bike spokes?

 Thank god this guy came to our rescue. See that little thing coming out of his hand? There's a whole other part of the pump, that was inside the black tube! Who knew? Turns out that little hose thingie was pretty essential for pumping.

That guy showed us how to pump the tire, we finished the ride, and arrived back just as the organizer was heading out in her car to look for us. 15.32 miles in 1:00:11.

There was a picnic after the SBR, and both of us had scrambled when we decided to go at the last minute, this morning, to find some random food in our houses that was presentable enough to feed to strangers (mine was banana bread, cauliflower, and dip). When we finally got back, everyone had already eaten, and was starting to leave, and we still had to run.

After yesterday's speedy - for - me 22 miler, my legs felt like lead. We took it nice and easy and did a 5K in 32 minutes. It was great to be able to finally chat, biking in traffic is way too loud.

When we were finally done, we asked the few guests still there about recommendations of races for next spring's half ironman. You could tell from the looks on their faces that they were dubious about our triathlon-ing abilities, but I don't feel today was an accurate representation. We know how to commit to training, and that's the important thing.

Then we split the food we'd brought for the picnic (she got half my banana bread, I got half her smoked Gouda) and I drove home obsessively eating cauliflower and Gouda, because I was starving. Good times. I'm still glad we did it though, it was good experience. And a way better way to hang out with a friend then watching football at a bar. In my eyes, anyway.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: The Handful Bra winner!

Congrats, Sarah! Please check out the Handful website and email me your size, color preference, and address at alyssalindsey718@gmail.com.