Procrastination pays

Friday morning I contacted my friend Lisa to find out about the Splash and Dash she had signed up to do on Saturday.  I started thinking that I would be really interested in doing it too.  However, it was already too late to register online and I was unable to contact the organizers during the day. 

So, I figured I would go with her in the morning, with all my stuff, and hope that they had day of registration.  If not I could be her cheerleader!  I was pretty much of the mind set that I would be sitting this one out.  We were some of the first people there and amazingly they had registration sheets and I actually had cash on me (Lisa helped make up the difference). 

I went from thinking I'd be watching to participating.  Instant butterflies.  I don't know she swallowed a (butter)fly? Perhaps she'll die.

A dolphin was spotted swimming around the buoys before the race started.  That surely had to be good luck! 

This mass swim start was a shock to me.  Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I decided to start up with the men.  Who do I think I am?!  I will never make that mistake again.  They were BRUTAL.  If some of them could have swam over me I think they would have.  I realized that one of the other events in a biathlon is the "avoiding getting kicked in the face" event.  It takes some maneuvering to manage not to get a foot in the nose. 

When the mayhem of the swim was over we went quickly to the transition area and headed out running onto the Marine Corp's base; with an uphill run to the General's house.  Holy crap does that house have a view!  I was a little worried about the hill but it ended up being much easier than I had anticipated.  I felt strong and finished fast. 

I ended up placing second in my age group and got a medal!  Woo-hoo!  It does pay to wait and see.