Queen City Sprint TRI 8-7-21

So last minute, I signed up for a Sprint TRI! Call it peer pressure if you will...   Actually a couple months ago I was asked to be an Ambassador for race.  This use to be called Sunfish Sprint TRI.  The race was recently sold to the Queen City organization and they were asking people who had raced the event before to help them spread the word that the race would go on, but just under a new name.  One of my friend was helping organize the race so I couldn't turn him down and told him I'd help.  At this point, I really wasn't sure If I'd do the race myself.  I've been trying to focus on my running in preparation for the Chicago marathon coming up in October.  However, I've been trying to keep a good base in swimming and biking so I won't have to start from scratch next year to get ready for an Ironman.  

So at the last minute I decided what the heck.  It's only a Sprint... why not.  😁 I knew my neighbor, Dennis was going so I knew I wouldn't be all alone.  None of my regular TRI friends are racing right now.  It was another early morning of getting up at 4am on Saturday and driving to Meridian for the race.  The race takes place at Bonita lake.  It's a nice venue, but usually EXTREMELY HOT... especially the run around the lake at the end.  There have been years when I thought I was going to die it was so HOT.  I was so happy that the temp was not too bad.  It actually turned into a great race morning as far as the temp and humidity.  I was very happy about that!  

It has been so long since I raced a TRI that it almost felt like the first time when I walked into the transition area to set up.  I was thinking to myself... I hope I didn't forget something! 😀

Here's me and Dennis in transition... Lordy I need some makeup...and check out those bags under my eyes.. LOL 

I took a quick dip in the water to see how it felt.   Some years the water has been so hot it felt like you were in a hot tub!  This year the water actually felt good.  

Thanks to Renee, Dennis' wife for grabbing a few pictures of me. 😍

Soon the race started and we were lined up in number order to begin.  I was number 29 so I was starting up front! I was a tad nervous about this since I'm not a fast swimmer and usually I'm in the back.  I was worried about swimmers running into me or swimming over me!  I stayed way to the outside and no one ever touched me.  😍  I swam nice and easy focusing on long strokes.  I really thought I'd have a fairly decent time.  However, when I got out and looked down at my watch and it said 17:47 my head just hung low.  I was like that was terrible!  That's probably also the reason I pushed the wrong button on my watch and didn't realize it.  I ran on in and said to myself, just get on the bike and go.  Here are a couple pictures of me leaving out on the bike that Renee got.

As soon as I was on the bike just a couple of minutes, my watched beeped.  I was like what the heck.  But I didn't take time to look at my watch because if you've ever done the race, you know there are HILLS!  I knew I needed to stay focused and just ride.  I had not put my bike computer on my bike so I had no idea how fast I was going, but I felt good.  My watch kept beeping every 2-3 minutes it seemed.  I just ignored it and it and kept on riding. 

When I came in from the ride and dismounted from the bike, I looked at my watch to see why it had been beeping constantly.  Guess what???  It was still on SWIM!! Take a look...

So I swam like 16 miles!!  😱😕

I quickly tried to get my watch back to the right place by pressing lap a couple of times and finally it was on the run segment. So I took off on the run.   Here's a picture Renee snapped of me coming in from the run.  I don't really like the picture too much because it looks like my legs are total jelly fat flopping..  But you know what... I'm 55 years old and still out there... so embrace those wrinkles... I've earned them.  😄

I went to the timing tent after everyone was finished because they had a machine that was printing everyone's time from their timing system and I wanted to get my times since I screwed up my watch.  Here is what I got:

The bike was 17 miles and I did it in 58 minutes so I did have a good bike time..... with me not training on hills recently... 😀 And I finished in under 2 hours.  Not a PR for me, but I had hoped to get around 2 hours or less on my time.  💪

I also ran into my cousin Pam at the race.  I had no idea she would be there.  She had been battling asthma that is brought on by exercise.. I can't think of the name of it.  Anyway, she had been struggling with her breathing and not racing.  Well, she's BACK!  She had a great race! 😍

Here is our cool medal.  1/3 Swim, 17 miles bike and 5K run to complete the Sprint TRI.

I could tell that I had not been racing.  Or should I say I had not been doing back to back activities.  But overall, I felt good after the race.  I was glad I went ahead and did it.  I'm always so nervous in an open water swim.  This was only 1/3 mile and even though I've done 2.4 miles in open water, I was still so nervous.  I kept telling myself... "Let your faith be stronger than your fear".   Plus I had so  many friends that had texted me that morning saying they were praying for me. 💗💗💗   Isaiah 40:31, Philippians 4:13, Ezra 10:4, Hebrews 12:1

Sunday morning I got up early again and met Penny at 6am to run 16 miles.   She kept telling me she couldn't believe I was doing a long run following a race and not complaining... ha   We ran nice and easy.  It was a great morning and we saw some friends.. but the best part was my Gatorade I stopped and got on like mile 13.   The dew point has been terrible lately.  Literally by mile 7 I am squishing in my shoes with sweat!  Summer time training in South Mississippi is TOUGH!

Hope to see you out there!  It's 7 weeks to the Chicago marathon for me & Penny. 🙏🙏💓

Yellowstone Day 7 & 8 of our 2021 Vacation

 Since we had a late night, we didn't rush to leave Silver Gate.  We waited until the Log Cabin Restaurant opened for breakfast and had a nice breakfast before heading back into the park towards the West Entrance.  We had no sooner got inside the park and we saw a big black bear real close to the road! Gary was so happy.  We stopped and watched the bear until cars started piling up behind us and we moved on so they could also see the bear.  

We took our time driving through Lamar valley again looking for animals.  The valley really is so pretty!  Again we saw tons and tons of Bison!  We were literally about to be out of the valley I believe.  I can't remember now if we saw the Grizzly and 2 cubs before we got to the Roosevelt lodge which is  where you turn back onto the main loop around Yellowstone.  Anyway, the cars were backed up for days barely moving.  Gary and I had our yes peeled trying to see what they were looking for.  Gary was hoping it was a Moose.  Finally we made up beside some young adults standing out on the side of the road.  I rolled down my window and asked what they were looking at and in the distance she pointed out there was a momma grizzly and 2 cubs heading our way!!  Now the other 2 grizzlies we saw were up on the mountain.  This one was heading right our way!! So I pulled over and hopped out with my camera.  By this time more and more people were figuring out it was a grizzly and people were stopped all over the road.  Some people were not happy and were telling us to all move.  I did pull my vehicle way off the road, but I was not leaving.  Soon the momma and 2 cubs literally crossed the road right in front of 3 cars down from me!! It was pretty cool to watch!  Here are some pictures I captured.

How cool is that!?  We left there and saw Roosevelt Lodge and on to Mammoth.  I wanted to spend some time in mammoth since the day before we really didn't stop much there, but by the time we got there it was getting close to lunch and the town was packed!! It was the most people I had seen all week in the park!! There was no where to really park so we decided to just drive on to the West Entrance.  We did make the 1 mile loop there at mammoth where I saw some more hot springs and we went down one small road to another pretty cool water fall!  

Mammoth is where you can exit the park at the famous Roosevelt entrance but since we had done that we went on to the West Entrance.   

When we exited the park at the West Entrance, we had officially been around the whole grand loop of Yellowstone and we had exited or entered out each entrance to the park.  It was AMAZING.  

Once outside the park at the West Entrance it's like you are back in Hattiesburg again.  A real town as Gary said.  We checked into our hotel, drove to where I had to pick up my race packet and found a nice restaurant for a late lunch / early supper.  Oh and Gary had a TV in the room!  He was like a little kid!  I went to packet pickup for the race and he never left the room.  He watched TV the entire time I raced the next morning also!  We had originally planned to spend 2 nights at the West entrance, but we received a notification that our 2pm flight on Sunday was changed to 7am!  So we ended up only spending one night at the West Entrance for me to do the half marathon and found a room at a Super 8 back close to Jackson Hole Airport so we wouldn't have to drive at 2am to get there on Sunday in time.  

Gary decided after my half marathon the next day that he didn't want to drive back through the park to Jackson Hole so we drove through Idaho.  It was also beautiful.  Lots and Lots of farm land!  The drive was on a well paved road and I enjoyed it.  AND guess what???  He had not been to far on our drive and a big group of people were all stopped at a bridge.  We stopped to see what they were looking at and guess what??? A MOOSE!!  Gary found his moose!  He literally jumped out of the car before I had time to get it put in park!!! I've never seen him move so fast.  ha   The dang moose was ugly to me.  LOL  But you know they say  you are lucky if you see one!! I was so GLAD Gary finally got to see his moose!  He said his trip was made!!  The moose was not in the Grand Tetons, Not in Yellowstone, but in IDAHO! 

We arrived back in Jackson hole to see the Saturday night shoot out.  It was pretty cool seeing a wild west show acted out in the streets.  We had an early supper and headed to bed.  Long Travel day on Sunday back home!  

  

We had the BEST time!  It was hard to get on that plane the next morning to head back to real life for me!  I enjoyed the slow pace and not having to go into the office.  

I will say if you plan to go .. 2 things... 1.  Get the GyPsy app! 2. Get in shape and do all the hikes! or at least several of the hikes.   If I get the chance to go back I want to do so much more hiking and Gary has promised that if he goes back he'll get in shape.  However, I will also say that we were only home 1 day from our vacation and on the 2nd day our neighbor found Gary passed out in the yard!!! He was in ICU and then a regular room a couple of days.  They said he did not have a heat stroke or any time of stroke.  No heart attack.  They finally said he had a reaction to a chemical he was spraying in the yard.  HOWEVER, 1 days after he comes home from the hospital he is still running fever and not feeling good.  He tested positive for COVID a few days later... I say all this because now in hindsight we feel he got sick when we were on vacation or maybe he was already sick because he admits he really didn't feel 100% while on our trip... ... all the naps in the car and stuff.  I thought he was just being grumpy and not wanting to do all the walking... but maybe it was more that he was sick..... It's been a rough month at the Clayton house with him first having a GI bleed that sent him in the hospital for 5 nights, then he passes out and spends 3 nights in hospital, then he tested positive for covid and is really sick for a week... and then he has a kidney stone he can't pass and has to have surgery!  I'm just typing all this here so one day I can look back and say WOW... we went through a heck of a lot and also did Yellowstone in the middle of that.  😀  and Then I tested positive for COVID a week after him!  We felt like we were 10 feet tall and bullet proof as my friend says because we had our vaccinations.... we were wrong.....  Stay safe out there!  This dang COVID mess is not over!  

So that's a wrap on vacation.  There really is so much more I could say and many, many more pictures.... But I won't bore you with all that.   JUST GO SEE IT FOR YOURSELF! YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID! 😍

Yellowstone day 5 & 6 -- continued

 Day 6 we were up at 4:30am and excited to be going on our sunrise tour.  We had no idea what to expect except that we were supposed to be looking for animals.  Gary was hoping to get to see a Moose.  We had yet to find one.  We had found tons of Bison, a momma Grizzly and several Elk.  We were not expecting her to ask us if we wanted to see a wolf when she picked us up.  I hadn't even thought much about a wolf.  The GyPsy app did give us the history of wolves in the park which was really interesting, but he had also said they were hard to be seen.  Anyway, this young lady had moved to Yellowstone from Alaska and her main study was the wolves! She knew right where a den was at and took us there.  It was really cool!  However, we could only see them from her high power scopes.  The den was was far up on the mountain.  We got to see several momma wolves, 2 babies and we even watched a wolf eat a baby bison while the momma bison tried to run the wolf off.  That was sad to watch, but I know that's the way nature works.  How many of you have seen a real wolf??  It was really cool and man she knew a lot about wolves!  She also took us to see a Grizzly, more bison, elk and we hunted and hunted a moose, but didn't find one.  Our tour ended at lunch.   Here are a few pictures:

Gary at Silver Gate... literally like back in time! 

This is where you could sit in front of the store and use the internet.  They had a nice fire in the evenings.  As you can see there is still snow on top of the mountain.  I really enjoyed no internet and TV.  I know my husband LOVES the TV so I understood how he didn't like that we had no TVs where we stayed, but I was truly shocked he was also mad about the internet.  I would of never thought he would not like that.  However, he loves to watch is ring app and watch is animals at home and make sure all is ok at home 24/7.  Even though my daughter was checking things for us, he still wanted to see it constantly.  😏

Looking through the scopes.  I have some footage of the wolves that our tour guide sent me. I've got to edit it and then I'll add it here.  

Gary wanted a nap after our tour.  I was shocked.  He makes fun of anyone that mentions a nap! and he's always up early so I was shocked that he slept for 2 1/2 hours! I slept a little and then I sat waiting for him to wake up.   I asked him if he wanted to drive back in the park and look for animals at dusk or if he wanted to make the drive to Red Lodge, Montana via the Bear Tooth pass.  We had a couple of friends recommend it if we had time on our trip.  He said we should go on to Red Lodge since we had time.   It was a 63 mile drive from Silver Gate, but is all winding around the mountains so it takes literally 2 hours to get there.  BUT all was it worth it!  It was by far the prettiest scenery we had seen!  Yes, Yellowstone is beautiful, but this drive was amazing.  Snow was everywhere.  Even right up close to the road!  We stopped and took several pictures and we also saw mountain goats on the side of the mountain.  They were beautiful.   When we finally got to the town we were amazed.  It was like we were back in Hattiesburg!  Restaurants and shops for days!  Gary was so excited.  We had a nice dinner and a cute little place.  It was so nice once again to get to go inside and sit down.  Here are some pictures  (I have a million pics!) from our drive:

Gary really enjoyed the snow!

That's frozen water down in the mountain!

Now what we didn't realize was the Beartooth Pass closed at 7pm Monday - Thursday till 7am!  So guess what... we couldn't go back the way we had come.  Gary as so mad.  Neither of us had noticed a sign (ONE SIGN!) that let you know that.  There was no warning signs along the road.  If you missed that one sign, well you didn't know it until you drive back half way up the mountain and came to the road closure! AND that was us! Well me since I was doing all the driving.  So I had to turn around and drive a hour back down to Red Lodge to figure out how we would get back to Silver Gate.  There are no turn off roads on the pass once you are on it.  It's a straight shot for 63 miles with no turns!!  Gary said we would just have to spend the night in Red Lodge.  But I was determined we would not.  That would totally mess up our plans and besides we had no extra clothes or anything.  So I stopped at the first gas station coming into town and got on my maps.  I found a route and even went inside to ask the worker at the store.  He told me I was right.  That during the winter months the beartooth is closed and the route I had found was how locals would get to Silver Gate.  It would take us longer to get back... an extra hour....  So by the time we got back to Silver Gate it was almost midnight!  I had been driving for 6 hours total that night.  I was wore out!  There was awful wind the whole time when we went from Red Lodge to Cody and then to Silver Gate.  I'm talking the wind was so strong we saw trucks flipped over.  It was all I could do to hold on to the steering wheel and pray that we would make it back.  We did see this amazing sunset on the mountains.  Well, I thought it was amazing.  Gary was still so mad he barely looked at it.  LOL  I tried to get a quick picture from the car.  You couldn't open the door or it would fling back and knock you out the wind was so strong.  

Before we left Silver Gate we visited Cooke city.  Which is only like 2 miles from Silver Gate.  It's also an old wild west town.  We stopped at the saloon and had a couple of beers and walked around a bit looking for moose!  Our tour lady told us they were often spotted there in town.  On our way leaving there were a ton of people on the side of the road.  By the time we got where we could see..... It was a Moose, but we saw the butt end and then it disappeared into the woods!  So no Moose for Gary still! Here are a few pics from Cooke City:

This ended our 2 nights at Silver Gate.  I really loved moving around and staying different places.  We saw so much!

More to come.... next day we head back in Silver Gate entrance and head to the West Entrance where I will be doing my Yellowstone Half Marathon on Saturday before we fly home on Sunday. 😁