Lake Las Vegas 2010

My friend Lorna and I just finished our 10th race together.

2 1/2 marathons
2 10K
3 sprint Triathlons
3 Olympic Triathlons

Not bad.  Someday I'll drag her along on a marathon.  This was our 3rd Lake Las Vegas Race.  We are certainly more seasoned than the funny clueless girls from 2 years ago, but we are still far from hard core.  We have also been joined by more friends.  This year there were 4 from our group doing the sprint and 4 the full olympic, but someone (or two) is always missing in every group shot.

We stayed at the Loew's Hotel again.  The 3 of us who didn't have family sleeping over, split a room.  Nice and cheap.  My family did come down Friday to drop me off, play in the pool for a bit and have dinner with the group.  Then they went home to sleep in their own beds, have breakfast and come back.  We had a massive group dinner with 2 tables of just kids.  Luckily we were outside, but the wait staff was so ready for us to leave halfway through ordering.  We took a quick picture at the end.

Lorna and I in our room before going out to set up our stuff.  We drew tri girls on our arms/back, continuing the tradition I learned from my sister-in-law Jen.  

Here is our first view of the lake.  Pretty, eh? 

Here we are, minus one, before the sprinters start.

Lorna, Lee, Cody and I are in that crowd.  Lots of goosebumps. The water was a little warmer than the air, but we still kept asking, "Why are we doing this again?"

And there is the horn! We are off for what turned out to be a more challenging swim.  It was a full mile this year (a little longer than the 1.5K last year) and the way back was choppy, with water going over our heads constantly.

This was our company in the water.  I tried hard not to think about it.  They are gross and big.  2 feet +.

I don't have any shots of me on my bike, so this is 1/2 of the transition area instead.  The bike course was the same as last year.  25 miles out and back.  Very hilly, but no wind, thank goodness!  Gorgeous weather.  Then the run.  Last year the air temp was over 100 and that drained me.  I walked a few times.  I didn't have that excuse this year, so my manta was "I will not walk, I will not walk," interchanged with, "I love hills, I love hills!"  At the finish line, feeling sweaty and gritty, with family cheering on, I remembered, this is why I do this.

The proud finishers, minus one.  

And here we are post 10 races.  I hope there are another 10 to come! (Can you see my swim/bike/run girls?)

After I showered and took my stuff to the truck.  Our family went back to the pool and beach.  The kids went down the slide and played in the pool.  Isaac checked out a basketball and shot for awhile.  But they spent the most time in the sand.  Makenna ended up staying longer with her friend and came home hours later looking a little pink.  

Jessica was pouting that she couldn't stay longer too.  I couldn't resist documenting her truly amazing outfit.