^{PLACE & TIME:}  Troy 3rd - 2:10:58

                Robin 1st -  2:21:10 (26:55-1:11:09-42:23)

Previous PRs or Personal Records:

      Troy - 2:05:15, 03'

Troy and I get to race together for the second time this season...what a blessing!  Anna is hanging out with Daddy's cousins Kristen, Pat & Mikey Carroll in Elk Grove.  We head to Rancho Seco park in Herald, CA right next to a inactive nuclear plant...real safe, huh?!

Troy's Race

I'm not feeling prepared, but I'm going to have fun and do the best I can.  We look across the lake water at the looming nuclear cooling towers beyond.  I fill my wetsuit with water as another guy asks why.  I give him my tips and tell him to have a great day.  We take off and I catch onto a good draft after the initial sprint.  Am I going too hard?  My energy is staying.. great!  This guy is a straight swimmer.. I want to thank him after.  I feel like I'm swimming really good.  But feels like we should have finished already.  Finally we get to land and race for the bikes.

After 6 or 7 speed bumps we're on the open road.  I'm riding my new forks.. don't really notice a difference.  I pass some guys in the first 10 miles but then struggle to pass anyone else.  Usually I feel stronger on the bike. I see Robin after I make the turn-around.  It's so great to race together.  She's supposed to average 22mph, but I'm not even doing that!  Then the wind picks up.  This is tough.  Ah,there's the nuclear towers.. we're home :)

Good transition and off on the run.  It's tough (well, it's never really easy running after biking) but I really feel motivated work.  I'm back-and-forth with another guy.  Kind of wish he wasn't there, but I know he makes us both faster.  He pulls ahead on the dusty climbs.  But then I get some water and make a move on the flat.  I pull ahead towards the turn-around.  This is really fun!  I look for Robin coming in on the bike.  There's a bunch of guys ahead of me, but I feel pretty competitive.  The trail back is fun... it's hot, dusty, winding, and full of stickers to dodge.. but that's cool!  Across bridges and back on the road.  I want to ease up but you never know who's up ahead.  Sure enough, right after seeing Robin running, I see a guy barely moving ahead.  I encourage him and pass him and hit the road for the final mile.  The hills are tough and I'm exhausted but I still say "good job" to each person heading out in the opposite direction.  Oh it's so good to see the grass at the finish.  I sprint to finish.  That was a fast run and my foot didn't hurt at all!  I was only limited by fitness.  Wow, thanks, Lord!!

Robin's Race

I'm in the first women's wave of 34 and under.  I'm excited to see what I can do today.  My goal is to go 1:08 on the bike.   We'll see how it goes!  I have a new wetsuit on today.  Lost my other at Folsom Lake.  I found this one on Craig's list.  Good deal.  The girl I bought it from was good friends with 2 girls I coached at Davis High in Cross Country and Track.

The horn goes off and we're swimming!  I get a good start but have a hard time finding someone to draft.  I find myself again in the second pack of swimmers.  As we head out to the first buoy, two girls go by.  One with wetsuit, one without.  The wetsuit girl has pink goggles.  I get behind the non-wetsuit girl and follow her around the buoy, and some more, and then get distracted and... I'm alone again.  Oh wait, there's pinkie.  I'll follow her...where is she going?  She's drifting way off to the left.  Bummer I guess I'm alone again.

We are heading for the next buoy which will take us back to shore.  There are a lot of men in the previous waves that we are passing but I try to keep a straight line and look for openings.  Here comes pinkie again.  Wow, she's moving fast.  I'll stick with her...where is she going?  Now she's going way off to the right!  Okay, just focus on swimming straight for the buoy.  No draft, but that's okay.  I round the last buoy and push back to shore. 

Poor pinkie!  She's going so fast but unfortunately not straight.  She zig-zags in front of me about 4 times on the way to the finish.  I feel bad that she's swimming more than me.  She's clearly the better swimmer, but just cannot go straight today. 

I get out of the water and kick off my wetsuit.  As I go to run I trip and catch myself from falling.  I can hear the crowd's reaction...I must look pretty silly.  I run to my bike and put on my helmet and glasses.  This time the shoes are already on the bike ( a new tactic for me).  I jump on and head out.  I slide my feet into my shoes one at a time and strap then up.  Heading out I'm feeling great and I'm pushing hard.  I can see the nuclear towers looming over me...it's kind of ominous. 

I'm passing a handful of guys heading out and I'm thinking that I can keep this pace up.  As soon as I turn out of the park, I'm hit with a headwind.  Oh boy!  This is going to be challenging keeping the goal.  I remind myself that anything is possible especially with God and not to give up. 

I see a bunch of riders ahead of me.  I think I'll catch up in no time.  But the wind is tough, and there's rolling ups & downs, so the passes are hard to come by.  Just as I'm wondering, "Is this a loop, or out-n-back?" (I didn't do my homework), I see the lead guy coming back. That answers my question.  I should be seeing Troy soon... a nice distraction from the discomfort of fighting the wind.  There he is!  He's up in the top 15 and looking good!  It's always so great to see his smile...it reminds me to have fun and focus on the Lord.

I bike on and come upon some railroad tracks.  The race director warned us about these.  Okay, brace yourself, here we go.  I have had many friends over the years, including Troy, get taken down by tracks and its made me really timid. I slow down to make the impact a little less harsh...big bump!  At that same moment a guy I just passed takes advantage and speeds by.  I made it over...phew!  I chase after the guy and pass him back and tell him good job...he got over those tracks nicely.

A mile to the turn-around.  Now I can see the girls ahead of me.  Wow, there's one way ahead!!  She'll be hard to catch.  A little later... two more girls ahead.  Now I know what to look for and I start working to get them.  I make the turn and welcome a nice tail wind behind me...finally!  I'm able to pick up my speed and get by the first girl.

Now, it's back to the railroad tracks.  The same thing happens here.  I slow down and a guy I passed speeds by.  Bump!  That was a big dip this time!  Phew, I made it again.  Thanks Lord!  My watch beeps and that means it's time to think of a scripture.  To keep my focus on God I have my watch beep every hour during the day to remind me to think or read a verse of the Bible.  "Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:18).  The wind has switched again and now I'm back to a crawl.  Yes, thank you Lord even for the wind.  This is going to be great practice for Coeur d'Alene when the wind picks up on the second loop of the bike.

I can see the second girl ahead of me and I'm working to catch her.  The wind has really worn me down.  Part of me says, just hang back, take it easy there's no way you'll get the time anyway.  The other part of me says to keep trying and get as close to the goal as possible.  So I keep plugging along.

As I round the next corner, I see the Nuclear Towers ahead...yes!  I thought I'd never be so happy to see such a sight!  I turn back into the park and lose the wind but gain some hills. The girl ahead of me is out of sight but not out of mind.  I keep turning my legs over as fast as they will go which feels really slow!  I finally make my way back to the transition and pull my feet out of my shoes and run to my spot to switch to the run.

I throw on my new Newton running shoes  and head out of the transition area.  I hit my watch and see my split, 1:09 is really close to my goal time!  Thank You, Lord!

The course is mostly dirt with little shade.  It's warm out here which again is good practice for Ironman CD'A.   The first mile is a rocky dirt road and the footing is uneven.  It also has some rolling hills which for the moment are not too bad.  There are tire tracks on the road and all the runners are on those two narrow paths.  I can see the first runners already heading back.  It looks like this is an out-n-back, too.  I see the girl from the bike ahead and I work up to her.  I pass her and she says, "Good job, Robin".  I realize it's a girl we know, Candice.  I tell her, "great job".  That was so nice of her to encourage me.   My first mile is 6:47.  That's good start, let's see if I can stay at 6:45 or under.

I'm looking for Troy and there are no runners coming back on this road now.  I notice off to my left another path where the guys are running back.  That will be a nice change of pace running on dirt minus the rocks coming back.  Mile 2 is 6:43.  Good, thanks Lord! 

There's Troy!  "Go Troy" I shout!  He gives me another smile and a thumbs up.  Great!  That means he's having a great race!  A guy comes up behind me and asks me if I'm Robin Soares and I say yes.  He's Melissa Haskin's dad.  She's an up and coming short distance triathlete that is a killer runner.  We tell each other good job and I ask where she is.  She's studying for finals at Cal Poly.  I tell him to say hi and we part ways. 

I see a girl in the opposite direction.  She doesn't look like the first girl on the bike, she must be part of a relay.  Is still another girl ahead?  Now we are on the pavement of the road we biked in on.  I can see the Nuclear Towers again.  It's a short out-n-back and then back to the dirt.  Mile 3 is 6:42.  I can see Candice coming down the road and another girl is catching her.  I better keep the pressure on as long as I can.  I'm not feeling fresh today so the pace is going to be hard to keep up.

Now I'm back on the rocky road and I'm wondering where that nice path is.  There it is!  Just before I start it, a girl coming the opposite direction tells me good job.  I realize that I've been focusing too much on my position and how I'm feeling.  It was nice to have a reminder to smile and enjoy the day and the people around me.  I start thinking about speaking at Iron Prayer in a few weeks at Ironman Coeur d'Alene.  I get an idea on how to help myself and others be reminded to enjoy the moment...because it is so easy to get too self focused.  I'll get people to team up with 3 other people.  When they see those 3 people in a race, they will say something to encourage one another.  Thank You Lord for giving me this great idea!  I cannot wait to implement it! 

This path is nice and winds along the lake and takes us over small bridges. There are not a lot of runners out here and it's quiet.  To keep myself on track, I try to focus on getting by the guys ahead of me.  With the sharp turns it's a little hard to navigate.  Mile 4 is 6:43 and Mile 5 is 6:42.  Thanks God! 

I'm back on the rocky road and heading home.  This time the rolling hills are harder to manage.  I think I might still be on track though.  Mile 5 is 6:57.  Ouch!  I better kick it in.  I dig down and find what energy I have left.  I see Troy ahead cheering me on.  I give him a smile and a high five.  He tells me I'm the first woman.  Alright!  That's a treat.  I cross the finish line and I'm glad to be done. 

Our friend Dave Campbell from Rocklin Master is waiting there.  He kicked my butt today!  As we are all chatting a girl crosses the line blazing fast.  I never saw her racing.  Just then I remember there was another heat of women 5 minutes behind me.  I look at my watch...it will be close to see who is the first woman!   Later on I find out her name is Lynice and that's she's from Reno.  I tell her that she looked great finishing.  We chat for a bit.  She's a great lady!  Later we find out that she beat me by 10 seconds.  Wow, that's close!  I'm glad she got it(=

Thanks Cousins Pat, Kristen & Pat Carroll for taking care of Anna while we raced!!