the weekend

was a success. Very big sporting weekend for J.
First of all we drove down to Taupo on Friday night, in preparation for the Great Lake Relay. http://www.relay.co.nz. J was panicking a little (as she does) but I must say that she is more relaxed pre-race than she used to be. We got in to Taupo around 9pm-ish, met up with the team, and then went out to get some food.

We rose 5am on Sat morning so that we could meet up with Helen and get out on the course at around 6:30am. She was walking the 3 legs before J's turn - in fact I think it was around 25km.
Did the support thing and distributed water, cheered her on etc.
J remarked that it was a lot more sedate this year, because GC had only entered one team, and there were less people around.
J started her leg around 9 or 10am and turned in a great effort of 65 min for her 9.8km run.
She said that it was a lot better this time round cause she made an effort to pace herself, and not burn out at the start.

Then it was quickly back into the car and the drive back to Auckland. We picked up a hitchhiker on the way, he must have been around 16-17. He fell asleep in the car which was kinda funny ...

Got back home around 5pm, and had to quickly load up the bike and drive to Okahu bay for registration for the Auckland Special-K triathlon http://www.tri.co.nz.
It was a real mess trying to get through the traffic, and then queue up with the other hundreds of women all registering.

Anyway, so up early on Sunday to get out to the course at 6am to setup the gear in transition.
Parked at Kohimarama, and skated/cycled round to Okahu Bay. We saw the amazing site of 5000+ women and supporters all busily setting up and psyching up.

It was a really great event atmosphere-wise, but actually too crowded and busy to actually go out and set a really fast time. Soooo many women, all shapes/sizes/ages ... but importantly all giving it a go.

J did really well, clocking a final time of 58 min-something.
She told me the swim was just so crowded, she ended up wading most of it (about 12 min to T1). Then she powered through the cycle leg (28 min to T2). Unfortunately she cramped up in the run - not surprising after Saturday's effort, but still managed to beat the 1 hour mark.

I was exhausted myself after all the driving - somewhere like 800 km over 2 days.
I don't think we'll try the 2 events in 1 weekend again ...