Emily Marsh gives us the skinny on the Scenic City Triathlon. Lots of Vixens like Lisa Anderson, Cecelia and Janelle Wigal, Cat Thornton, and Stacy Marshall were out competing and representing the club well.

I signed up for the Scenic City Triathlon thinking it would be good preparation for Waterfront in July.  Why I signed up for Waterfront, I’m still not sure.  And I wasn’t even drinking at the time!

My goal for the half mile swim was to not drown in the Tennessee River.  Considering that I just learned how to swim to actually go somewhere three years ago, I thought that was a pretty good goal.  Before that, I just knew how to not drown.  I met that goal and actually beat five people on the swim!

The 11 mile bike course was out and back on Amnicola Highway.  On my way out, I passed John Sillery who had crashed into the guardrail and was sitting on the shoulder.  Drew Streip had stopped his race to check on him and was waiting with him until help arrived.  That was some pretty awesome sportsmanship and I’m really glad to know we have people like that in our community.  Ginger, we’re thinking about you and John, glad it was nothing more than it was, and hoping for a speedy healing.

At T2, I was racking my bike while a guy another guy on the same rack was clearing his gear, already through with the race.   He told me encouragingly that the run wasn’t quite the 3 mile distance that I was supposed to be.  Well darn, I thought, that’s the one part I’m actually kind of good at!  I took off and headed up out of Coolidge Park, up the hill to Veteran’s’ Bridge, up the bridge, down the bridge, up a flight of stairs, up Bluff View, up 3rd Street, up Walnut Street Bridge, and finally down the bridge and back into Coolidge Park.  Halfway across the bridge, Cat Thornton caught up with me on her bike.  She had passed earlier while I was on my bike and circled back around to meet me.  She rode beside me the rest of the way in to the finishing line, cheering me on the whole way.  It was really awesome having a teammate cheer me on and motivate me in the home stretch!  Thanks a ton Cat!  I finished the run in 20 minutes at an 8:00 pace.  Not too shabby considering that was only the fourth time I’ve ran since I started training for Waterfront!

My overall time was 1:29:23, 3rd place in my age group.  Podium by default!  This race made me a lot more confident going into Waterfront.   I’m going in with the same goal; don’t drown in the Tennessee River.

Congrats to the other VeloVixens out at  the Scenic City Triathlon:

Cecelia Wigal – 2nd Place Female Overall

Janelle Wigal – 1st Place in her age group and 4th Female Overall

Lisa Anderson – 1st Place in her age group

Stacy Marshall – 2nd place in the relay division

– Emily