I’m back!  It was hot, crowded, and fun!  Logistically, camping and a triathalon is totally hard….I was one of the few non-racers in the site, so I have a different perspective (and was subject to a TON of triathalon talk this weekend…), but all in all, everyone who raced seemed to have a blast.  It’s def a full weekend EVENT, in a way that other races are not.

Friday-  The drive took about 3.5 hours.  The car was packed solid.

It was beautiful once we got to the park

Went to the expo

Set up camp– it was super crowded, people we literally putting their tent anywhere they could find a little space.

So you can get an idea how packed it was, this is what the grounds looked like- cars & tents everywhere!

Friday dinner- I carb-loaded for spectating   while swatting bugs

And then everyone literally went to sleep at 8:30pm.  I was exhausted, so had no trouble with that!

Saturday began early and was filled with spectating.  The day looked a lot like this:

Spectating:

And laying in the sun:

But spectating actually makes for a pretty busy day (not just relaxing the whole time)– I always feel like I’m running around all day and doing match calculations trying to figure out when they’ll be at the exact spot I’m at.  It’s also pretty boring, there’s a ton of down time and this race didn’t give good advice on very many places where you could go to see them.  Luckily though, I have a nice tan from the day.

The swim:

While sipping coffee

The bike:

The run-

I sorta messed up spectating here.  He was a lot faster on the bike than I thought, so I must have missed him by 2 minutes (was filling up my water bottle…), but obviously, I didn’t know that, so I stood in the hot sun for TWO hours waiting for him to cross.  Of course, toward the end when almost everyone had gone, I realized there was no way he could have been THAT slow (even with a hard course), so I must have missed him.  And sure enough, only like 20 minutes later, he was crossing the finish of the race.  Haha, happens!  But unfortunately, that took up a huge chunk of my day.

And then I chilled with him post-race– there was band, etc and we hung out in the grass until he felt well enough to walk back to the campsite.  It was 6pm by then, so I grabbed dinner from a food vendor.  It looks gross, but it was a taco salad with beans, lettuce, chicken, and salsa.

Followed by a margarita back at the campsite.  No s’mores though, can you believe it?! We brought all the stuff but no one (including me) felt like eating them.  Oh well, now that we have the stuff, we’ll have to roast marshmallows at the bbq one night soon!

The night was filled with a LOT of triathalon talk and all the details of everyone’s races.  For a non-triathlete, I def know a lot of the language, how to “transition” well,  and what’s “good” or “not good” practice.  And not surprisingly, most of them were exhausted and went to bed pretty early again.

Sunday-  This post is getting long, so I’ll make Sunday brief.  They were closing the road for Sunday’s Olympic Tri, so we had two options– leave before 8am or stay until they opened it back up again at 3pm.  We ended up waking up early on our own, so we left early.  It was the right decision.

Turned it into Sunday Fun Day!  We stopped at fun places all along the drive back.  It was still HOT out (mid-80s) so this truly felt like the first weekend of Summer (can’t believe it’s here ALREADY!).

On the drive back….

Outlet Shopping-

Mini Golf:

A street fair with Funnel Cake

Hot tub and a loonnnngg shower

And a few hours of tv.

I slept really good last night– love all the fresh air.  It’s another 80 degree day here and soo nice.

– Have you ever camped before a race?
– Would you choose funnel cake or a softie cone at a street fair?
 – Are any of your significant others super involved with something that you end up supporting?