Panama City Beach, FL & Gulf Coast triathlon

Off on another adventure - this time to Panama City Beach, FL!  My first visit to the panhandle - and I really enjoyed it.  Warm weather, sunny skies, and beautiful beaches always increase the enjoyment factor too :)

We flew to FL to do the Gulf Coast Triathlon - 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run.  We did a practice swim on Friday (race was Saturday), and the water was flat, warm, and perfect.

It looked like this the day of the race...  My swim wave went off at 6:25 am, and the waves were 3 feet.  It was not easy to get past the surf & out into the ocean.  But I thought once I got past the surf, the ocean would settle down.  Not so much.  It was a hard day at the office.  I love swimming in the ocean, so was never scared.  It just took a long time to get anywhere, as the ocean just pushed you around.  HIGHLIGHT:  Just as I passed the last buoy & was heading to shore - 2 dolphins swam right under me (were probably 6-8 feet below me)  Coolest triathlon moment ever!!

Once again - Red flag day of the race (warming swimmers of high surf & dangerous conditions)

Beautiful, calm waters the day before.  Shoot!  Oh well, it was definitely an experience.  

We did finish the race!    The bike was flat & windy.  The wind was manageable until the final turn down Front Beach Road.  And then all he## broke loose.  Not kidding - 30 mph winds were blowing you all over the road.  A storm squall came through - high winds & rain.  Those last 6 miles on the bike felt like a life time.  I was never that scared on a bike before.  Chris saw a couple guys get blown completely off their bikes - yowzah!  Glad it wasn't me.

The run was flat, with a lot of turns, so pretty good.  My feet felt like cement blocks for the first mile.  Fortunately, that wore off, but I didn't pick up much speed.  I just trucked along.  They had aid stations every mile - the volunteers were so awesome.  So I would walk those - drinking gatorade & dumping water over my head (the storm had passed; the sun was in & out)

Medal & Race #  (felt like a pro - with such a low number :))  There were around 900 competitors.

Chris had a great race too.  His swim was longer, since he started 40 minutes after me.  His waves were 5 footers - the water got progressively worse as the day went along.  His bike was good & run was about like mine.  He now has a horrible cold, so he was harboring that during the race.  He was wondering why he couldn't run any faster...

Highly recommend the Gulf Coast Triathlon!  They fed us breakfast on Friday morning; fed us lunch after the race; and had a huge party (can anyone say free beer) on Saturday night!  Wowzer!  Definitely our favorite race of any that we have done (and we raced a lot of different races - west & east coasts)  This race is really racer friendly.  This is also the Ironman Florida course, with some changes:  2 loop swim instead of 1; bike course goes out the same way, then meanders through the countryside - flat flat flat (and somewhat boring); 2 loop run instead of the 1 that we did.

Chris at the Spinnaker beach club after party

The beach club.  We unknowingly had dinner here on Thursday night.  No idea that our race party would be here after.  Guess we picked a good spot :)

Awards went 10 deep, so I actually won something (7th out of 48 in my age group)  That doesn't happen very often, so a pleasant surprise.  If I had known I was that close, I would have pushed it on the run, instead of just my usual IM pace.  Oh well, lesson learned. (I'm the short one in the middle )

Now back in New England - already wishing I was on vacation again :)  Amazing how my attitude changes.  If we could only 'always' be on vacation...

'da bean

Probably one of my biggest 'oops' was rescuing Pinto (affectionately known as The Bean), the barn kitten.  She's quite the menace & definitely fits the phrase - "You can take the cat out of the barn, but you can't take the barn out of the cat" 

But she has started to grow on us...

Here she is - taking over Toules bed

When she's not trying to eat Toules' food, or disturb his sleep - they actually get along pretty good.  Every morning they sit by the front door & watch the traffic & birds.

She is learning to cuddle better

Twix, our Siamese doesn't care for her.  Bean mostly wants to play, but Twix is 10 and just doesn't want to be bothered.   And bean is learning that - so she bothers her even more.  ha ha

Recently, she discovered the joys of water.  She loves to splash it around.  What a mess!  But I have to give her something to play in - otherwise, she splashes their drinking water out all over the floor.  Not good.

So, even though she was & probably still is an 'oops' - she is part of the family & we love her.

Fort Taber walk

Went for a Sunday drive in the Red '34 & stopped at Fort Taber for Toules.  We've been neglecting his weekend walks lately.

Fort Taber park is beautiful.  A lot of green grass; a very cool fort; lots of Memorial dedications; a huge pier; a nice museum; ocean; beach; etc etc etc

Watching a fishing boat come back into the harbor

Toules enjoyed the beach the best, because we let him off leash.  He was moving too fast to get any good pictures of him.

Vegas trip & 2 races in 2 days!

Chris was in Vegas for a convention, so I flew out on a Thursday night in April & joined him.  It was sunny & warm - love it!

Hanging at Mirage Pool

Always fun to walk through the hotels.  We are not big on gambling - so we do more walking.

Aria

New York New York

Venetian

The Strip

Always enjoy palm trees & sunshine!

We had a race on the schedule (were actually supposed to do New Orleans 70.3), so Chris found some alternatives

1st stop - bike shop to rent some bikes.  Love this shop!!

Saturday morning - Rage triathlon.  It was a short distance (1 mile swim; 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run), so we used rental bikes.  The swim was in Lake Mead - and it was clean refreshing & awesome!

I didn't prepare well, (didn't take salt tablets for the heat), and my legs cramped on the run.  I had a great swim & bike - and just an 'ok' run. 

Chris did great!  One of his best finishes ever - fast swim, bike, and run!

Me on the bike

Chris at the finish line.   It was hot - 99.  There were about 1200 competitors, so a nice crowd.

After the race, we visited Hoover Dam, since it was only 5 minutes away.

Very cool bridge.  My first time seeing the new bridge.

Sunday - 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles) in Lovell Canyon.

Beautiful, but tough course ( 6.5 miles uphill, then 6.5 miles back down)

Our legs were sore - but we did it!  At altitude too.  Started at 4,500 & ran up to 7,500 feet above sea level.

We also won our age groups!  It was a small turnout - but there were still more than just us in our age groups.  We were happy, since we were running on sore legs!

Back to Vegas nightlife & finally able to really relax and enjoy some shows!

BYC fun events

We attended a few events at the yacht club in April (other than my zillion meetings).  The first was Carole Cronin - from the US Olympic Team (not 2012).  It was very interesting to hear her talk about her Olympic experience.   Chris & I both really enjoyed it!

She had great videos too!

We also had the yearly commissioning (official start to the sailing season)  It was a cloudy day - but everyone was excited to open the season!  This is a photo of our 2012 officers.

The flags are up! (it wasn't that dark - I was taking the picture from the porch & I guess the overhang made it seem so much darker)

We also had  a wine tasting event.  It was a huge success! 

Everyone brought in appetizers, to offset the wine.

The past few Saturdays - it was literally:  get up, bike, run, and head to the yacht club.  Fun, but we aren't getting anything done at home.  Like the fun stuff - cleaning & mowing the yard - ha ha!

Good day to wash some vehicles!

A beautiful weekend day - so we washed 3 cars.  The Land Rover & the FJ Cruiser

And the 1937 Ford Phaeton

Time for Roadster's interior!

Taking the Roadster to get the interior done!

Chris driving it into the work shop

Chris & Fred discussing colors

Hope to have it home again soon!