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| Entrance to the property |
Geoff's grandmother built the beach house about the time his dad was our age and they have been enjoying it ever since. It is tucked off the road and protected by native greenery. It is the perfect location. The fact that it is about two hours from our house is a huge plus as well.
Friday night was spent on the porch with family, dogs, & good food. No complaints.
Dinner consisted of fresh caught fish, roasted broccoli, and brown rice.
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| Geoff maned the grill. |
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| Tuna & Kingfish |
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| In my top 10 of favorite foods: roasted broccoli |
Although I do not eat fish, Geoff's family is big in salt water fishing and I can appreicate the sport & the freshness of the catch.
Saturday was a day of fishing for the guys and because of that I got to relax on the beach all morning with a good book.
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I am about halfway through "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larsson. My dad gave me the first two novels (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" & "The Girl who Played with Fire") and they aren't books that I would normally pick out for myself but I found that I couldn't put them down. I don't get the oppertunity to read very often but when I am at the beach, I take full advantage.
I am lucky to say that I have a beach loving dog as long as he has a big bowl of ice & umbrella.
After lunch, the fishing crew returned and joined me on the beach. Geoff's cousin took some hillarous pictures of us out in the water with her waterproof camera that I can't wait to share. Just picture dogs in intertubes and on boogie boards :)
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| Recovering from a day on the water. |
The night consisted of more food & drink. Since I had a race in the morning I had to stick to the nonalcoholic variety. Earlier in the day, Geoff and I went to Fresh Market and look what I found:
Root beer sweetened with agave instead of corn syrup or sugar! I was skeptical at first because it was not cheap and it has been years (maybe 5+) that I have had rootbeer but I knew that if I couldn't have the real thing this should hit the spot. It was delicious. I try to stay away from sweetened beverages but I will keep this in mind for the next time I have a root beer craving. I can promise it will be less than five years!
Sunday morning the alarm went off at 4:30am!!! I am used to a 5:15am alarm during the week but anything before 5am is just too early but it was race day!
The Space Coast Triathlon was a 1/4 ocean swim, 10 mile bike & 3 mile run. It was put on by MultiRace and this was my first race with this company but I am signed up for the Miami Man Triathlon (international distance) this November. I was excited to see that they put on a good, well organized race.
Now for the review:
The swim was a quarter mile ocean swim. This was my first ocean swim and I had never done a trainig swim in the ocean. I was given a pink swim cap so that was a plus but not even a pink swim cap could have made the swim easy. The water was a good temperature and the group of ladies I started with were a lot of fun but the water was not as calm as I was hoping. The swim out to the buoy was a fight with the waves but not bad. The swim that was parallel to the shore was rougher then I would have thought. I quickly learned that you couldn't breath to your left without getting a mouthful of salt water. We swam against the current and the waves made it hard to stay on track. The swim into shore was the quickest portion because you had the waves pushing you in. The waves helped until you transition from swimming to running in the water. I ate it.
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| I am somewhere out there... near the back |
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| Finished swim in T-1 |
The bike was a 10 mile up and back on AIA. It was flat and straight. Very basic and nice for a short ride. The road was not closed to cars which gets anoying but there wasn't much traffic at 7:30 on a Sunday morning. This was my first race on my new bike and the bike handled very well. I was undertrained on knowing how fast I could go for the ten miles but I was happy with myself.
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| About to mount |
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| Entering T-2 |
The run was a three mile BEACH run. The last time I checked the website it was a road run. I have never done a beach run and had not trained to run on the beach. When I found out that it was changed (that morning!) I looked up high tide and guess what? It was set for 8:15. This is right when we would be running. The option was to run in the powder-y sand or run at an angel and get wet. Everyone chose the water. I ran with running shoes for the first mile and a half and then took them off and ran just in my socks and carried my water logged shoes the last mile and a half. The only goal I put on myself for the run was to run the whole thing and I did. A lot of people were walking and I knew that I would be disapointed if I walked. Now I can say I have run three miles in the surf in my socks :)
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| Headed to the finish line, shoes in hand. |
Total Time: 01:28:20.14
Swim Time: 11:18
T1 Time: 1:40
Bike Time: 38:13
T2 Time: 0:37
Run Time: 36:33
Overall Place: 197
Gender Place: 63
Category Place: 8
Overall it was a fun race and I am very glad I did it. After the race was over Geoff (who was there the whole time!) said he wished he would have participated with me. He is very strong on the bike and can run well so the next sprint I do I am signing him up :)
The rest of the day was spent on the beach and then we headed home to play catch up on cleaning, laundry & life. Back to reality.
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