Yet another long, but rewarding weekend!

I should be working, but I haven't blogged in awhile. Plus, I'm actually awake for a change, so why not take advantage of the situation? : )

Saturday, I had a lovely 3-hour ride with my pal Sam J. followed by an equally fun 40-minute trail run with her. My legs finally feel back to normal on the bike - in fact, they feel better than they have in a couple of months. Yay! I also cannot say enough good things about Bag Balm. Matt's been using it for years, but I always used BodyGlide or Chamois Butt'R (I'm a sucker for gear/product). But, my lady parts were not loving me on the bike especially when I wore my tri shorts. Bag Balm has turned it all around and I am comfortable and loving it!!

Shortly after getting home, I had to head out to the Greater Cleveland Triathlon (GCT) expo to man (woman?) the Cleveland Triathlon Club tent. I met a lot of nice people and got to see some familiar faces. Good times for sure!

I had a 80-minute run on tap for the next morning, but I couldn't figure out how to fit it in. Matt said he would run with me if we did it super early. So, at 4:50 AM on Sunday, we headed out for about an hour run in the dark. Luckily, neither of us fell, but Matt couldn't breathe all that well, because he had bruised a couple ribs in a fall the previous day (check out his blog on this), so we ran at a nice, slow pace. Didn't matter. It was just nice to be getting my run out of the way and spending some adventurous, quality (some might say crazy) time with my hubby.

We then headed to the GCT to volunteer. I finally got to meet IronG2015 and really enjoyed cheering for her all day - check out her blog for her first triathlon race report ever! Welcome to triathlon G!

Matt and I started out as pointers for swimmers exiting the beach. At one point, I had to assist a girl to the medical tent, because she got kicked in the ribs during the swim and thought at least one was broken.

After the swim gig, I was on to the transition area. Pam assigned me the job of identifying the lead male/female for each distance and then running from the bike entrance to the run exit to tell the mountain bikers when to take off for their pacing job. While waiting, I got to do some more cheering and assisted our CTC president with the bike dismount line.

Finally, the half-IM man and woman were out on the course, so I could join Matt at our run aid station just past the run exit (also doubled as the half-IM turnaround point). Unfortunately, I had missed many of the sprint and International distance runners, but got to see all of the half-IM people. DaisyDuc completed her first half-IM in just over 5:43. That girl rocks! My pals Jodi and Paula did the aquabike and both did extremely well as expected.

My wonderful massage therapist, Kristen, came out to help us at the aid station and her help was much appreciated. I had half-jokingly asked her to help out and she took me up on the offer. She worked for nearly 6 hours and I think enjoyed watching all the runners go by. I've talked her into doing a 5k with me in October and I know she is nervous, but she will be just fine. Now, if I could only talk her into wearing a costume while racing (it is a Halloween run)! : )

I really like the GCT, because I know so many of the participants and am friends with the race director. He has really done a good job at making this a classy event. It was my first half-IM ever and you never forget your first. ; ) Volunteering was wonderful too, because I got to assist so many people like I have been assisted in the past. I didn't stop moving from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM, but it was well worth it. If you ever get a chance to volunteer, definitely do it. As a racer, it definitely lends perspective to the whole thing.

Overall, an exhausting, yet rewarding weekend! Next weekend, we hit the wineries for more good times!