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Well, as many of you know, I have had a very crazy past couple of weeks!  It all started about 4 weeks ago when I was minding my own business, riding my tri bike on the trainer and watching one of my favorite shows when I hear an ominous “CRACK!”  My right extension was suddenly very wiggly and my heart sank.  The bracket connecting my extension to my base bar had cracked in half.  I took my bike to a few shops in the Lansing area, but no one was able to fix it.  My bike trouble quickly slipped my mind when we took my retired racing greyhound, Angel, to the MSU Vet Hospital on Memorial Day for what we thought was the equivalent of a sprained ankle.  She had already been to our own vet with no improvement and, with the holiday, enough of us were home to transport her to the vet (she doesn’t do that great in cars… greyhounds have long legs that don’t balance very well in cars!).  After 7 hours of waiting due to numerous critical cases (what the heck are people letting their pets do on holidays?!), we finally got a diagnosis: cancer.  I took the next day off work (thanks to the amazing people I work with!) to sign off on testing, meet with the oncologist and meet with the surgeon.  You can’t ask for a better place for your pet than MSU, they are really fantastic and have helped us through this difficult process.  On Wednesday her back left leg was amputated.  I saw her briefly on Thursday morning before flying to New York for a Psychiatry Leadership Conference.  On Friday while running trails in New York I rolled my ankle and limped/jogged the almost 3 miles back to my hotel.  Yeah.  It hasn’t been a great time. 

Things FINALLY turned around a couple days before the race.  After spending the beginning of the week driving back and forth to my parents’ house (30 minutes away from where I work) during my lunch breaks and whenever I could get out early to care for Angel, things turned around!  On Friday she suddenly decided “I’m good” and started walking, getting up and moving around the house without making the horrible yelping noise that rips my heart apart because I can’t do anything to help her.  On Saturday, I took my tri bike to Village Bike & Fitness with the plan to leave it there for a while to get fixed.  Their amazing mechanics blew my mind when they said they could have it done before close that day!  What?!  Things were looking up! 

Race morning always seems chaotic, especially when my Garmin 910XT suddenly decided to go on strike.  Good thing I have so many triathlon friends with support crew families!  Todd Buckingham’s dad, Tim, let me borrow his Garmin and saved my day!  He probably didn’t know how much I sweat and snot and such during a race…  Before I knew it, it was time to race!  After looking over the start list, I knew it was going to be a competitive and fast race, but I hadn’t realized how fast it would be!  The gun went off and the women tore out onto the course.  I took off after the first group, trying my best to stick on some feet, but just couldn’t hold the pace.  Two women were swimming in a line next to me and I decided to hitch a ride and fell into the line.  I held on to those feet for most of the swim, but then we turned back toward shore and into a blazing ball of fire known as the sun.  I couldn’t see ANYTHING.  About halfway to shore I realized the feet I had been following were going off course, so I adjusted my line and took off on my own.  One of the women also realized the change and we swam side by side into the swim exit and into T1.  And into the bike! 

I later found out her name was Kate Vermann and we rode the entire bike in sight of each other.  I would pass to take the lead and, just when I thought I had dropped her, she would pass me.  When I talked with Kate after the race, she said the same thing about me!  It was a great way to push each other through the bike!  During the last 6 miles or so of the bike, I started to feel my legs and back aching not from fatigue, but from being cramped into an aero position that I was no longer used to.  4 weeks without a tri bike is a long time and I had been riding very upright on my road bike or my mountain bike.  Thankfully, transition was not very far away!

Following close behind Kate Vermann into transition

I transitioned as quickly as I could without forgetting something and tore out onto the run course.  I wanted to start off fast with the hope of getting a lead over the women behind me, including my biking buddy.  The first two miles went well and I ran a great pace, but I could feel my right quad starting to hint that it was going to cramp.  And the long downhill didn’t do anything to help with that!  Thankfully I was able to keep running through the turn around and back to home.  I saw I had a lead of about a minute on Kate, but I had no idea where I was in the finishing order.  Apparently, neither did the race officials!  I managed to hold that pace and came into the finishing chute to see the green banner being pulled across the finish.  Shortly after crossing, the woman who had actually won (professional triathlete Drue Orwig) let the race officials know and they let her repeat crossing the finish line so she could grab the banner.  Didn’t really matter to me, I was ecstatic about finishing 2^nd and with my best time since my second hip surgery!  This was the first race in a LONG time (my 2^nd hip surgery was in the fall of 2014) that I felt strong on the run and I really loved and appreciated the comments on Facebook and from friends that I looked strong!  I was feeling it! 

Running toward the finish for my best Olympic time (2:12:46) since my 2nd hip surgery!

And now for my favorite part, the congrats to my fellow racers!!  I saw lots of Oak Park Blue out there and loved all the cheering, even though I was too out of breath to do much more than smile and wave.  I loved seeing my Stellafly teammates as well and MAN, that uniform looks GOOD!  And of course, Playmakers was representing!  My training partners also had a fantastic day!  My very bestest training parter, partner in crime and best friend, Sara Dumich, (who I may have dragged into triathlon) finished her first EVER triathlon!   She had a great race in the sprint, now all we need to do is work on that open water comfort! 

Hanging with Sara after the race, she earned that medal!

Abby Johnson took 2^nd woman overall in the sprint, which was her first on-road triathlon since coming out of “retirement.”  Abby’s partner in crime, Kyle Snell, also had a great race in the spring.  My two Todds took 2^nd and 3^rd with Todd Buckingham finishing a mere 14 seconds behind the incredibly speedy Louis and my hubby Todd Kennedy looking solid in his first Oly of the season. 

Best triathlon crew a girl could ask for!  From left to right: Kyle, Abby, Todd B, me, Todd K and Sara!  For the record, it was Todd B's idea to go boy, girl, boy, girl haha!

The season is just getting started and I am so excited!  Big things coming up this year with some more off road triathlons, Age Group Nationals and my first Ironman in October!  Ah!!!  I better get this stupid ankle healed up!  Happy training!