Jenison Triathlon
Last Saturday my husband and I traveled back to his hometown, Jenison, to compete in the first Jenison Triathlon. Although this was the first year for the race, there was a good amount of prize money being offered to the overall finishers so of course the top racers came out! Walking through transition it was fun to see all the awesome bike setups!
When I came back from my bike warm up, I was excited to see some familiar faces. Two of my teammates from the MSU Collegiate Nationals team were there, Kate Vann and Jamie Endicott. Unfortunately for Kate, she was racing with a week’s worth of strep throat! She promised me she could swim fast and promised I could have the stop behind her feet in the swim, which happens to be my favorite place to be!
At 8am we got into the surprisingly chilly water, it was a fairly small lake but it was only 62 degrees. I was glad I had a long sleeved wetsuit! It was a very cool swim course for the fans because we swam right next to fenced in dock. I stayed right on Kate’s feet and we worked our way through the back of the men’s wave. Kate and I exited the water together and cheered each other on through transition.
I had a slower transition than I would have liked, but it did the job and soon I was on my awesome new Felt DA and headed through the neighborhoods to the hills. The course wasn’t really typical of Michigan, instead of rolling hills it was more long and gradual hills. Unfortunately I had not counted on the cross wind! With a full disc on the back and a 1080 on the front, I was getting blown around pretty badly. This made for a tough bike as my concentration kept getting broken whenever I was thrown sideways. But my new bike felt really amazing and was good enough for the fastest bike of the women.
My transition off the bike went clean and quick and I was excited for the run. After the hills of the bike, I was really looking forward to the flats of the run. I pushed my run pace hard from the beginning and focused on a fast cadence. In the last mile a guy that I was slowly gaining on glanced back and yelled “What age group?” I called back “I’m a girl!” and he started laughing and said “You’re a beast, go get ‘em!” His encouragement helped me push the pace all the way to the end for my best 5k time in a triathlon of 19:15 and first overall woman!
It is always so much fun to race on the west side of Michigan! I love racing with my Striders teammates Kattie Carpenter-Rosa, who finished 2nd overall, and Jimi Minnema, who finished 1st overall. And of course it is always awesome to see my MSU teammates! Kate’s strep throat gave her quite a bit of trouble on the run, but happily she won the raffle for a new tri bike! Jamie also did fantastic and finished 4th overall. And my husband, Todd Kennedy, didn’t do too shabby either and started his season with a 4th overall finish as well. It was a well run race with a fun and challenging course, along with some prize money to keep fueling my triathlon habit! I will definitely be coming back next year!
Although I am nursing a minor shoulder injury right now, which was incurred during my Friday swim workout, I’m training hard for the next race! In a week and I half I’m competing in the very first triathlon I ever did, the Hawk Island Triathlon. And a short week later I’m racing my first Olympic distance triathlon since Collegiate Nationals, the Grand Rapids Triathlon. It will be a crazy next couple of weeks, but it will certainly be a lot of fun!
