Oh and its also organized by my friend and fellow +CCC10k blogger Lisa McCombs of Tri Our Adventure. Go check out her blog, you will LOVE it and she is also an amazing Tri Coach if your looking for someone to take you to the next level. Lisa is your girl...
So when we get to Biloxi it was raining, however I wasn't too worried about it because I was about to get into Traditions Lake and swim 1/3 of a mile for my relay team. So getting wet was not a big deal to me. I also was there to meet up with my relay team whom I had only met our cyclist, John, a couple times and had never met our runner, Nicole. We were put together by Lisa, so I was super excited to meet them. I met up with Nicole at the registration tent.
LOVED her! I go to quite a few events during the year where I meet new people. There are those few people you meet that you instantly have a connection with and Nicole was one of those people. She is a mom of 4 and a speedy runner. We talked a lot about her transition into the tri world next year and I can tell she is going to be one of those people that is going to kill it. Look out you guys, shes coming...
The race started at 8 am, so I knew I needed to get ready with my wetsuit on and get to the swim start. John's wife, Shental was there to hang out with me before the start. She is such an amazing motivator...
It was almost time for us to line up and hit the water. They had decided this year to do a self seeded swim start. They had "corrals" based on your own estimated swim time so you just lined up behind that time.
I had never swam in Tradition Lake so I decided I would line up in the 10-12 minutes group. It was a 615 yd (1/3 mile) swim. I knew I could easily swim that in under 10 at the pool, but this was my first open water swim of the season, so I played safe with my time. (Sorry so blurry) They were letting one person in at a time, it was a great way to enter a swim start.
Finally it was my turn to hit the water and the temp was great. I could have prob swam without the wetsuit and really wish I would have. I ended up having to unzip it halfway through the swim because I couldn't breathe very well. YIKES! Not to self if the wetsuit feels too tight, ditch it, LOL!
After what felt like a pretty decent swim, I emerged out of the water pretty happy...
and headed to the bike transition...
They have it set up that you come out of the water in the same place you enter the water, so you run about 150 meters to the bike transition. Since I was on a relay team and was just swimming, my part was done. It was now Johns turn to ride the 17 hilly miles around Traditions Village...
John is an amazing athlete. He is just fearless and it is so inspiring.
John had a great ride even after he realized he lost his back brakes, he still stayed on track and kept going. #boommmmm. He the passed the timing chip to Nicole who was ready to run her 3 mile course to the finish...
She was running really strong. Apparently the course goes off into a trail for a minute. Be prepared for that if you decide to the race next year.
She brought our team home with a really strong finish...
I loved doing the relay option of races. Not only is it a great way to experience a part of the race, but also a great way to hang out with new and old friends,
Loved having my kiddos there with me to cheer me on. Unfortunately my husband had to work so we flew solo. But they were great race support...
After the race was over we headed to the finish line party and WHOA it was amazing. They had food from Newks, including awesome sandwiches...
and an amazing salad...
They also had Southern pecan beer and Michelob Ultra, OH and the most amazing Frozen Pink Lemonade Pie from Murphy's that was to die for...
After the awards were given out which were a super cute coffee cup painted by the W.J.Quarles Elementary School kids...
Super cute! They had a ton of raffle prizes. Each athlete got 1 raffle ticket in their packet and then you could buy more at the finish line. They were giving away running shoes, race entries, goggles, tshirts, sunglasses, fuel packs, and even a brand new tri bike. CRAZY! All of the proceeds went to the Ansley's Angels charity, which matches athletes with a child that would not be able to participate in the event without the help of their group of angels.
They actually started the @ccc10k race last weekend in New Orleans...
Of course I didn't win anything in the raffle :( However Nicole managed to snag her a Battleship 12k entry from yours truly :)
Overall the Traditions Tri is a must do race next year. I am actually thinking about doing the entire thing myself. It was just an overall FUN day even in the rain.
IF you want to check out the Traditions Tri you can find them at www.traditionstri.com. And like them on FB for updates about next years race.
Do you have a favorite small race or tri?
This was my own personal review, no compensation was given. As always all opinions are my own!
