A Green & Pink Weekend

Several months ago I ordered a new car – a 2011 Ford Fiesta hatchback, and I took possession last Saturday. So far, I’m generally pleased with it, although a visit to my local bike store was required to properly fit my old bike rack onto the new car. The car’s most unusual feature is its color – “metallic lime squeeze.” Yes, I have a car that looks like a lime. Because limes make me think of margaritas, and this car seemed like it should have a name, I considered calling it “Margy” or “Rita.” But then a friend referred to it as “Little Limeade,” and that may be the name that sticks. Of course, foregoing the lime theme, there’s “Dumpling,” because the car also resembles a Granny Smith apple.

The pink part of the weekend was the Pink Power Sprint on Sunday. It was also my birthday and my daughter’s present to me was that she came for the race, and did it. This is the first year she’s done triathlons, and it’s been fun to share the experience with her.

My specific goal for the race was to be faster than last year, and I was. My swim time would have been even better if I could have climbed out of the pool quicker, but I was pleased to see that a year of Master’s swimming has improved my performance.

The bike course didn’t seem as difficult as last year, and I took several minutes off my previous time, maybe because I have a different bike, I trained more, or both. Even so, I wasn’t able to catch up with my daughter, who was a few minutes ahead of me on the course. (We learned later that my actual ride time was about 20 seconds faster than hers, but she’s a better swimmer and was quicker in T1.)

C. and I had thought we might do the run together, but she started before I did and stayed about a half mile in front. My pace for the first two miles was on target, but mile 3 is the hilly part and I walked more than I should have. Even though my time was faster than last year, I was still disappointed to be slower than I’d expected. The final lap around the soccer field was great, though. C. had waited for me at the edge of the field so we could cross the finish line side by side.