Dip Dashing Away...

Yesterday was the inaugural Dip and Dash event in Santa Cruz. It was a 750 yard swim at Cowell's Beach followed by a 4 mile run. And, guess what? Yours truly got 2nd Place in my Age Group. Though, truth be told, there were only two people in my age group. But I will TAKE it. Yeah baby!

Anyways, I don't really have a huge race report for this one. But here are some tidbits and random thoughts:

1. Because it was a small race, they didn't order t-shirts. Some people have beef with this. For the most part, I am pretty ambivalent about race t-shirts. The mermaid events have the best t-shirts, with nike 1/2 marathon coming in at 2nd. Realistically, I will probably be selling my race t-shirts at a garage sale for 5 for a quarter. Plus, the race organizers gave away water bottles in the goodie bags. This is way more beneficial to me seeing as I have probably lost 20 water bottles in three years. It has gotten to the point where my husband has a secret stash of water bottles so I can't lose his. For some reason I lose socks, water bottles, and sunglasses.

2. I swam in the ocean without panicking (much). I think my issue is the cold water and trying to breathe. I need to make it a point to spend time in the water 15 minutes before a race to acclimate better. But when I first jumped in my breathing was out of control and I started getting that familiar panicky feeling of "I need to get outta here NOW." But I somehow managed to push through it.

3. For some reason I thought a 4 mile run would be a great opportunity to try running without socks. Um, blister city, population: my feet. My run was brutal because my feet were on fire. DUMB DUMB DUMB.

4. This is going to sound silly, but, during the race we were running on the sidewalk so people were watching us run. I overheard one woman say to another, "There must be some sort of marathon going on." It just really bugs me when people just think a marathon is ANY distance. IT'S NOT. And people, a TRIATHLON involves (a majority of the time) SWIMMING. There are have been quite a few times where I tell people, "I did a triathlon in Santa Cruz." And then they are shocked when I say there was swimming. I don't know why it bugs me, but it does.

5. Post Race Festivities: Bloody Mary's at Ideal Cafe for Brunch and a ride on the Big Dipper. Just awesome.

6. Also, I think more events need to be on Saturdays. It is just kind of a bummer to go back to the real world the next day.

7. On Saturday, I put a race day countdown app on my Facebook page. Is it really 55 days till Big Kahuna? Seriously?

Next on the agenda: Splash and Dash 1 mile swim on Sunday at Uvas. Then in a week, it is a (gulp) Olympic Distance Triathlon.