Bridgeland Triathlon & Bruno Mars

A little over a week ago I was in the zone while running. You know that feeling that you get when you feel the rest of the world is just a blur around you, and all you hear is your feet hitting the trail and your breathing. Some may call it a "runner's high", but whatever it is, it is the best feeling in the world. I wish I would have felt something during that time though, because I apparently twisted my ankle on a root while I was running. My body blocked out the pain, and I just kept running. 


It was not till later that night that I started to feel the sprain and noticed a significant amount of swelling. At first I thought it was my typical soreness from working out really hard, but after 24 hours of constant pain, I knew that I had injured myself. This was truly my first really injury since I started this journey over a year ago. 


It made me really upset not because it hurt so much, but because I knew I was going to be limited from working out. I did not want to fall back on my training, but it gets very easy when you have to take a break...


Have you ever heard that song by Bruno Mars, "Lazy Day"? It is quite contagious if you are not careful:



This song will have you singing and humming all day long, and before you know it, you were lazy all day long.  Injury breeds laziness in my case.  I sat up because I could not run, bike, or swim and before you knew it, the weekend was here and I had not even attempted to train one time.  I made the excuse that I was injured, but there was much more to it than that.  I was just a little burned out and lazy.  It is time like this that I need a little motivation from my friends and supporters, and I pretty much was able to get it from some of my teammates at the Bridgeland Triathlon.

Sunday morning was here, and I knew that I was not going to be competing in the Bridgeland this year even though it marked the one year anniversary of me crossing a finish line ever in a triathlon.  You always remember your first.  All I can remember from day was how I was so exhausted from the swim, but the cowbells, the cowbells kept me going.  It was so cool.  This time I wanted to see what it was like from a spectators angle, and it was great.

If you have never witnessed a triathlon even as a spectator, I totally recommend that your first experience should be at a sprint triathlon.  They are much shorter and most of the time, you can watch pretty much every leg of the race at the same time if you put yourself in a strategic position.  For the elite athletes, it generally takes about 1 hour to complete the course, so you are not stuck out in the sun all day long waiting for the winner to cross the finish line like you would be in an Ironman event that can generally take all day long.  Of course the Bridgeland Triathlon put on my OnUrMark Productions is arguably the best sprint triathlon in Houston.  Aaron Palaian and the rest of the crew really know how to put on a event.  If you have considered doing a triathlon and just did not know which one should be your first, I highly recommend that you consider the Bridgeland, Houston Triathlon, or the Kemah Triathlon.  They are all hosted by OnUrMark through out the year.  The next race is the Houston Triathlon on Sept 25th.  I will actually be competing in the international distance portion of that race, but they will also be hosting a sprint triathlon as well.

As a spectator, I wanted to show my support to some of the FSR team and Team Shawn's Anomaly racers. Edward Raudez and Garrett Oakley.  This was the first really opportunity to see the team in action, so I was super excited.  Unfortunately, Edward had to drop out at the last minute because of an emergency, but Garrett was still competing, so it gave me a great opportunity to watch and cheer him on.  Garrett and I both got the bug last year at Bridgeland for the first time.  Since then we have both seen a great improvement in out fitness levels and race results.  This was a perfect chance for Garret to see how far he came along from last years race, and he did not disappoint.  Here are his results:

Overall 219
Age Group (25-29 Men's)  27th Place

Swim 9:15.0  (18th)
T1 2:22.4 (62th)
Bike 37:34.2 Avg Speed 23.2 (29th)
T2 1:43.0 (59th)
Run 29:02.3 (33rd)

Total: 1:19:57.0 (27th Place)

Previous Bridgeland Finish 1:34:27.4 ( 0:15:30.0 faster)

Congrats Garrett!!!  You have made Team Shawn's Anomaly proud. 

Ultimately, the Bridgeland Triathlon was perfect for me.  It has got me motivated to get back into training and get ready for the Spring Fall Classic in Wills Point, TX.  I really want to make a good showing since it is where I grew up and it is an inaugural race.  It should be fun!  Maybe I will see some of my old high school friends there.  If you plan on coming, please let me know.  I would love to see you.