Giant Acorn International Triathlon

Last Sunday we did our first Olympic distance triathlon (1 mile swim, 24 mile bike and 6 mile run) in the heated waters of Lake Anna. The water in the part of the lake that we swam is used to cool a power plant (nuclear?) so it always stays 6-10 degrees hotter than the rest of the lake. So when people come out of the lake with a glow about them its not just because they are happy to have finally finished what felt like a never ending swim. It was an early morning as we woke up at 5:45am packed up our gear and drove two hours to Lake Anna to run one of the last tri's of the season. This is our 3rd time doing the Giant Acorn, but the first time doing the Olympic distance, since we have been doing sprints (half the Olympic distances). The weather was great. Sarah had a great race, though she might have finished last in the swim... but she now knows which part to really work on. She actually got yelled at by the guys in the canoes to stick closer to the buoys instead of heading out to sea. She finished in 3 hours and 26 minutes. I had a good swim, good bike but a miserable run since I cramped up 2 miles in and forgot to put my goo in my back pocket for replenishment. I had to stop and stretch and the rest of the run was managing pain. I finished in 2 hours and 50 minutes. We had a great time and look forward to doing more tri's. Next time I'm going to carry Eli across the finish line.