Little Miss Runner Pants

so.. while i know i still owe a race report.. and i'll get to it.. i will..

i thought it might be best to post a little sum'n sum'n first for the good of the group.

so.. shall i proceed!?!

i shall.

TO ALL YOU NEWBIE TRIATHLETES OUT THERE...

this is important information for you to know....

when you don't wear your wetsuit for prelonged periods of time...

it. will. shrink.

did you catch that, there!?

SHRINK.
as in get SMALL.
especially around.. the neck.

making it very near impossible... TO BREATHE!

why am i bringing this up now!?!

well....
saturday at bike check-in, Longhorn announced it would be WETSUIT LEGAL!

yayyyyy!

this is not something i was expecting. so i rushed home, elated that i now wouldn't drown, and ran to get my wetsuit out to try it on.

..... a very long time passed by, and...

why the @%#$ can't i get this bitch on!?

i struggled... hardily... for much longer than i ever had before when pulling it on...

and finally when i conceded that my ass was somehow suddenly entirely too huge for me to put it on...
i gave up.

but it will fit tomorrow. i know it will.

....... HA!

*sigh*

being the fantastically bright child that i am, i actually did get the wetsuit on sunday morning... but it was so warm out, that i didn't zip it all the way up until minutes before my wave.

and when i did!!?

oh i am screwed.

even just standing in the wave queue.. i could barely breathe.

i wasn't sure, entirely, what was going on, but i figured it had something to do with nerves.
unfortunately.. that wasn't it.

apparently as a wetsuit dries up, as i stated before... it shrinks. so when i went to dive into the water and.. ya know..

breathe..
that didn't work out so well.

so!?

I FREAKED!

i freaked. i freeeeaked. OH how i freaked.

i pulled at my neckline. i thought about unzipping the back. i tried unzipping the back. i un-did the velcro...

i had a panick attack.

off. off. off. OFFOFFOFFOFFOFF. get it off. get it off. get it off.

oh yeah mamacita... i went bat-shit crazy.
so crazy i even contemplating just calling it quits.

i was full-on in the middle of my panic attack when i looked over and saw a canoe.

i can't breathe. i can't do this for a mile and not breathe. i won't finish. i'm going to drown. i can't breathe. i can't do this for a mile and not breathe. i won't finish. i'm going to drown.....

*ahem*

i think you more or less see how that was going, yeah?!

luckily...
i'm a stubborn bitch.
and i wasn't out to win a damn thing, so.. no way in HELL was i calling it quits.

i eventually pulled myself together, convinced myself i didn't really need to breathe, put my face in the water...

and swam.

about half way through the swim, i realized i was completely fine. i found my rhythm, i stayed relatively on course...

and i swam.

i think i even passed a person or two!

after the race was over i was telling Tammy... (yes, that tammy. your old bloggy friend and mine) about my issues and..

well.... a day late and a dollar short, but.. come to find out...

wetsuits shrink!!

her suggestion to me, and now mine to you.. is that before your race if you haven't worn the suit in a while.. soak it in the tub for a day or two, and let it fill back up with water (expand!).

which would explain why by the end of the race, i felt completely fine.

*sigh*

c'est la vie.

live and learn, right?!

and then? move FORWARD!