Pharmie's 2 FIRSTS: First Sprint Tri and First Tri Postpartum

That's right. Pharmie did her first tri since giving birth to Henry on Sunday! Henry was exactly 12 weeks old. And Pharmie's done a ton of triathlons (roughly 4 Olys, 8 Half Ironmans, and 2 Ironmans), but she'd NEVER done a sprint! We drove to WI so she could race the St. Croix Valley Sprint! So Sunday was a big day for her!

I'll let her tell you all about it from her perspective on her blog (once she posts her race report), so I'll just be sharing some photos and my perspective.

We got to the race and realized we HAD bought milk, but we FORGOT THE BOTTLE for Henry!! So she threw Henry under a blanket and fed him pre-race before setting up her stuff in transition:

She watched Henry for a moment and let me use the bathroom. Even though I wasn't racing, I still took my traditional pre-race porta-potty shot:

Pharmie and Henry pre-race


Henry looking at Pharmie as she said good-bye

She headed to the water and got ready to race. Henry passed out in his stroller, and I just tried to keep it that way! Jerry MacNeil and I chatted as the swimmers hit the water.

Soon, I spotted Pharmie running up the beach!

Running up the stairs to T1


Grabbing her bike and running out of T1

Henry was still passed out. Luckily. He'd wake up momentarily now-and-then, but after I rocked his stroller a bit, he'd fall back to sleep.

Pharmie had hoped to do the short 10 mile bike in 45:00. Yes, that's not fast, but there were 2 issues here. First, she didn't want to put any pressure on herself in her first race back (and rightfully so). Secondly, there's a NASTY climb on the way out on the bike, and the times were going to be slow.

When I saw her coming back in 38:00, I knew it was going to be a great day!! (That means she finished with a 15.7 mph average, but the fastest female only turned in a 19.7 mph average, and the fastest split overall was only 21.5 mph. So it's a SLOW and NASTY bike ride!) Here she is ready to dismount:

After transitioning, she hit the run course with a smile!!

All smiles!


Pharmie in the distance, just a few feet in front of racing-buddy Katie (in white)

I kept checking on Henry, but he was just slept through the whole race! Yay! I chatted with some local race buddies, and before too long, I saw Pharmie in the distance!!

She ran 9:00 miles for that final 4 mile run, and she was SHOCKED! Her fastest miles since giving birth have been 11:00 miles, so she ran by and shrugged her shoulders with a smile saying "I do NOT know where that speed came from!"

This photo makes both of us laugh! You can see
the confused look on her face regarding her fast run!!


Rounding a corner about 1 block from the finish!

Pharmie ended up placing right in the middle of all of the finishers, and was 4th out of 11 in her age group!!!!

She saw Henry was doing OK, so she changed and grabbed her stuff:

A photo with the still-sleeping Henry as we loaded the car

Congrats Hunnie! Nice race!! Can't wait to cheer for you at your 12th straight TC Marathon in 4 weeks!!