Charlotte, Loretta, and I did our 3rd triathlon relay this past Sunday. Here are our results:

Caution: This is a looooong post. Read on for (mind-numbing) details…

This one was called the Trimuskokan and it’s held in Huntsville in the Muskoka area, about 2.5 hours north of Toronto. Since it was so far away, we decided to stay there night before.

Charlotte’s husband, Earl, drove us up on Saturday. He was so prepared for us. He packed us each a baggie of cucumbers, 3 huge containers of pre-cut watermelon, and lots of water and Gatorade in a cooler filled with ice. How thoughtful! He should win Husband of the Year! He treats Charlotte like a princess! She always says that she asked God for a husband. God sure knows how to choose husbands! 😄😄😄

The bib pick up was supposed to start at 2pm. However, when we arrived at 2pm, they weren’t quite ready for us yet. I guess that’s Muskoka time! So we decided to check in at the hotel first. We ended up getting connecting rooms – I love connecting rooms! After check in, we were hungry so looked up the #1 restaurant in Huntsville. Even the check-in person at the hotel recommended it so off we went.

The place was called “The little place by the lights” and it was literally the little place by the only set of traffic lights on Main Street in Huntsville. 🤣 I had a lasagne and it was delicious. The others had various types of pasta and everyone was satisfied. After the carbo-loading lunch, we went back to the expo to pick up our bib and swag.

The Race Director gave a very comprehensive orientation about the race and the course. It was much better than last year’s Toronto Triathlon Festival orientation. Afterward, we explored a bit and drove up the mountain to a lookout point. It was a beautiful view.

We also drove the 30km bike course and I couldn’t believe how long and hilly the course was. Charlotte’s leg of the relay is definitely the toughest part of this triathlon! Good thing she is so well prepared and had already biked this route 1.5 times in the two weeks leading up to the race.

After that, we walked the waterfront and along Main Street until dinner time. None of us were really hungry but we ate anyway since there was nothing else to do. We sat on the patio and it was cold so Charlotte asked Earl to bring us blankets and he complied. Poor Earl, instead of just taking care of one Princess Charlotte, he had to take care of all 3 of us!

I had a brisket sandwich with sweet potato fries. It was delicious. I really shouldn’t have had such a heavy dinner but I can’t resist brisket. I always order it when it’s on the menu. It’s my weakness.

Then we went to Metro to pick up some breakfast for the next morning because the hotel breakfast doesn’t start until 7am but we had to be at the race by 7am.

After that, I suggested going to Kawartha ice cream for dessert. More food! They hadn’t been to Kawartha before and the ice cream didn’t disappoint! Everyone loved it. Again, probably not the best thing to eat before a race but oh well! #FOMO #YOLO

Back at the hotel, Loretta and I did a bit of work and chatted until we needed to go to bed. It was really fun to chat and laugh together. It felt like a slumber party, even though we were asleep by 11pm. 😂

RACE DAY (finally!)

I woke up at 5:30am, showered, got changed, and had some Greek yogurt and a banana peanut butter wrap. I wasn’t hungry but ate anyway, just in case.

We left the hotel around 7am and arrived at the race site. After getting our chip and markings, Loretta and I headed to the swim start.

I had to go with Loretta to transport her flip flops from the swim start to the swim finish. I’m glad I did because I got to ride on the train to the swim start. It was a very short ride but fun. 😄

The Race Director gave some last minute instructions and the race started promptly at 8am.

I took Loretta sandals and walked along the riverbank toward the finish line. By the time I got there 9 minutes later, the first swimmer had also arrived – incredible!

Loretta finished in about 19 minutes which was a great time considering she barely trained for the race. I couldn’t swim 19 minutes straight.

After she passed the timing chip to Charlotte, she realized her arm was bleeding. Turns out she had been bleeding out since the beginning of the race when she hit a sign or a rock in the water. So she swam 19 minutes non-stop while her arm was bleeding! Even more impressive!

I got her cleaned up at the medical tent (unfortunately, no one was there but we rummaged through the supplies and found what we needed).

Then Earl drove her back to the hotel to take a shower while I waited for Charlotte to come back from her 30k bike trip.

I expected Charlotte to take 1:15 to complete the route which meant I was expecting her around 9:40am. To my surprise, she came in just before 9:30am. I almost missed her because I went to the washroom and came back just a few minutes before she arrived. Good thing I was there!!

After overcoming my initial shock, I told Charlotte that Loretta and Earl weren’t back yet and that she did great because I wasn’t expecting her so soon. She racked her bike and we transferred the timing chip from her ankle to mine and off I went.

I tried to use my strategy of picking people off, right from the beginning. It was great because I was running on fresh legs while most of the others were doing the full triathlon. So it’s kind of unfair but… whatever! 😄 I even managed to pick off a few relay runners so that’s good.

We had to do 2 loops for 7.5km. There was 1 giant hill and a couple of smaller hills which wasn’t bad. I just kept on telling myself that this was just like any other run and hills training. My goal was to do it in 40-45 minutes. I had checked the times from last year and this seemed like a reasonable goal.

The average time from last year was 2:07 so when I was at around 5km, I was doing runners math and I realized we could beat last year’s average so I pushed even harder. I ended up running it in 38:44 and a total time of 2:07:30, in line with last year’s average!

Post-race, there was an amazing spread of bbq hot dogs and lots of salads. We got our race shirt which was a long-sleeve cotton shirt with a hood – very Muskokan. There were no finisher medals but the winners for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each division received muskoka mugs. How cool!

Because the relay teams were not split into male, female, co-ed divisions, we didn’t win a prize. Maybe next time!

After that, Earl drove us to the waterfront and we ate 2 giant containers of watermelon 🍉 that he had precut for us. The watermelon was so refreshing! Earl FTW!

Overall, I had a great time on this mini runcation. It was so much fun to hang out with girlfriends (and a doting husband). I’m looking forward to many more runcations to come!

Nutrition log:

• Pre-run: Greek yogurt, Peanut butter and banana roll up
• Mid-run: water
• Post-run: sausage, salad, brownie, watermelon