I forgot to put the coffee grounds in the coffee maker when making coffee yesterday morning. It was early, 5:15AMish, still, that was odd. I grinded up the beans, poured them into the jar, poured the water into the coffeemaker, and then walked back to our bedroom. Marion came in a few minutes later and said with a smile, “You forgot to put the coffee in.”

“No way! Yeah, I did!’ I snapped back, stunned and embarrassed that I would make such a silly mistake performing the same mundane task I do every single morning. But then it came back to me, I did put the coffee jar, (which contained the freshly ground, grounds), back into the cabinet before scooping any of them into the coffeemaker, ‘Oh, you’re right. I can’t believe I did that.”

“It’s fine, I fixed it.”

And that was that.

This photo of a really low-res photo, was taken at Lucky Strike Bowling Alley during our company wrap party for Blade Trinity, 8.27.2004.

During our story together, which officially kicked off fifteen years ago today, (August 27th, 2004), Marion has made our morning coffee about eight times. I am usually up first, but also, and we both agree on this, mine is just better.

That little tidbit of inside information is one of the many things we have learned and accepted about each other during our decade and half spent sharing a life together. I clean the house more often, but he is better at it, we are both way too easy on our dogs, (they completely run the show), we wouldn’t want it any other way, and even though we are very similar at our core, (equally sensitive, generous, and hard working), we are polar opposites, too. His idea of “fun” and my idea of “fun” are two completely different things. However, we communicate well, which means even when we argue, (on the four occasions we’ve done it, just kidding), we always reach a resolution that makes us stronger than before.

We knew about one another’s overwhelming passions and career pursuits when we first met, (we met at a VFX house while I was going after my first Boston marathon qualifier, so I knew early on how much his career meant to him, and he knew how much running and achieving endurance goals meant to me), which has often translated to minimal time together, yet all of our time rooting for each other. We could be thousands, or simply a dozen miles apart, but feel like we are side by side. Which is why I was grateful, and slightly surprised to hear him call my name after I crossed the finish line at the Santa Barbara triathlon last Saturday.

“Taryn!!’ I turned around to see a tatted up, flat-brimmed hat, long-side burned, and baggy cargo-shorts wearing spectator call out, ‘Great job!”

“Hey! You’re here!” I replied happy to be across the line, and happy to share this special moment in time with the person who understood most how much it meant to me.

The fact that I started and finished the race in good health, both in body and mind, felt really good.

Really, really good.

I was nervous standing on the beach waiting for our wave to be called, but it wasn’t the anxiety driven nervousness I usually feel on the starting line, it was an excited nervousness that made me appreciate the chance to compete against such strong women, and amazed that my body felt good. At that moment any resentment and frustrated memories from earlier this Summer faded away, I was back, and ready to race.

I didn’t sprint into the ocean because my busted right pinky toe was still tender, and the rocks that met the surf didn’t help, but they did inspire me to start swimming sooner. There were maybe thirty to fifty women in my wave? I’m not sure, but as we turned the first buoy I was out in front of most of them. Wha??? Yeah!! It was awesome! I kept churning my arms at a rapid and consistent rate, aiming to keep my line as straight as possible, sighting regularly, catching, and then swimming past as many feet as possible.

The water felt wonderful, but I didn’t enjoy it for long, because soon enough I was back on my feet running on the beach toward transition.

Before I reached the most gorgeous lady on the racks, Simone, I locked eyes in with my friend and teammate Erika, and yelled out a gleeful, “Woo!”

Erika is an exceptional swimmer, so the fact that I was only seconds behind her was a good sign.

This is the first time Erika and I met at the Carpenteria Triathlon in 2010, she placed 1st in our AG and I placed 3rd. I was fully geeking out in this photo. We have since raced dozens of times together over the years.

I slid out of my wetsuit quickly, happy and relaxed to be finished with the swim, and excited to go hunting with Simone.

The bike course is beautiful, but tricky. Truthfully, I believe it is dangerous.

The roads varied from bumpy/horrible conditions, to newly paved, smooth asphalt, and were all open to traffic, which is normal for most races, but I have rarely been as slowed down, stuck, and on one occasion squeezed off the road all in one race, yet there is always a first.

There were numerous work trucks that crowded the road, their width bleeding over into the narrow bike lanes, making riding next to them impossible, and riding behind them a slow reality. However, the sketchiest part of the ride was at one point a fellow racer that I just passed, (a dude), cut me off as I slowed down to make a sharp right turn at an intersection, causing me to ride into the dirt because there was no place to go since a stack of cars were crowded on our left waiting at the stop sign. I picked him off for good about 200 yards later, and almost yelled at him for making such a dumb move, nearly causing me to crash, but I didn’t want to waste the energy.

Naturally, that sputter in the dirt rattled me a little. I did clip out for a few seconds to get my bearings, but I was fine, and even though I shot back to memories of crashing on a part of this course years ago when I raced at the Carpenteria triathlon, Simone yanked me back to reality, and we quickly went back to work.

Overall, the course was gorgeous, hilly, and honest. I loved it, and felt like I rode smart, but conservatively. The upside to playing it safe was that I had plenty of juice left for my favorite part of the race, the run.

I saw one other bike racked when I jogged into T2 with Simone, nearly a perfect sign; I wasn’t winning, but since our rack was filled with various age groups, I figured I might be leading my new to me, 40-44 age group. Also, I knew as soon as my legs started to turnover anyone I saw on the course, no matter their age, would not be in front of me for long.

I was ready to run.

The run course was a straight forward out and back. We ran uphill on the bike path along the ocean and into a nestled neighborhood for five miles, turned around and ran back to the finish, making it a total of ten miles. Actually, they brought up the finish line about 500ft. from two years ago due to construction, so it was just under the ten-mile mark. My plan was to build into a zippy 7:15-7:25ish min. mi. pace on the way out to the turn-a-around, and then rip it on the way back aiming for 7:00min. mi. (or slightly under), all the way to the finish.

Thankfully, my mangled hammer-toed foot felt better than it had in years during a race, but I haven’t run that hard, (for that long), after swimming and riding hard since racing the Oceanside, 70.3 in early April, so my system was excited, but not really ready for that kind of effort.

I still managed a respectable pace on the way out, slowing to a 7:53min. mi. on the toughest hill, (which included doubling back down a part of the course I feared I cut, because the path veered left, which I followed, but the course jumped right toward the street, so I ran back down the hill about ten yards to round the corner correctly and run on the street). I saw a handful of women in front of me, some were clearly part of the relay teams because they were not wearing tri-kits, and two of them wearing tri-kits were way ahead of me, but a few others were flailing, so I picked up my pace slightly, and shortly gobbled them up.

At the top of the last hill, around mile 6.5, I dropped down to 7:00min. pace for the steeper sections, and tried to hold on as long as I could, but couldn’t quite dip under 7:10min. mi. once I got back on the flat path for the last two miles toward the finish. Honestly, not being able to flip the switch on to Vista speed was disheartening, but trying to was fun.

Just before crossing the finish line I reminded myself that I was diligent about maintaining my new forward-leaning, quicker cadence, and comfy form the entire run, (which will come in handy for the slower/longer marathon distance I will be running at IM Wisconsin), and I was happy with my performance, not satisfied, but happy.

After the ridiculous last few months I have lived through, (pneumonia, wonky foot), I will never take another start and finish line for granted, but I will also never stop trying to improve.

From left, Genn Geiger, Lynne Fiedler, Jenn Aronson, a tall lady, Darlene Savage, and Erika Lilley.

The highlight of the day was spending time with my amazing friends and Team SFQ ladies. The lightening fast Lynne Fiedler won her 55-59 Age Group, the always excellent Erika Lilley, (fresh off the plane from racing IM Sweden a week prior), placed 3rd in our mutual 40-44 Age Group, the San Diego racing maven, Darlene Savage, raced well after taking some time off from injury, my friend Genn Geiger smashed her bike split racing the Aqua Bike, and the InstaStory content Queen, Jenn Aronson, shared the 55-59 Age Group podium with Lynne, finishing in 3rd place.

Meanwhile, I had a very serendipitous result.

When I raced in Santa Barbara two years ago, I placed first in the 35-39 Age Group. Or, thought I did, until I saw in the results that I actually placed 2nd. I was still in transition for the Elite awards, so I was unaware that the woman who beat me, (the very speedy Laura McDonanld), placed 3rd overall, so she was bumped from my age group to receive the overall award. Or, I hope she was.

The following week, and over the following two years, I have felt horrible that I blasted all over social media that I won, when I didn’t. I even traded emails with the race director in an attempt to solve the mystery, offering to give back my faulty award, but they never gave me a concrete answer about what happened. They agreed that she won our age group, but must have forgotten how they dole out the awards, because they never confirmed she received the 3rd OA award, but that was her place, so I really hope she did.

Anyway, I felt ashamed about how I behaved after that race, jetting way too quickly to announce my accolades to the “world” on social media when I should have been patient and waited to see how they all shook out before I posted anything.

I vowed never to act that way again.

CUT TO:

SATURDAY – DAY

RACE ANNOUNCER:

The 3rd place woman overall, finishing with a time of 3:33:48, from Granada Hills, Taryn Spates.

The 2019 Santa Barbara Long Course Triathlon Women’s podium, from left: In 3rd place, yours Truly, in 2nd place, Stacey Stearn, and in 1st place, Ash Dragon.

It turns out I placed 1st in the 40-44 Age Group, but since my time was 3rd overall, they bumped me from the age group awards to accept the OA award only. I was thrilled of course, and not just with that result, but because the agony I wrestled with since 2017 was finally settled. Furthermore, in an awesome twist of fate, since I was bumped out of the AG awards, my friend Erika moved up from 4th place into 3rd place in our age group.

The Santa Barbara Long Course Triathlon F40-44 podium, from left” In 2nd place, Lynn Crossman, in 1st place, Ann McCamey, and in 3rd place, Erika Lilley.

I had a very fun time racing in Santa Barbara on Saturday. It was a great race to shake the rust off and get my feet wet before racing the BIGGIE up next, Ironman Wisconsin. I really don’t know how that day is going to go, it is daunting to think about, but I know for sure that if I cross the start and finish line, no matter how much time spans between them, I will be happy, but I will not be satisfied.

In the spirit of David Goggins, my list is long.:)

The song choice this week is dedicated to both my sweet hub, Marion, and to my love for triathlon, they are both Storybook stories that are still being written.