more positives from failure

Keep thinking of more things that were good about trying the race Sunday:

• No new blisters! Well, other than from the flip flop run.
• Doing a race with so much walking between parking/transitions was good practice for hauling stuff from hotel to IMLOU transition.
• I'm now out to my neighbors as a triathlete-type, which helps my goals feel more real. Got body-marked at check-in on Saturday, thinking, "why not, I don't have anywhere to be," forgetting the neighbor's birthday party that afternoon – what a tool.  But it turns out that, with my pre-race goof, the wait to get marked on Sunday would have been the difference between making it to the start or not.
• Got a pair of compression socks at the expo. 
• Swam in conditions that cannot possibly be replicated at Louisville, but if they are, I'm ready.
• Learned the swim is not my weakness.
• Witnessed the reason I safety pinned my chip strap. 
• Learned all my sustained efforts on the trainer did in fact transfer to climbing hills.
• Learned my bike position is sustainable.
• Discovered race excitement does not last for more than about 15 miles of the bike ride.
• Practiced water bottle hand-offs. I was really nervous about those.
• Got to test some of my nutrition plan.
• Got to test my night before and race morning routines.
• Was very impressed by the race staff and volunteers. 
• Was inspired by the IronKids race going on during check-in. Those kids knew how to suffer.
• Learned I need a different helmet (already taken care of), which would have been a very silly lesson to learn in an Ironman.
• Am still proud of finishing that swim, like floating-on-air proud.  
• Marked almost everything off my list as far as gear needed to race and train outside.
• Got in 40+ miles of practice riding in traffic with frustrated farmers buzzing by (can't blame 'em, we were so spread out).
• Learned Coppertone Water Babies Pure & Simple 50 SPF (has to be the Pure & Simple, the regular stuff is crap) gets the freckled, red-haired, swim- and sweat-proof stamp of approval.
• Learned I will still carry a tiny tube of sunscreen on the bike just to alleviate any worries.
• Saw someone only 3 minutes faster than I was on the swim get a Vegas slot. How cool.
• I'm not usual googly about celebrities, but saw what a neat sport this is to be able to mingle with elite athletes.
• May have finally succumbed to one excuse for quitting, but persisted through so many more before that point.

So, that's probably a wrap on Kansas 70.3. I need to put my energy into looking forward now, and I'm actually pretty excited to tackle my weaknesses, now that I know what they are.