Wedding (Cow) Bells

What does one do with a wedding at the end of the summer and a trip to age group nationals just 3 weeks before that?  One combines the bachelorette weekend with a triathlon.  

The weekend after nationals was the Cranberry Tri Fest.  A and I were registered as swimmers in Sunday's olympic distance on team with some friends from my work.  While R and L (and R's boyfriend D) were all registered in Saturday's sprint distance.  Both R and D's first triathlons.

When I suggested combining the two events, A was thrilled or at least feigned it well.  She found a little bed and breakfast in Plymouth about 30 minutes from the course that we basically took over for the weekend.  We headed down Friday night for a quiet, but lovely dinner, then got up early Saturday morning for racing and cheering.  I had signs and cowbells that I had bought especially for the race, really nice cowbells, and yes, the quality does matter.  I've gotten blisters from poorly designed cowbells in the past.

R was a little nervous about hitting the water, but D had take no prisoners attitude.

Every one made it through with smiles, at least by about 20 minutes after the race, if not the finish line.  Then there was brunch, naps, a little running, then it was time for the bachelorette festivities.  After a few party games and gifts, much delicious cheese (my friends know me so well) and some champagne, we headed out for dinner on the water, followed by partying in Plymouth.

I'd never been to Plymouth.  But it's got a cute downtown waterfront area, and a few bars I'd scouted on my run earlier.  But none seemed to be happening.  As we walked down the street, we heard, what I thought was karaoke, but turned out to just be a local cover band (!)  We head in, and we are easily some of the youngest crowd there.  Many, many 65+ year old ladies came over to congratulate me and a few to warn me away.  We danced and belted out the lyrics, and I got exactly one free drink, from one of the aforementioned ladies.  I think Paul was a little worried that there might be many dudes, but nope, there was nothing to stress him.  I think we headed back to the b&b around 11:30pm.  Really, it was a perfect evening:  great friends, good food, lots of songs every one knows, and still in bed at a reasonable hour for our races the next day.  My kind of party.

The swims went well.  Andrea's team beat my team, but I had a super fast swim (faster than nationals) that I was very pleased with.  Maybe not the average bachelorette party, but it was absolutely perfect for me.  And I was so grateful to have such wonderful friends to celebrate with.