The Battling Bloggers Can Tri

So much for running this past weekend.

Our newly-minted Austinite Jessica Alexander hit the roads on Saturday, May 17 with a pair of running personal bests, then topped it off with a season-opening triathlon on Sunday, May 18.

Meanwhile, nearly half of the inaugural Battling Bloggers were in Pearland on Sunday morning, but it was Sarah Graybeal, Cassie Mondragon and Katy Lampson who completed a triathlon as well.

Seven Hills Running Club president Niki Bellnoski, 20, was the second overall female - and 12th overall - at Katy's Sunrise Rotary 5K on Saturday, May 17. She finished in 20:56 - a 6:45 per mile pace - behind Katy Seven Lakes junior Jacqueline Alnes, 15, who won in 20:21.

In the state's capital city, Alexander posted a dazzling effort of 6:42 in the Congress Avenue Mile, good for fourth in her age group, before toeing the starting line at the untimed Lone Star 5000. She converted the rising 10:30 a.m. heat into energy to blaze her way to a new personal best of 23:16.

Now that the running was out of the way, it was "tri time".

And as the Battling Bloggers tri veteran - Graybeal - at the Silverlake Sprint Triathlon showed the two rookies how things were done.

For now, she quickly admitted after the race.

Graybeal, 30, finished third in the Athena Division -- just 49 seconds from the top spot and 22 out of second -- in 1:14:15 over the 400-meter swim, 10-mile bike and 3-mile Pearland course.

In her third triathlon of the season, Mondragon, 29, was second among TIR teammates in 1:17:16 while the true rookie, Lampson, 33, the pride of Huntsville, completed her first water-borne adventure in 1:19:18.

You can read Graybeal's race report here.
You can read Mondragon's race report here.
You can read "Buoy-to-Buoy" Lampson's report here.

That same morning, Alexander was making her way to New Braunfels for the 2nd annual Skeese Greets Women's Triathlon.

In the event which featured a 300-meter swim, an 11.1-mile bike ride and a two-mile run, she was 20th in her age group out of 72 finishers as she finished in 1:12:34.

Jessica's race report can be read here.