Tri Girls in the News

Woman discovers rugby after losing 40 pounds

from the Tucson Citizen

Going the Distance - Runner minds her body chasing times & lizards

from the Tucson Citizen

Bryan Lee
Published: 08.06.2007
...Now, mom's labor pains sports-related, next goals are personal best times Eight weeks seemed like an eternity for Holly Justice. "I was injured and couldn't run," she says. "I thought, 'I'm going to lose it.' It's my outlet, it really is." Her love of running continues as she begins training for the Tucson Half Marathon on Dec. 2. But won't all that training, on top of the demands of four children - the youngest at 10 months - drive her crazy? "No, it keeps me sane," says Justice, who will blog for the Tucson Citizen during the next four months while she trains. She'll favor the half-marathon in the interest of her muscles, joints and knees.

Train for Triathlon - Three novice triathletes bring different aproaches to sport

from the Tucson Citizen

Bryan Lee
Published: 05.07.2007
She has always run for fun, and her 13-year-old daughter got her into swimming. "All I needed was a bike," says Alejandra Alvarado. That happened last summer when her boyfriend presented one as a gift. Alvarado, 31, now works out at least twice a week at each sport as she tries to improve her performance as a triathlete. She attempted her first competitive triathlon this spring. "I'm not fast but I had a lot of fun."
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Featured Team - Tucson Tri Girls on the Run

from the Ragnar Rag

On March 30 and the and 31st, the Tucson Tri Girls put away their bikes and their swimsuits and became the Tucson Relay Girls. They brought their team in two vans from Tucson to participate in the 2007 Ragnar Relay Del Sol. Those of you that may have competed against these ladies know that they are fierce competitors and they did not disappoint in this race. They finished in 28:47:47 and placed 2nd in the Open Female division.

The Tucson Tri Girls is a nonprofit organization that started as an informal mailing list in April 2003. Within a few months they grew to 50 members and now have more than 150 members in the club. The team captain, Holly Justice heard about the Ragnar Relay Del Sol from other runners and organized this years team after about 30 people said they were interested. Because of injuries and busy schedules, they ended up with a team of 11 girls that were ready to run. When asked why they decided to run this relay race, Holly said, "we wanted to do something related to running, but weren't quite up to running a marathon. The Ragnar Relay Del Sol sounded like it would be a perfect fit."

Holly spent a ton of time preparing her team for the race. She said that she was on the Ragnar Relay web site at least once a day and was constantly working on the pace calculator as new people joined the team and others had to drop out. They predicted their pace would be 9:30 and finished with a total pace of 9:15. When asked what she would recommend to a new team, Holly said that the best thing she did was know the team's pace so that she could plan the vans and timing and be right on. It took the stress out of the race and made it 24 hours of fun.

When asked what was the most memorable part of the race, Holly told us about their own little "wardrobe malfunction." One of the members of the team was being especially careful when changing her clothes. She always waited until it was dark to change, whereas everyone else on the team just did what needed to be done. She was wearing one of the new running skirts that are really popular to run in. It was the first time that she was wearing it and was really excited. Unfortunately, on her leg, she took the baton in the exchange and took off, without realizing that her skirt wasn't quite in place and left plenty to be seen. The girls on the team that weren't laughing too hard ran and caught up with her and helped to get straightened out, but it will forever be part of the legacy of the Tucson Relay (or Tri) Girls.

So the next time that you are at a Triathlon or other race in Arizona, look out for the Tucson Tri Girls, they will be the ones all decked out in their purple TTG shirts. They are great girls and make for some great friends during the race. We look forward to seeing them at the 2008 Ragnar Relay Del Sol.