So originally this trip was a group of 5 girls (including me) all going to FL for a girls trip/triathlon. Along the way we lost a few and it ended up being me, Ashley Long, and Thea Kent. Ashley and I slummed it by driving down via the loaded down mini cooper, and Thea decided to ride first class by flying. Really, the flight she got was an awesome deal but boy did she miss out on some good conversationsJ.
Ashley was a good sport, I don’t think I saw her grimace at my driving but a few times which is pretty good. Thea even commented that she gets nervous with most “fast” drivers but for some reason felt safe with me. Go figure, but she did miss the one instant I almost took out the orange cone on the highway. I told Ashley I was getting tired. 620 miles, 9 hours, ATLEAST 4 pit stops to pee included in that 9 hours. Not too shabby.
Friday night we stayed in for the most part. We only ventured out/got lost once and that was to meet one of Ashley’s friends. Note to ones self when packing, don’t forget a skewer b/c you can’t do a triathlon without it. Luckily the crisis was saved by Andrew and his spare skewer.
Saturday we had decided to not set an alarm and still managed to all be up at the crack of dawn. Now I just wished we had actually gotten out of bed at that time. I think we did everything you shouldn’t do the day before a race.
Stay on your feet all day-Check
No rest-Check
Have bike problems-Check
Take everything in stride-Check
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that even though all those things occurred we all handled it exceptionally. We tried to have a plan but I don’t think anything went accordingly. We started with the practice swim which was interesting to say the least. As the girls are getting ready to get in I finally accept the fact that I had forgotten my “swimming” swimsuit and embrace the fact that I am doing a practice swim in the ocean in a 2 piece string bikini. What do I care if people stare, I just hope to never see them againJ. Thea hadn’t done an ocean water swim before so it was an adjustment. I had to keep reminding her that she’d continue to swallow water if she didn’t keep her mouth closed. Each time she’d start to talk to me she’d be hit by another wave. She had her fair share of ocean water.
I promise to get to the race report, but the rest of the day was eventful as well. The expo had a lot of great products and sales. New pair of riding gloves $10, how good is that! We also managed to find some really great stuff at Athlete 3 (www.athlete3.com ), and Kelly the owner was super nice. The highlight of the day was meeting some other team mates of mine from www.Trisports.com . Trisports.com sent Kim down to FL to keep all of us in line:) She ended up taking all of us, including Thea and Ashley, out to dinner and it was great. I met some other athletes on the team, one from Illinois , couple from FL, and one from Colorado . Andy Potts had just joined the team and we were excited to have him at dinner with us. We finally made it back to the room and were all exhausted. Time to set the alarm for the morning and hit the sack.
Alarm goes off and I hear Thea get of bed and then hear her exclaim Oh my god! I vaguely remember her shaking her head and then going into the bathroom to shower. I thought maybe she had gotten up late, but later found out the she had looked outside to see two naked people in the Jacuzzi having sex. How funny is that! The least she could have done was take a picture or tell us what was going on! We could of hoot and hollered for them.
We make it to the race site without anymore excitement, and I get us front row parking compliments of the mini cooper. I love that car! As we walk to transition I clearly see the water is MUCH rougher than the day before and try not to draw attention to it as I know Thea is going to have a cow. We stop at the port a pottys where she is instantly given a front row view of the water. She informs us that she’s not going to do the tri. I calm her down and say you never know how the weather may change in the next 2 hours (4-5 hours for me b/c I’m not elite). About 30 mins. Later they inform everyone that there will not be a swim for elite or age groupers. It wasn’t safe for the safety kayakers in the water so therefore we couldn’t swim. They had 2 big boats for the pros, but that’s not enough for 5,000 plus people. Thea had talked about kissing the ground, but I convinced her that dirt probably wasn’t good nutrition before a race.
They announce for us to be prepared to go off a little earlier than originally planned, which for the girls was 7:01 and for me was 8:58. I think they started a little later, but the funny thing is they actually finished their races before I even started mine. I went from knowing I would be around until 9am to having not a clue what time I would start. Transition closed at 6:45 so I just took my little slingbag with my ipod and chilled out. I passed the time stretching, people watching, listening to music, enjoying the scenery and partaking in Martin’s (thea’s friend) joke. Martin and some friends of his all dressed up like rednecks. This was truly a sight. They show up to the race in stonewashed cutoff jean shorts (really bike short type material) with wife beater tshirts and blond wigs with trucker hats. Martin’s got cigarette’s behind his ear and after yelling does anyone have a light he proceeds to ask if anyone wants some fettuccini alfredo. They wore this the entire race. It was GREAT! They were later interviewed by MSNBC (?) and said they had so much fun this year they were going to see how many people they can get to do it with them next year. I might be the first girl in their group for next year.
I finally get in line for my age group wave after my 2 min. warmup in my croc flip flops. I nervously start to look around at the girls wondering who is my competition, and who is serious. I get sent off and take off through transition. I made a point not to wear my shoes b/c the trek to my bike was as long as a football field. I knew exactly where the bike was, threw my shoes on and took off. I didn’t feel quite warmed up so I tried to take the first few mins. a little easy. I truly don’t remember much scenery on the bike. I was so focused. I really felt the advantage of being an age grouper. There were so many people on the course that I used each person as another challenge or goal to pass. I played cat and mouse with one girl (zoot girl) in my age group which always helps as incentive. I saw many team in training people out there and told each one I passed how great they were doing. They are such an inspiration. I kept tabs on where I was every 15 mins. b/c my goal was to finish the bike in 1:10. The wind was pretty bad so I tried to remind myself not to get to the point where I felt the burn (thanks forrest) and just gear it down. The zoot girl passed me with a mile or 2 to go and I decided not to push it just to beat her into transition. Instead I spin out my legs for the remainder.
I end up passing her while heading out of transition for the run. Now I think to myself when doing this that I may be giving her the oomph she needs to push the run but I also know I need to go my own pace. I start the first mile feeling great (as usual) and remind myself to take it a little easy the first 2 miles. I refuse to look at the garmin and just go on effort. Around mile 3 I finally start to feel my groove and look down to see my garmin says 21:49. The key is just holding onto that pace now. I hit the turnaround and start to feel the heat but welcome it. I pass martin and the redneck crew and have enough to give a shout. I literally just feel good, the spectators are great, the music is good and I go from trying to focus to enjoying it. Mile 5 is when I start to try to remind myself to just try to hang on. When I get to mile 6 I can’t wait for the finish line to show itself. Down the shoot I can feel something want to come up and out my stomach. I know one things for sure and that’s that I will projectile vomit before I will stop right before the finish line. Luckily whatever came up was able to be swallowed down up to the point of when I cross. I literally cross the finish line and throw up at some poor medics feet. The guy walks off probably spewing chunks of his own. Another medic walks up to me and while handing me a bottle of water asks me if I am cramping. I told him no, and he then says, “Well sounds like you just pushed it hard enough then.” I really was okay once I threw up. I guess I am still trying to fine tune my stomach problems, but atleast I know that I can push 6.2 miles before it gets to that point. Good thing this weekend is just a sprint!
All in all I had a decent day. My reassessed goal after the swim was taken away was to do 2 hours or less. My bike was 1:12 something and my run was 46:19 with a total of 2:01 something. Oh, did I mention I dropped my chain 3 times on the bike . . .maybe that could make the 2 minutes I was offJ. I thoroughly enjoyed myself on the run. I think I had forgotten what it feels like to feel so good after spending all of last year in constant pain. This race is nice enough to do awards for the top 10 and I just happened to squeak out an 8th place age group finish. Ashley finished a stellar 15th Elite amateur and Thea finished without walking (long story). The best was walking back to the car with the girls, Andy Potts, Terrenzo Bozzone and Kelly.
We topped off an awesome day with an evening of tapas, and I had the best white chocolate banana cream pie martini. I had a great time with the girls, they really know how to roll with the punches. No drama to report, but lots of laughs were had. I couldn’t make it to these tri’s without the support of my family and my sponsors. Thanks again for the great dinner and fun Trisports.com! U guys rock!
