I'll sum this up in one word, brutal. I was punched in the eye, hit in the arms countless number of times and full on kicked in my left quad leaving me with a 'charlie horse' for the rest of the race. All the rumbling was with men in the swim, those yellow caps were surrounding me and mean. They would not start the race until everyone was out of the water so I sat shivering for 10 minutes on shore. Usually they say to get out of the water, nobody does and they start the race anyways. They had people walking in the surf with kayak paddles prodding people back to shore. I had a decent swim but not as fast as I would have liked. I came out of the water in 8th with several girls not too far behind me.
Bike I felt strong on the bike but wasn't climbing like I know I am capable of. Men kept fumbling on the short climbs in front of me, falling off and forcing me to hike-a-bike more than I needed to. I also think I was worried that going to hard on the bike would lead to "blowup" like it did for me at Nationals. I focused on drinking lots and pushing "just hard enough". The bike is not very technical but bad things happen to people out there. It is easy to get out of control and not be able to stop since you are basically surfing on top of loose, sharp lava rocks. There are always people fixing flats along the entire course. Luckily, my personal mechanic (aka Doug) had my bike working flawlessly except for a slight chain mishap that only took me about 6 seconds to fix. I came off the bike in 8th after several position changes on the bike.
RunI felt strong going into the run and was well hydrated. I was able to push up the hills better than last year. Doug yelled at me that there were four girls in front of me within 2 minutes. Marion passed me a few miles into the run. I could see Marion and Danelle in front of me most of the run, especially on the mile long beach stretch, but was never able to catch them. I ended up 9th in 3:15:57, almost 4 minutes faster than last year. Top five were Julie Dibens, Lesley Patterson, Mel McQuaid, Carina Wasle and Shonny V. Congrats to all you speedy women!
It's amazing how the women's field seems to get faster and faster every year. I felt I had in in me to be in the top 5, but I simply didn't have my best race. I have nothing to complain about though, I was almost 4 minutes faster, had no major catastrophes and am able to race at a professional level while maintaining full time career. I'm ready for a break...a chance to sleep in, experiment in the world of gluten free baking, finish some knitting projects that have been gathering dust since last Spring, and cross off many projects on our house 'to do list'.Thanks to my parents and Doug for being the best fans and support at the race! Thanks to Wheat Ridge Cyclery for my Yeti, Powerbar for gels with lots of electrolytes, Perlizumi for some great training and racing gear, Xterra wetsuits for my 'sausage suit' (fastskin), Powercordz for some cables that help make my bike super light! I'm looking forward to next year and plan to come back with some serious 'fire in my belly'. I'm also excited to be part of a great team next year...I'll let you keep guessing about that one...
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