Here’s my race report for those who have the patience to read it.
Swim:
The swim was 1500 meters long and the start was in deep water. I “seeded” myself in the back where I belonged. The swim was pretty pleasant except that the sun was in my eyes and it was pretty hard to site. I was not able to draft off anyone since I was at the back of the pack. When the gun went off, I quickly lost the pack and was pretty much swimming by myself. (At least I didn’t have to worry about being run over by anyone.) At the half way point, I started to feel this tapping on the back of my feet. Hmmm, someone at the National Championships is actually drafting off me? At least I know that I am not in last place. At the end of the swim, I actually pass a few women and more importantly a man from the prior wave. That makes me feel like I am doing OK until I look at my watch. 32:31. Not at all what I had hoped for! I was expecting more in the 28 minute range. I know that’s still not fast but it’s at least respectable. Oh well, at least the swim was very pleasant and therefore it was somewhat “successful”.
T1
I get my wetsuit off no problem and put on my sunglasses and helmet. The shoes…oh the shoes…I neglected to buy some super glue to glue in the linings of my shoes and every time I put my foot in the shoe the linings bunch up at the toe. As I am doing this, at least five women come from the swim and pass me in T1. Darn. On try # 5 I decide to just leave them all bunched up. Note to self…buy some super glue! As I grab my bike I hear someone yell “there are 4 bikes in transition!”. Huh? 4 bikes? Including mine? Ugh…out of 1500 athletes I am 4th from last. I start running my bike out fast…
The Bike
The bike course was a HILLY 40K. I don’t know why but I just could not ride fast on this day. I don’t know if the hills were just too much for me, or if it was my new bike position, or my new cleat position( I know, I know don’t do anything new on race day), or what. But I just didn’t have any energy. Also since I had just taken a nasty fall a few weeks ago on my bike, I was way too cautious on the downhills and was actually braking on the downhills. (Another “no no”.) I did pass about 15 people on the bike, but a few were in their 60s and 70s. I finished in 1:23:55 which is about 3 minutes slower than I did the same distance with hills in April. I really expected a better time here too. Oh well into transition again…
T2
I had an uneventful T2, all went well. I took my time realizing that a PR was out of the question and just decided to make it a good training day.
The Run
I did not expect much here since I was injured for 3 months and had only been running consistently for three weeks. But on the run, I feel like I am doing OK. At the first mile marker, I look down for my time and am in shock. It is a full 2 minutes slower than my usual out the door easy run time per mile. OK that is it! I am now pretty much out here on the course all alone (almost everyone else has already finished) and I am having a very hard time finding the motivation to push myself. Everything hurts and aches and I just want to walk up these steep hills. I decide to push on even if it is at a slow pace. I will NOT give into this voice that says that I am not doing well enough and that wants to quit. SHUT UP VOICE! OK I CAN do this. I WILL finish. I drudge on with legs aching up a hill down another hill. Some water, nice people encouraging the poor Luna Chix who looks so tired. Then I hear this voice “Hi Luna, is it OK if I run with you”? “Sure” I say not knowing where this voice is coming from. Then a very nice young lady who is “racing” too comes from behind me and starts running with me. We start chatting (this is something new in a race) and encouraging one another and on the down hills we even encourage other runners who are on their way back to the finish. I start to feel the camaraderie of those who are suffering just trying to finish. Toward the end of the run, we pass Sarah Reinertsen. She is the female amputee who has somehow qualified for the National Championships with only one leg! We tell her “great job Sarah” as we pass her. Now I am feeling somewhat silly, if Sarah can do this with one leg certainly I can finish with two.
Toward the end of the race, my new friend and I are “running” up a steep hill about a ½ mile from the finish and she is pulling away and I am breathing hard. I tell her to just go ahead without me that this all I have for this hill. She says “do you want to know something that will make you feel better?” I say “sure”. “I started a full 8 minutes before you. I’m in the 30-34 AG. So you’re doing a lot better than you think.” How silly of me. I knew that I was in the last wave but I forgot that the first wave started at 7:15 and my wave started at 8:44. I may not be doing as poorly as I think. And my friend runs off into the finish never to be seen again. I never even got to thank her for her encouraging words.
The results:
I was 50th out of 57 in my age group and 395th out of 475 women. (Not too impressive I know.) None of my times were what I had been hoping for. But in spite of my disappointment I was amazed and proud to be a part of a group of such talented, encouraging and tenacious group of triathletes. I am happy to be part of such an encouraging sport.
