Originally we (my husband and I) were going to drive down the morning of the race but once we found out that we had separate transition zones and that the hotel was only $80 we decided to go the afternoon before so the morning wouldn’t be too crazy.  It was kind of hectic getting out of the house since we had two of us packing to race (my husband was doing the duathlon), and we had to get the kids packed up for a sleepover at Nanny’s.  But once we got on the road we had no problems getting down and getting settled.  We took a look at the course map and figure out where my husband had to be but I just figured I would have no problems figuring out where I needed to go.  (this would come back to haunt me)

We woke up at 4:20 AM and started getting ready.  Having another person trying to get ready at the same time was interesting… My husband hasn’t raced much so he had a lot of questions.  Every time I was asked a question I got distracted from what I was doing.  As a result I ended up forgetting my directions for getting to the race!

I got my husband dropped off very early at his transition zone and then started off to mine.  Problem was I had no idea where to go.  I drove around for a good 10-15 minutes until I finally spotted a teammate’s car and followed her.  All the while the coffee and food are kicking in and I needed to find a potty soon!

So got to the start, got set up (kept loosing my bike on the rack; note to self, bring chalk next time), hit the potty, got on my wetsuit and connected with a friend, Shiela K.,  from Twitter and the Dailymile.  Very cool to meet someone at the race that you  have been corresponding with for awhile.  The coolest part was that we passed on the course a couple of time! Always good to see a familiar face!

Made it down to the start and got in the water to scope out the entry and feel the water temp.  Super nice entry and the temp was perfect!  Chatted with a few more people then waited for my wave (# 3 this time!) I went to the front of the pack because I am a strong swimmer and waited for the start.  The swim was great.  A little crowded at first but as we thinned out, I just set my sights on catching as many people as I could.  I felt great! I really concentrated on my stroke trying to get the most out of each one.  I did the 1500 meter swim in 26:25.  I heard I was 13th out of the water (not sure out of how many).  Had a slow transition, I thought, because I was really wet after the swim.  I know that sounds silly but I think my wetsuit is too big so it is holding a lot of water when I get out.

Anyway, I got out of transition and onto the bike course.  The course was relatively hilly.  Nothing really steep, just some longish gradual climbs.  I am not  a strong cyclist so I got passed…a lot!  Still, when I wasn’t climbing I did my best to keep the pace up.  I am really happy with the fact that my average cadence was 84 for the ride! (see Garmin data here) The 40K took me 1:24:26. (definite room for improvement).

T2 was funny because it was at a different location than T1. So we showed up to just our shoes essentially.  I found my bag dumped everything out, sat down and got my shoes and hat on, grabbed a Gu and my Garmin and took off.  I felt strong on my feet!  I knew there were some hills to contend with but I wasn’t nervous for them due to all my recent trail running experience.  It was a challenging run but since the  terrain changed constantly the six miles flew by!  Except for the two miles in the middle which were mostly up, I did a sub 8 pace. (see Garmin data here) So overall I ran 49:58 for 10K and I finished feeling strong!

Overall I was 4th out of 35 for my age group, and 44 out of 202 for my gender.  I feel that with a little (more likely a lot) work on my bike I could maybe land on a podium at some point.  A girl can dream can’t she?

For race results click here.

For race photos click here.

**Turns out my results were good enough to qualify for Nationals.  Anyone want  to sponsor me?