I went to bed at 10pm and didn’t end up waking up again until 1:30a.m., then again at 3a.m. and then again at 4a.m. and finally I woke up for good at 4:50a.m. This was the best sleep I have ever gotten the night before a race. Usually my nerves and adrenaline are so spiked I can’t sleep. I have read about how even elite athletes don’t get much sleep the night before a race, so I’m not alone. So many of us athletes are racing on hardly any sleep at all, which makes the event that much harder. In order to help calm my nerves I listened to Christian music, two songs in particular, and I pray. I strongly believe that God even enjoys being a part of our hobbies and interests. It felt weird asking for the Lord to bless me during this race with everything else going on in this world. At the same time God is to be our best friend and I love to talk to my friends about tri’s and I appreciate all my friends’ words of wisdom, advice and encouragement. So I know God wants to be a part of even triathlons.
At 4:50 a.m. it was go time. I was up and at it. First of all I had to get myself dressed in my race attire and fill all my water bottles, aerobottles, etc with electrolyte drink and water. I grabbed my bag, all my gear and headed to the registration area. After registering I had to get numbered and had to take my bike to the last-minute-bike guys. My bike wasn’t shifting properly and was therefore causing unnecessary resistance. The bike guys were not able to fix my bike before the race since it was a complicated fix but they assured me the bike would work fine during the race. I would just have a little additional resistance. There was no time to worry about it so I decided to just move on to transition area.
Only athletes with wrist bands are allowed in the transition area for safety of all equipment. As I neared the entrance of the transition area there were several men checking for wrist bands. A very friendly lady escorted me to where my transition area was. I got my stuff all set up. It was 6:30a.m.; only 15 minutes away from the mandatory pre-race meeting. Since it takes me awhile to get my wetsuit on and since it was cold out I decided to go ahead and get the thing on before the meeting.
After the meeting, a lady sang the national anthem and then they had a 9/11 tribute. All the athletes were getting pumped as 7:00a.m. was fast approaching. Unfortunately 7a.m. came and went and not one athlete was allowed to start. They ended up delaying the race by about 40 minutes due to thick fog. We couldn’t see the buoys. Finally around 7:40ish the fog lifted and the cannon went off signally the elite athletes to go!!! This race had 8 different swim waves categorized according to elites, aqua/bike championship, sex and age. Females ages 39 and below were the very last wave. We started our swim about 17 minutes after the first cannon went off.
As the second to last wave was about to start I decided last minute to change how I wore my swim cap and goggles. I was going to put my goggles on underneath my swim cap. As I was fiddling around with my goggles I nearly broke them. With not much time to spare I got my goggles back in working order just in time to put them on and dive into the water. Needless-to-say I stuck with what I knew and put my goggles on over my cap.
As I dove into the water I kept telling myself to just relax and chill; do my best but don’t go all out on the swim, just pace myself. I took a breath every forth stroke in order to help with pacing and I tried my best to pick a straight line. There were a lot of people kicking, crawling, and splashing but I was able to make it through the whole swim without getting kicked, slapped or crawled on. What a miracle. Immediately after the swim there is a good hill climb up to the bike transition area. Jamie and Tucker where waiting to cheer my own about half way up the hill. I ran up to them, kissed Tucker’s wonderful chubby cheeks, and continued on my way. Oh how wonderful those little, soft, chubby cheeks are!! After ripping my wetsuit off I entered the transition area. My mom and dad were standing as close as they could to my bike transition area. As I geared up they cheered me on, yelled out words of encouragement, took pictures and just totally gave me a boost. As fast as possible I got all my biking gear on, grabbed my bike and ran out of the transition area.
The 56 mile bike was pretty easy, especially since I had been riding 80 or so miles prior to race day. My bike is so comfortable and loves to just move. I kept up an average pace of 21.1mph. I felt like I could go faster but kept trying to pace myself for the run. There was another lady, Melanie, number 470, who was the same pace. We had to ride side-by-side often since we were the same pace but we did not draft off one another since we would then be disqualified. She was so sweet and encouraging. I will never forget her. The bike was over before I knew it. All of a sudden I was racking my bike, grabbing my running gear, and putting my running shoes. Once again two of my greatest supporters where standing as close as possible to my run transition area cheering me on and filling me in on my time and how close my competition was. It was such a meaningful thing to have my parents standing there supporting me. Next thing I knew I was slamming the pavement. Pound, pound, pound, pound.
It took a couple minutes to get my running legs. The run was two, out-and-back loops. The first loop went by pretty fast and was full of aide stations and cheering people. When I started back from my first loop I was able to see how far behind my competition was. It was very interesting. There was one chick, with pink compression socks, that went by me at mile 35 on the bike. I kept her in view but knew she had me. I saw her on the run and noticed that she hadn’t gained much on the bike but she was a stronger runner. I knew I couldn’t catch her so I just wanted to make sure she didn’t have a huge lead on me. I was pretty sure she was in my age group so I was certain first place was taken. As far as I knew I was competing for second place. On the second run loop I was really able to get a hold on where everyone was. I saw several people from my club and several gals from my age group. At mile 11 on the run I hit a small mental block. I felt like being done. I just wanted to stop and walk but I just kept telling myself to go one more mile. Once I saw mile 12 then I would start the home stretch. That one mile between 11 and 12 seemed rather long and slow. It’s funny because the 13 miles I had to cover were nothing compared to the 20+ miles I did prior to the race but adding the swim and bike and doing all 3 events at race pace made me experience some mental battles on the run. My quadriceps where tightening and screaming for me to slow down but my brain said no. All of a sudden I came around a small little corner and up a little hill and saw the finish chute. What a sight. I could hear the crowd cheering, I could hear the guy announcing over the loud speaker and I saw the tents. There was one more hill that I had to climb. As I reached the hill I saw a very familiar face, my dad!!! He was standing at the top of the hill cheering me on. It was a wonderful sight and a great encouragement. As I looped through the venue entrance and by the registration area I could see my dad running beside the chute trying to get to the bottom before me (which he did very easily). Again it meant the world to see him running down in order to see the finish. The last several hundred feet were downhill which had its pluses and minuses. My quads felt like they were getting even more so trashed with the downhill but I was sure tired of climbing hills too. I couldn’t believe how fast the finish line appeared. I kept telling myself to enjoy every moment, the race was nearly over and I wouldn’t be doing another half for awhile. As I came into the finish chute the big old timing clock was ticking away. The time was 5:23:34. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit sad. Last time I did this particular race I did it in 5:45:40ish. My goal was to do it in 5:22:00. When I saw I was a minute behind I was disappointed. My hopes of being in the top 3 of my age category seemed to slip away. But something just wasn’t adding up. In the mean time my mom went running over to the finisher’s listings and got all my information. As she ran back toward where Jamie, Tucker, my dad and I were she seemed particularly happy. She informed me that my time was actually 5:06: something and that I was first place in my age group and 11th female overall. Wow, I was shocked!!! It totally made sense though. The clock that I saw coming in on the run chute started with the first wave. My wave started 17 minutes after the first wave. Also the gal in the pink compression socks was in the 30-35 age group. Phew!!! Wow, shock and adrenaline hit me all over again. I had no idea I was going to be able to do this race in 5 hours 6 minutes.
Everyone else in my club did amazing as well. Tom, Walt, Val, John, Mark, Jim and several others all either placed or reached a new PR. Tom even did the sprint triathlon the day before. He placed first in his age group at the sprint tri and 3rd in his age group at the half ironman. He is doing another tri a week later as well. Tom is Mr. Crazy man!! I don’t know how he does all of his training and racing. It doesn’t seem like he ever recovers. Truly amazing.
I thank the Lord for an amazing day and for the little extra bonus of helping me place. God is great!!! I also thank my club and all their help with my training. Every one of them has positively affected my training in some way.
My support team deserves a BIG thank you as well. These people are so meaningful to me because they understand how important training and racing are to me. Not many get it. But they understand that this hobby is not only a means of trying to stay fit but it’s also a passion of mine and something I work hard at. It’s an outlet in my life. It’s the important part of my day to spend time with adults, develop friendships, feel support from my club, etc. I always come home in the morning refreshed and ready to focus on Tucker and his needs. The morning training is not nearly as important as time spent with God but the two combined, worship and exercise, help me be a better Mama. I feel the need for both.
My closest support team is Jamie, Tucker, Mom and Dad. Jamie has been such a huge help to me. He has pushed me when I didn’t have much left. He has encouraged me to continue when I didn’t want to. Jamie has always been proud of the hard work I have put into this sport. Jamie has done everything he possibly can to make my dreams come true regarding training, racing and especially Lake Placid Ironman. I would not be heading to Lake Placid if it wasn’t for him. Thanks Babe, for taking interest in my hobby and for helping me achieve new and exciting successes. Tucker is just my favorite little thing. I find my training to be a big help as a Mama, as mentioned earlier. But without fail, every morning while training, I so greatly look forward to coming home and being greeted by Tucker’s beautiful, sweet, loving smiley, dimpled face!!! How precious!!! God is so Great!!!! Tucker also helps me with my training since he loves to charge all over the place. He keeps Mama sprinting all day long. J Tucker loves to get outside and he enjoys it when Mama takes him on walks or bike rides. I cannot wait to bike side-by-side with him!!! It’s going to be so much fun!!! My Dad has always showed interest in my hobby as well. He has been at the finish line of many triathlons waiting to watch his daughter hobble in. He always gives me big hugs even though I am soaked with sweat. Dad drives his motor home to all of these events and provides me with full amenities at race site. There is nothing like waking up at race site having a private, nice smelling, clean toilet to use as opposed to outhouses, and having a shower to clean up immediately after the race. It’s the best. I often see dad on his way to work when I am training in the morning and he always honks and gives me a little boost. Dad also takes pictures at the event providing us all with proof of the craziness. Dad’s support is priceless and greatly appreciated. Mom gets right in to all this stuff. She is the organizer and plans out where we are going to stay, what we are going to eat, where to be every minute of the day during the race, and just simply organizes the best way to be the best support team. She is awesome!! Often I see tears trickling down her face as I come into the finish line which means more to me than she will ever know. Mom use to be a competitive swimmer so I think competitive events is close to her heart. She always goes above and beyond to make me comfortable after the race and I am guaranteed a delicious vegetarian homemade meal in the motor home.
Thank you Jamie, Tucker, Dad and Mom for taking interest in something that is very important to me. It makes me feel like you are interested in my life and that is so meaningful. You never miss a race and you always greet me with hugs, kisses and love at the finish line. It never goes unnoticed and it is always appreciated and means the world to me. Love you!!!!
