1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile runI agree with Mike that this should be called Hardest Moon. It wasn't just the course - it was hard in so many ways. I was so ready to be done a month ago. It's hard to drag yourself out of bed at 4:30 for a race you're not thrilled about. It's also hard to drag yourself out of be at 4:30 when it's 47 degrees and raining. Everything about waking up that morning screamed "Go back to bed!" Driving over to Kansas (well, it's practically Kansas) with the both the rain and temperature coming down, Matt said at one point "If it's 47 and raining when we get there, you're not racing". You know what? I didn't argue. I was more than fine with that. So it was almost unfortunate when the rain stopped. Of course, then the wind started. As you can see, I really didn't want to get out of the car.
My second mistake of the day (the first being getting out of bed), was to hit up the port-a-potty before the lines started forming. I will reiterate that I got there before the lines started. Meaning that I didn't have to wait. Meaning that not a lot of people had been using them. So how it was to be that this was the most repulsive smelling portable toilet I've ever been in is beyond me. I actually gagged. Twice. Even thinking about it now brings back memories I am trying to suppress. Anyhow, there went my chance at eating anything before the race. I usually have to force something down as it is, but there was no way I was going to get anything to go down other than water.Shivering and with teeth chattering, I went to set up shop. No one around me was putting out extra clothes and here I was practically with a suitcase of extra clothes: arm warmers, knee warmers, heavy long sleeve shirt, jacket, and gloves. Was no one else cold? Then the guy with the single speed shows up and racks across from me. Matt wondered if he was out of his mind. I told him that I bet he'd pass me on the bike. I put on my wetsuit and sweatshirt and headed down to the beach.
We stood behind a shed to block the wind. I couldn't get warm. The wind had picked up and I didn't think I could actually leave the cover of the shed. They announced that the water temperature was 61 in the cove and likely several degrees colder farther out. I really did not want to do this race. Matt told me to just try the swim and then decide. I knew he was right. I finally went to go check out the water. It actually wasn't bad. After all, it was warmer in the water than it was outside. I think that because I was already so cold and numb, I couldn't really feel how cold the water was.
I found a spot on the other side of the rope, but I was way off to the side of the other pink caps. I was amidst the blue caps, but just assumed that they were also starting. Someone said GO! and none of the blue caps went anywhere. I guess I was on my own. Because of where I started relative to everyone else, I somehow ended up in the lead. I could see the whole pink pack each time I went to breathe and just couldn't figure out how I was so far ahead. According to Matt, it was pretty funny to watch since I was all alone out front for a little while. I settled in behind another pink capper and decided to draft off of her. She probably wasn't the most ideal person to draft off of as she was relatively my speed, but she was right there, so I tried it. The water was relatively clear and she was a kicker, so she was pretty easy to follow. I lost her going by the last few buoys as we started to catch up to the previous wave, so I swam the last little bit alone.
I got out and it was cold. I spent several minutes struggling into various pieces of clothing. I figured putting on a long sleeve shirt would be easier than wrestling with arm warmers. I was wrong. I also couldn't really feel my hands, so speed wasn't really my concern. I went with the long sleeve and long knee warmers. I did forget my gloves. I threw my towel down when I grabbed my shirt and the towel fell over the gloves and I immediately forgot all about them. It didn't help that I couldn't feel my hands as a reminder. I was instantly reminded when I got on the bike. It was *&%&!-ing cold. I tried to pull my sleeves over my hands, but it didn't work so well and made shifting difficult. After a few miles, I seriously contemplated turning around. My hands just hurt and didn't seem to be getting any warmer. But then my friend Steve rode up beside me and I cheated by accepting outside support. He asked how I was doing and I started ranting about the cold and forgetting my gloves. He offered me his and I gladly took them. Thank you Steve! I'm not sure that I would have been able to finish without them - I kept them on until the last 5 or so miles. The ride was pretty miserable. I'm so glad I had ridden in two weeks before so I felt a little better prepared. Of course, when I last rode it, it was probably at least 95 degrees and now I was at the opposite end of the spectrum. My feet were numb and my legs were pretty cold throughout the ride. The last set of rollers were the worst. I couldn't really stand because my quads were so cold and ready to give way. I couldn't really push down or pull up on the pedals due to other numbness in my legs. And so I pretty much crawled up the hills. It's usually at this point that I start to look forward to the run and something different and finally getting off the bike. I was not looking forward to the run. I had no idea how my legs were going to handle it. I would soon find out.
Oh, and with maybe 500 feet to go before the dismount line, Mr. Single Speed passed me. I laughed.
T2 was not much better than T1. I put my shoes on my numb feet and then realized that I hadn't take my knee warmers off. I also wasn't doing very well at balancing on one foot, so there was a bit of flailing going on. And I almost forgot to take off my helmet. But then I was off. The first section of the run was on very rutted gravel and goes downhill. It just didn't seem like a good idea to be running on such a course when I still couldn't feel my legs. I shuffled for the first mile because I was afraid to lift my foot on the ground and not be able to feel it when it hit back down again. Around mile 4 I was finally back to full feeling. It was also around this time that the hunger started to settle in. Remember no breakfast? It was catching up with me. Despite following my normal routine on the bike, I never really caught up. I really started struggling just before mile 10 and my blood sugar started to drop. I went for the Coke at the next aid stop knowing that the sugar would kick in immediately. My Hammer gels were not quick in responding. That seemed to help and I stuck with it for the duration. My injured hamstring felt great throughout, but the other hamstring started to tighten up and forced me to walk for a bit. But I was okay with it - I knew I wasn't breaking any records. I was determined to finish strong and stick with my resolution from Vineman of making the last mile count. Thanks to the Coke, I was able to do it. I hardly ever drink soda, but I crossed the line actually craving it. And because of the BBQ lunch, soda was about all that I was able to get.
We didn't stick around for very long - it was still pretty chilly although the sun finally came out. It certainly wasn't my finest race. It was hard and conditions made it worse, so getting through it was a feat in itself. And though it wasn't fun, I'm glad I did it. It probably would have been worse had I skipped it. When I rode the course a few weeks ago and realized how hard it was going to be, I was sort of determined to do it and be able to use it as my baseline for starting CDA training. Since CDA is going to be hilly, I wanted to have a race with a hilly course so that I know how it feels and so that I have a better understanding of how hard I'll need to work so that CDA is a completely different experience. When you're at the bottom, there's nowhere to go but up.
swim: 32:53
bike: 3:20:51
run: 2:16
total: 6:15:27
age: 12/24
women: 40/110
overall: 207/329
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