My 30th (tear) Bday. And what better way to celebrate and start the day than to RACE !
My Sponsor, Boundless Nutrition, a local company known for the yummy and super healthy Oatmega 3 Bars, and now Perfect Fit Protein cookies, were providing post race snacks for the 1500+ women that raced, and had set me up to race in my first every Danskin race. You think i would have raced this before since it is the biggest womens only race around.
On the way to the race i got my usual Daily devotional. And today it talked about using your God given ability to be of service to others. So that was my focus for the race. I tried to help as many women as i could pre race with putting air in their tires or helping set up their transition since there were many ladies doing their first tri. It was great to be apart of all the excitement and energy of all the women, and i was really trying to just take it in. I was able to squeeze in a quick 10 min run and swim before we took off.
Swim - I had a great swim for me, and came out 3rd out of the water, aobut 2 min behind the leader, and a minute behind Elizabeth Moorehead who i swim with at UT Masters and is an amazing swimmer.
Bike - Having done this course many times before, i knew what to expect. Rolling hills, with a few good climbs. But what goes up must go down which makes it a relatively fast bike course. At about mile 4 there is one steep hill and about midway up it, my chain dropped. I tried to do the pedal back and hope that it would catch thing, but it was down. I had to get off my bike and fiddle with it to get it back on then i had the choice of walking the rest of the climb since there was no way i had enough momemtum to get on the bike and get going, or to cycle to the bottom of the hill circle and go at it again. That is what i chose to do, almost running myself off the road to make that u-turn. When i finally got going and up and over the hill, Elizabeth who was still ahead of me, was nowhere insight. so i just had to put my head down and know i had a tough run ahead of me since there was no way i was gonna catch her on the bike, since it was so short and she is a great cyclist.
Run - Came into T2 1 min 30 sec behind her, and had 3 miles of off road sprinting ahead of me to try and catch her. So i had to run 30 sec per mile faster than her to catch her. I was completely out of breath and working as hard as i could knowing that the 6:20's i was running should catch her between mile 2 and 3, but she was flying too. By mile 2, the volunteer shouted out 1min 5 sec back. Wow, i had hardly made up any time and now i had 1 mile to close. There is one long downhill with a very uneven surface which i knew she would probably run somewhat hesitantly in order to not turn an ankle, so i knew this is where i would make up time if i went after it. So i just flew down the hill praying not to turn an ankle or step into a ditch. The downhill was followed by a long uphill, and at that point i was running on fumes. For a brief moment i held back and got comfortable thinking "just enjoy the run, its your bday,Elizabeth had led the whole was so i should let her have the win today" and continued that frame of mind with about 150 meters to go. As we were running to the finish line, i saw her start to sprint and then i really knew that 2nd was going to have to do for the day. But 20 yards later, i saw her shoulders drop and my competitive instinct kicked in. About 100 meters out and i started a full out sprint for the finishline, finally just passing her between the two timing mats to win by 1 sec. While i felt bad that i had beaten her like that at the finishline,she was a good sport and totally excited to have run about 30 sec faster per mile than she usually does and have had such a great race. Guess that happens when you know you are being chased :). A big congrats to Elizabeth on the race, and a thanks for making me dig that deep !!!
All in All, Danskin Tri was an amazing experience, and i would recommend all women to put that race on their calendar at some point. Its well organized and supported with the bonus of having all our friends out there as swim angels.
Thanks to Trevor and Amy at Boundless Nutrition for the entry and the support, and the delicous Oatmega 3 bars and Protein Cookies that i totally overindulged in on my birthday. yes, 3 chocolate chip protein cookies were my big yummy indulgence for the day. Thank goodness they are the healthiest cookies out there, since i have Kansas 70.3 7 days later.
And most importantly, a big thanks to my husband for putting together the best birthday ever and being such a great supporter and teammate. The below link is one of my birthday presents from my husband. He was evently putting in the final touches while i was out racing. yup, he got the whole family in tears,he's a keeper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyaiwZJWxQo&feature=player_embedded
No comments:
Post a Comment