First, I have to say, I trained with the most fun, coolest athletes and friends. I didn't know any of them when we started, but now, I consider several of them very dear to me.
Since the race was in Philly, which is about a two and a half hour drive, I carpooled up on Saturday with two of my teammates and we met up with a caravan composed of most of the rest of our teammates. There's something that's initially awkward about spending a substantial amount of time in an enclosed space with people you only know in a very specific setting, in this case training. This was not the case at all. Conversation flowed. There was a good deal of amusing communication between the cars and the two plus hours passed in no time.
Packet pick-up was uneventful with the usual, but still enjoyable free stuff. I also had the opportunity to meet one of the pros competing on Sunday. (I was asked if I wanted an autographed poster from this particular professional triathlete. My answer was no, but he was sitting there listening to the conversation. I felt like it would just be rude to say no at that point. It's not because I don't admire him, but I don't really *do* posters. I was teased a good deal my one of my teammates for accepting and hanging onto that poster.)
The rest of Saturday was pretty typical. I went to the hotel, got settled in, had some food, and got ready for the pasta party...sorry, inspiration dinner. As usual and expected, it was an inspiring dinner, indeed and I shed more than a few tears at the stories we heard.
After dinner, we met with our coaches and had the chance to exchange some gifts. One of my mentees was celebrating her birthday THAT VERY DAY and we had the chance to celebrate that too. She almost got a little teary-eyed when reading the card...it made my heart smile that she was so touched.
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| Isn't that a handsome looking team? |
Saturday night was quiet, hanging out with my roommate and in general, getting ready for race day. We had to be in the lobby and ready to go by 4:15 AM on Sunday, so I tried to prep everything on Saturday night.
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| This is my hotel transition area. I like how the backs of my bike shoes are so reflective. |
We started our ride to transition promptly at 4:30 AM. It was very peaceful and somewhat surreal to be riding through the streets of Philly at that early hour. Nothing was open. There were only a few people on the streets and most of them were police officers. It was a surprisingly relaxing way to get to transition.
It was a beautiful morning once I got to transition. Everyone around me was friendly and transition was surprisingly spacious. Although, I think that's actually because several people around me didn't show up. (As an aside, who would do that? Why would you register for an event and then not show?)
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| Transition! I had no idea that there were so many reflective areas on my bike and shoes! |
We were there plenty early, so there was a good deal of time to chill out, use the porta-potties, and just get ready for the race. (I have to mention that the bathrooms were super nasty. I have no idea how some of those people were able to compete with what they had coming out of their bodies.)
There are two pictures that I have to share just because they make me so happy. Neither were taken by me, so I hope the photographer doesn't mind my using them.
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All three of my mentees were in a swim wave before me and they all happened to be in the same wave. I was so excited for them and so very proud (we're talking mother-proud) of all of their hard work. They trained, they fundraised, and they made this experience so very meaningful. |
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| This is my bad ass roommate and first time triathlete. She really considers herself a marathoner, but she put together a damn good race and I can't wait to see her in another tri. |
I should mention that the water temperature was high enough that wetsuits were not legal. You could wear a wetsuit, but the you would have to wait to the very last swim wave. Given how I've had to sausage myself into my wetsuit recently, wearing it would not have been to my advantage.
The swim went well. I stayed pretty steady in my stroke and the wave was small enough that I barely came into contact with other swimmers. We had to swim under a bridge and were told to swim under the second archway from the left. The instructions were pretty clear, but during my swim there, I started questioning the instructions. Do they really mean the second? Or does the first archway only count as a half, so it's actually the second full archway? Well, there was no reason to worry as it was just the second archway and all I had to do was follow the swimmers ahead of me.
During the swim, I caught some of the slower swimmers ahead of me and had a few swimmers from the wave behind me pass. Because my wave was small, I felt like I was in the back the entire time. In no time, I was at the tetrahedron and out of the water. I realized that I actually hadn't been in the back and the swim had taken me about 30 minutes.
T1 was fairly fast and it was fun to actually see people that I knew. I got everything I need, took in some water and was out of transition in just over 3:30. Once I got on the bike, I realized that I had forgotten my gloves. The ride isn't so long that I needed to have them, but it is more comfortable and I did have them sitting out in transition. I'm just so baffled as to how I forget them.
A few minutes into the ride, I was able to take in the Gu taped to my bike and started sipping on my water/Gatorade. I was feeling pretty good by this point.
The bike consisted of two loops, passing across the Schuylkill twice. The first loop of the ride was mentally tough for me. The course had been described as having four hills that were technical climbs. We had done a good deal of hill training and I had researched the course up the wazoo, but the entire first loop, I was anticipating all of the hills and it put me on edge.
The second loop was better. I knew when the hills were coming and that they were all manageable. I was able to take in more water/Gatorade and had a few chomps. On the bike, I was passed more than I passed people, but everyone who passed me seemed to be very solid cyclists.
About three-quarters of the way through the bike, I realized that my bike was rattling. There is one gear that when I'm in it, my chain rattles. I thought I was in that gear, but when I tried shifting, the noise remained. I pulled off the course and when I looked back, one of my worst fears was realized. My back tire was flat. My two options at this point were to change the tire or start walking back to transition. So, I started to pull off my back tire to change it.
There was a guy watching the race not all that far away from me. When he saw me start to take off my tire, he came running over and asked if I had everything that I needed to change it. Of course I did. This complete stranger takes the tire from me and starts changing it with lightening speed. In checking the tire, he found two pieces of glass which I probably would not have. In almost no time, he had the tire changed and back on my bike. The entire time this stranger was helping me, I knew that I should have been doing it myself as there is no outside assistance allowed. I wasn't sure if it was a time penalty or full out disqualification, but none of the officials saw the infraction. (I later confirmed that it would have been a time penalty of two minutes. The two minutes would have been well worth it as it would have taken me much longer than that to change my own tire and since I probably wouldn't have found both pieces of glass, I would have flatted again.)
During the time that I was pulled off of the course, there were a lot of people that passed me and I knew that I needed to ride hard and have an excellent run to finish in a time that I would like. At this point, my eyes starts twitching because of the stress that I was putting on myself and I all but forget to keep taking in hydration. I finished the bike and T2 was also pretty quick. My legs felt pretty good and I'm sure it's because I spent some time off of the bike.
The first three miles of the run felt really good. I had a comfortable pace, my breathing was steady, and my legs felt good. I saw so many people that I know including Coach K. Her shouting and cheering and hilarious signs of our team's inside jokes put me in such a great mood.
The run course was two out and backs. The first one was longer and in the shade. The second was only about two and a half miles, but there was little shade and it was the longest miles of my life. There was some point right before mile marker 4 that I lost all of my mental focus. I couldn't keep my mind on maintaining my form or my breathing. I walked...A LOT. I used every single water stop and at most, took two cups. (In retrospect, I know that I didn't take in enough water on the bike and I was dehydrated at that point.) The only thoughts that kept running through my head were how much I wanted the race to be over and how disappointed I was in my run...even though I wasn't even finished with it. The more I had these thoughts, the more disappointed I became in myself and at one point, I almost started crying. I've had some bad runs, but I was so in my head that this had to be the worst.
Right at the six mile marker, one of the spectators was cheering me on and pointed out where the finish line was. I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment to bring me back and try to finish strong. As I neared the finish line, I saw Coach K again and she strapped on her back pack and ran with me to the finishing shoot. Again, it was exactly what I needed at that moment.
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| Almost at the finish line. I'm using this photo as evidence that I am no longer a heel striker. YES! |
I should probably also mention the shenanigans on Sunday night...so much fun, friends, and karaoke. Well, there might have been some alcohol too but in the words of one of my mentees, it was amazeballs!
So next up is Nations...training starts immediately!
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