We headed out from Tucson around 9am Friday morning – it was just like a slumber party! Five TriGirls, and all their race gear, stuffed into Shari H.’s truck, driving up to Show Low to race – a great weekend was on the way! We got in to Show Low and it was raining and cold. The last two years, it was blazing hot for race weekend, so this was really strange. We all picked up our race packets and drove over to the cabin. Shari had rented a gorgeous place with two bathrooms and a beautiful kitchen, overlooking the Xterra course. We had the other TriGirls over for dinner on Friday and everything went smoothly, and a good time was had by all. We went to bed early in preparation for the races on Saturday.

We got up Saturday morning, bright and early, dressed and headed to the transition area. We had bought a parking pass so we could park at the venue – a great thing. Rose N. and I were doing the AquaBike (1.2 mile swim, and 56 mile bike), and Shari H. and Kathy C. were doing the Olympic distance as a relay team. We got down to transition and started setting up, getting body marked and all that stuff. I had my usual struggle to get my wetsuit on, in spite of massive doses of body glide, but finally managed to get the damn thing on with help from Shari. I really hate wetsuits. Rose and I were in the first wave of women and we went down the boat ramp and got into the water. I lost Rose immediately and went over to the far left of the group, figuring that in that spot, I would not be in the thick of things and I might be able to avoid being kicked or anything like that. The horn went off and I started swimming.

I managed to get about 20 feet before someone tried to swim over me and just wouldn’t move over and pass – what is this? Ironman?? She finally got by, and I started swimming again. This time, I made it about 5 strokes before I came unglued. When I say “unglued,” I mean totally absolutely bugnuts. I started to hyperventilate, and I couldn’t get any air in at the same time. I couldn’t keep my head in the water, and couldn’t do anything but breast stroke. I could hear Elaine and Shari yelling at me that it was going to be ok, and I should keep going. I kept trying to go, but could only make one arm stroke before trying to get my head as far from the water as possible. The surfboard lady made an appearance, asking me if I was ok. By this time, my voice was about as high pitched as it could be, and I grabbed on to that surfboard and asked for help unzipping the wetsuit. I could still hear Elaine and Shari – and I kept trying to pull my crap together. Once the wetsuit was unzipped some, things improved a little. I managed to string about 6 strokes together, and then had to come up and breast-stroke some. Then back to freestyle, then screaming up for air and more breast-stroke. I even flipped over and tried backstroking – no luck – still couldn’t catch my breath or calm down. It was bad. I haven’t ever felt like that in the water for so long. I didn’t manage to feel close to normal until almost the turn around buoy. That was a long, long time to feel so out of control. I kept going because I had to get to the bike. I had worked my ass off for the past several months to do this bike section, and I was going to do it. If I quit swimming, I couldn’t do the bike. I kept moving in a forward direction, and by the time I was headed back, things were better. Not perfect, and certainly not like I had practiced or hoped, but good enough to finish. I staggered out of the water to the wetsuit strippers, and Elaine walked with me back to transition. I tried to pull myself together and slough this swimming experience.

I spent 6 minutes in transition – about 4 minutes longer than my usual time, but I finally made it out to the bike mount line, and started riding. I pedaled and pedaled and made it out of the park and up the first big hill. I started to feel more together about mile 5, and things really started clicking for me. At one point, I looked down at my garmin and I was going 27mph! I was feeling really good, in spite of not seeing any other racers on the course, and I just kept on going. Then, I heard a terrible sound: the flap flap flap of a flat tire. I stopped at 26.73 miles, and checked both tires. The front one was flat. I pulled the tire off the bike and started to take the tire off. It was a new tire with a very tight bead. I couldn’t get it off. It turns out that I only had one tire lever. Two would have been very helpful at this point. After about 10 minutes, I finally got the tire out of the rim, and pulled out the tube. I was a little frustrated by now. The official race vehicle pulled over and the woman driving offered me a full size pump – Excellent! Two sheriffs also stopped to make sure that I wasn’t going to be run over on the side of the road. I broke my tire lever when trying to get the tire back on the rim. I ended up using my multi-tool to get it back on. I couldn’t get my CO2 inflator to work or off the valve stem when I gave up on using it – the sheriff got it off. At this point, I discovered that the full size pump was broken. We used my hand pump to inflate the tire. All of this took about 30 minutes, between the jigs and the reels. Everyone else in the race I had been ahead of passed me while I was changing the tire. I was finally able to get back on the bike and start pedaling again.

I was mostly ok, though disappointed in the tire issue, until about mile marker 41. Things started going downhill about then. My arms were sore, my lower back was cramping up, and I was getting tired. This is when the wind started. A headwind, of course. A pretty good one. Then I hit the big hills. By the time I got to the aid station at the top of the biggest hill, I was feeling pretty empty. I was having a lot of ugly and nasty thoughts about now, and was feeling very negative about this whole event. Because of the flat, I had the SAG vehicle behind me from the time I fixed the tire, to the end of the race. She went ahead and stopped at the aid station and when I got there, she told me that I had 15 minutes more to ride, or I could just get in the car then, since the course was supposed to be cleared by noon. I just looked at her, and started pedaling again. However, for the second time that day, I came unglued – I just kept on pedaling and cried. I had put in so much work over the past 5 months and it was coming to this??? I wasn’t going to be able to finish the one race that I had registered for??

After about 10 minutes of pedaling, the race vehicle pulled up beside me and told me that I was going to be allowed to finish the race, but that I was on my own on the Deuce of Clubs road, and that I should be careful about red lights. After my meltdown leaving the aid station, I didn’t have much left, so I just kept on pedaling into the headwind, which hadn’t stopped for one second since it started around mile 40.

By the time I hit the 50 mile mark, I was dying – everything hurt, and I really thought that I might not make it to the finish line, in spite of being allowed to stay on the course. We (me and the SAG wagon) turned into the park. I pedaled as fast and as hard as I could. I was holding myself together by a thread. I finally turned into the finish area and dismounted, and then ran my bike across the finish line. Then I turned at the end of the tents, and Shari came up to me and congratulated me for finishing. I just bent over my bike and cried. I was so tired, and so emotionally spent from everything, I just lost it. Again. We went over to an empty ramada and I told Elaine and Shari and Liane what happened out on the course. I finally pulled myself together and went down to transition to pack up my stuff.

The flat tire was a pain. There was nothing I could do about it, once it happened, but I will be carrying at least 4 tire levers from now on. I will also be carrying a different CO2 cartridge from now on. I did manage to eat and drink while I was riding. This was a first for me – I haven’t ever had the nerve to do this in a race before, and it did make a difference in how I felt at the end of the race.

We went back to the cabin and showered and then to the raffle. We got home and had leftovers, then went to bed early, since Shari was racing the Xterra on Sunday. We got up and to the race venue early. Rose N. and I volunteered as wetsuit strippers for the race, and then we worked the transition area. We drove home after the race.

When I got home, Ron had dinner ready, the laundry done and folded, the house clean, and all of the carpet removed from the dining room and living room, and the hallway. This was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.