19 July 2009

Race Day!!

Marlene and I drove up to Flagstaff on Friday so that we could have an extra day to relax before the race. The drive went smoothly and we didn’t hit any traffic, which was great. We got to our hotel and checked in and then drove over to the lake. It was really hot – isn’t Flagstaff supposed to be less hot than Tucson? It really didn’t seem like that was the case. We went out to dinner with a bunch of other TriGirls and had a great time, and hit the sack early. Saturday morning, we walked around downtown Flagstaff, and then got into bike clothes and went to the packet pickup with plans to ride for a half hour or so. I met up with Rachel, who was doing the Olympic relay with me, and we talked about the race and where she was going to camp. We got all checked in, and then went for a ride. I was gasping for air most of the time I was riding, and I was very happy that I had remembered my inhaler for race day. I met up with Mary L. for dinner and had a fabulous time, and then went back to the hotel to sleep. True to form, I didn’t sleep much and was up for the day by 2:42am.

Marlene and I headed out for the race site early, and got one of the scarce $5 parking spots. I was so happy about this because it meant that I didn’t have to schlep my crap a long way to and from transition. This is a good thing. We found a nice spot to set up, and I had nothing to do. Rachel was getting ready to swim, and all I had to do was put my bike shoes on. It was really strange. I didn’t know what to do with myself. Finally, Rachel started swimming and I went back to my bike to wait for her. Rachel is a fast swimmer. She *flew* through that swim! She ran up to me and put the chip on my ankle and I ran out of transition (slowly, so I wouldn’t slip on the asphalt). I haven’t ever been on a triathlon course so early in the race! There are a LOT of people out there! I felt good and I was pushing hard, maintaining over 85 rpms (something I have been working on) and not even breathing too badly. There was some wheezing, but nothing like Saturday. Until the hills – these hills were, as Liane would say, a total death slog. I was dying on those hills, and my speed dropped to 5mph or so. I kept on trying to push and people kept on passing me and passing me. One girl passed me and had a relay mark on her leg, so I tried to keep her in sight. I made it to the turn around and stopped for about 15 seconds to pull my shorts to a more comfortable place (after the race, I found that I had a huge saddle sore – something was definitely in the wrong spot!), and then headed out to the finish.

The second half of the bike was way easier than the first half, and I was pushing hard again – and this time, there were far fewer hills! Then I saw that girl who was doing a relay too. I was going to catch her or die trying. I finally caught up to her back wheel, but couldn’t manage to pass her outright. She looked back and stood up and pedaled off. It was a little bit of a bummer. However, I kept on pushing and she was about 50 meters away from me for the next several miles. Finally, I reached the one mile left marker. I put the hammer down (snort!! Me, with a “hammer”), and I caught her!!! With about a half a mile to go!! I passed her and didn’t even look back – she finished about 30 seconds after me. Even better, I passed another girl right after the relay girl. This does not happen often to me – it is rare than I pass anyone. I went into transition yelling for Rachel and she grabbed the chip and off she went.

Rachel is super fast --- she was back to the finish line in 50 minutes. With a 1.5 mile climb that was totally steep. She is amazing! We got 7th out of 8th for the relays. I had been so thrilled when I came into transition because when I subtracted my times, I thought I had done the bike in 1:35. When the oxygen returned to my brain, I figured out that I did it in 1:46:59 (according to my garmin), which is still pretty good for me, but not quite as good as 1:35. I am still happy with it, and that I didn’t get any flats or anything else going on.

I watched everyone else finish and took lots of pictures. Then Marlene and I went back to the hotel, showered and drove home. It was a pretty easy drive until we got to Marana when we got engulfed by a dust storm. I have never seen anything like that before – it was amazing! I took pictures with Marlene’s camera to send to my family on the east coast, since they have to see it to believe it.

It was a much nicer race than my last one, that is for sure.