Wildflower race report

Yesterday I finished my toughest race to date. Before I get to that, though, I want to fill you in on last week. Saturday, April 28th, we did another Big Ass Brick in Griffith Park -- a four hour bike ride followed by a 2 hour run. I felt really good on the bike, but suffered on the run. It was a hot day, and I did not take in enough nutrition on the bike. If I hadn't been running with my teammates, I would not have finished the run. But I did. The next day I had 2 hour 45 minute run on the schedule. I was afraid that it would be horrible, and that I wouldn't be able to do the whole thing, but I actually felt okay and had no thoughts of cutting the run short.

Last Sunday afternoon was my fundraiser in the park. Anne did such an amazing job organizing this for me. My brother Mike came from Lake Havasu and was a huge help. Tomie, Jen, Rox, and Selina also pitched in to make the day a success. I am very lucky to have such good friends and family. I raised $1300 and had a good time :) We did not get to play kickball because the field was being worked on, but we had relay races and an egg toss. The relay race involved a hippity hop, which just about did me in. My quads were on fire! And they were sore the next day too.

My stats for the week of April 23 (not counting hippity hop):
swim: 4800 yards
bike: 93 miles
run: 38 miles
total time: 15 hours 46 minutes

This week was a recovery week with a half ironman race, Wildflower Long Course, on Saturday. Not only is this a tough course, it involves camping. Luckily, my teammate Gregorio has a motor home. Maria, Gregorio, and I drove up Thursday right after school. We found a great spot, settled in, and got a good night's sleep. Friday morning we lounged a bit, then met up with our other teammates and headed down to the expo. It was a long, tiring afternoon. I went for a short spin on the bike just to make sure everything was working okay and then got my race bag packed for the morning. We had pasta dinner with the team ... Maria, Gregorio, Raul, Chris, Laurie, Meghan, and I were racing. Karen and Dean were volunteering and cheering us on. Coach Paul stopped by to give us last minute advice and wish us luck. I was looking forward to another quiet night in the motor home, but was not so lucky. The medical team volunteers were camping next to us, and they were up partying until 2 or 3am. At midnight I went out and asked them to quiet down. They didn't. One guy even got a little louder.

We got up at 6am, had breakfast and headed down to the transition area at about 7am. The race started at 8, but my wave didn't go until 9:25 ... plenty of time to work myself into a nervous frenzy. During the last trip to the porta potty, we noticed the wind picking up, making the water a bit choppy. Finally it's time to go. I got off to a decent start, and settled into a groove. Slow but steady. I got cut off by two boats -- a ranger and event organizers, and got hit by other swimmers a couple of times, but nothing too bad. The water was warm but choppy, especially on the way back.

The bike was a challenge. I rode this course a few weeks ago and knew it was tough. Race day brought some serious wind to make it even tougher. It seems like we had a head wind or cross wind the whole way and never a tail wind. But hey, this a training day, so bring it on! This will just make Coeur d'Alene that much easier. They have cut off times (which are totally unfair to the old ladies -- since I'm in the last wave, I have the least amount of time to do the race) but I wasn't too worried about it. I should have been because I was close to missing the bike cut off. As I was coming back into the campgrounds a woman told me I had 15 minutes. It was only 3 miles and most of it downhill, but it was also congested with runners and spectators so I had to be somewhat cautious. I made it! Now on to the run ... again a challenge with hills and heat. I did better with nutrition this week, but there is still room for improvement. I walked up the hills and ran on the flats, but I just couldn't get my legs to move very fast. I saw Dean, Karen, and Meghan at about mile 6 in the run. That was so awesome! I wore my Team in Training jersey and got a lot of love on the course, but it really was so great to hear my name shouted. Karen and Dean were at the finish line too --- they handed me my medal and cold, wet towel. I finished the race in 8 hours 8 minutes, well over my goal of 7 hours, but I finished a tough race that many others were unable to complete yesterday.