Bigger Fish to Fry

Sometimes no matter what preparation you do, things don't turn out your way. I can't complain, my race didn't end so well this weekend, but my training, pre-race and race (up to the bad part) were great.

As I said to Eric, "No tears, there are bigger fish to fry."

Pre-race felt good - on Wednesday night Eric let me hop into the Bethel Summer Series race - Took a nice top-10 finish in the B field and felt great. Sam took top 10 in the A-race - making the breakaway group with some INCREDIBLE riders!

After a lovely dinner out with my boy, it was a few hours of sleep, then an early pick-up for the airport. The driver scooped up my Momma-bear as well and we flew to St Croix together. I love my Mom and it's amazing, no matter how much time we spend together, we're always happy for more!

Pre-race was uneventful, I got some great meals and practice workouts - I read 3 books (Angels and Demons, Slumdog Millionaire(formelry Q and A) and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan) and I recommend them all!

The heat was no problem and the choppy water was a welcome sight for me. The night before the race, Eric and I got in a nice pre-race chat. We talked about one of my top goals this year - to stay relaxed before and during races. To not worry about jokeying for position, but biding my time. Focussing on my Pranayama breathing - something I do in my yoga practice each day to center myself. It helps to banish any bad thoughts or worries and remind me to focus on the present, the now, what's happening with my own body, not the woman with really fit legs that is riding just behind me!

Race morning came and I loaded up with my usual pre-race breakfast (part of my race nutrition plan made by Jesse of QT2 Systems. After eating, I hopped back into bed for another hour, woke up and body marked myself before hitting transition. Hannah and a few other girls were there. The pro women were on the rack next to us and were fighting about racking position... seemed like a real waste of energy to me. Maybe next year Tom will just number the racks like Ironman so there can be no arguments, well, or less fighting! I suppose that is what happens when there is a lot of money on the line!

The girl racked next to me asked if I had lost my luggage, confused, I asked her what she meant - "well, where is all of your stuff? Your towel and such?" I just smiled - you see, I'm a minimalist when it comes to racing - I think wearing my visor is a bit of overkill. My transition area takes up a tiny bit of room - there is the bike w/ everything on it and then directly next to my front wheel are my running shoes and visor ready to go! That's all you need!

Ok, so onto the race - I swam over to the race start in my glorious Xterra Speedsuit and felt great - my arms were loose, the water comfortable with a slight current. The skies were clear and the sun was rising slowly. On the beach I found Hannah, Noah, Maggie, Duffy - a really nice volunteer who owns my favorite restaurant, Savant, and another Eric Hodska athlete - miss Margaret Coffey - who won my 1/2 marathon the first year I put it on.

After about a million waves went off, they lined up the first group of amateur women (18-29). I found Hannah and stayed in her shadow. I don't think she found this as amusing as I did! The gun goes off, I get a great start and am staying on Hannah's unbelievably fast feet when I get a hard elbow to the ribs - it sends me into the ropes and I lose Hannah's feet. I start sprinting to try and catch back on, but it's fruitless. A few seconds later, I notice a girl to my right swimming just a hair faster than me. I bee-line it for her feet and she pulls me thru the course. At a few times, the men got rough. The girl decided to take the course a bit wide, so we lost some time, but I'm still positive swimming on her feet was tactically the best choice and I came out of the water fresh.

I passed her in transition and thanked her for the tow. Onto the bike, I could not wait. With all the bike racing, I'm feeling super strong on my bike - even though this was my first ride on my tri-bike since Florida last November... oops! Maybe I'm liking that road cycling too much!

Eric instructed me to keep it controlled until after the Beast, so that's what I was doing - amazingly, even keeping it easy I was averaging over 20 mph. That first section is protected and you can really move. Through town I was feeling great, I saw my mom and I had moved up a few slots. My friend Monica came by me a minute or so before and I cheered and cheered - she has been suffering from a groin injury and was having a great day despite it.

A few miles before "the Beast" I heard that unwelcome sound of pssssssssshhhhhhhhtttttt! I pulled over and saw that my rear tire was entirely flat. So much for my "all-condition tires" plan. I get to the side of the road and find that one of my rear carbon cages has shattered off, thankfully it was my right one and not my left that contained my flat kit. Well, not so lucky, I found the jostling opened my flat kit bag and I had tube, tire levers, C02, but no trigger for the C02. I did what I could with the tire and realized my front was going flat too- slowly. Some people on the side of the road asked if I was ok, but I found they had no pump. So I waited. After 45 minutes, I asked if I could borrow their cell phone. I called my mom and told her what was happening, that I was going to continue, but that my day was pretty much done. Sometimes it's just not your day. Last year I had a flawless race, so I can't be upset.

I waited for almost 90 minutes for the sag vehicle on course. I used the time wisely - drank, ate, took a pee and chatted with the spectators. The sag vehicle was awesome and very nice. They got me up and running. A few miles later, on cold legs, I hit the beast. I was excited and amped and began climbing. Well, after 90 minutes on the side of the road, there are some less experienced cyclists on the road. The beast was lined with walkers, not a single other person on their bike but me. I get to about .4 the way up it and after weaving thru people, I'm calling out for people to move left (St Croix drives on the left, so we cycle on the left and pass on the right). Well, a guy moved left and then moved right - and right into me. I slammed my knee into my bike and heard a nasty sound and just felt this white-hot pain, I death wobbled and then recoverd to get to the top. I knew I had done something bad b/c the pain was extreme.

I finished the bike portion of the race - my bike computer read just under 3 hours, but my wristwatch exposed the time I had lost waiting. I thought to myself, "not finishing is not an option." Coming into town, I didn't take me feet out of my shoes, I went to dismount and couldn't bear weight on my leg. Before I could even call out for medical assitance, my mom was there propped under me. Tears filled my eyes with thanks. I wanted so much from the day, but ruining the rest of the season, or my athletic career for one race was not worth it.

In the med tent, the doctor came over to examine my knee. He started to torque it and immediately he said he had to set it. Well, besides the fact that he wreaked of pot, there was no way he was setting my knee. I called my doctor right then and made an appointment for when I got home.

So, like I said, no tears. It was a great day for competiton and a huge congrats go out to my friends who rocked the day: Monica took 3rd in her division, Amanda Lovato took 7th overall, Cait Snow took 3rd Overall - Jesse, Timmy and the QT2 crew had awesome results and my friend Hannah won our age group in spectacular fashion and is going to Kona again!!

When my sister and I competed, she used to say, "if I'm going to lose to someone, I want it to be you". I felt the same way. And I feel the same way with Hannah. She is so strong and she and I have jokeyed for years. In 2007 she took the Kona spot. Last year she had a mechanical and I took the Kona spot, This year, she won it and her text message after the race simply said:

"Next year is your year".

While I'm def. returning next year, I'm already thinking about my upcoming races this year. Gosh, and you all thought I was motivated before... watch out now!!!