Ragnar Relay Las Vegas – Race Report

My trip started as any trip should – beers in the airport and winning money at the hotel casino! Ok, so I walked away about $15 richer… but it counts!

I was in Van 2 for the first time ever and I got to sleep in a little on race morning. My amazing team was named “I Just Blue Myself”. If you don’t get the reference, you should proceed directly to Hulu and watch every episode of Arrested Development – paying close attention to “Afternoon Delight”. episode 6. season 2. You can thank me later.

…you will also better understand the costumes worn by Chrissy and I for our first legs…

As we pulled in to the exchange where I’d start the first 3.5 miles of my 14.2 mile journey… I’m informed that it’s now the first 4 miles of a 14.7 mile journey… and it turned out to be more like 4.2 of 14.9. Anyway, at least I had a heads up!

So, I ran. The first half was uphill and into the wind. I believe they were 25mph sustained, with 40mph gusts… the second half was downhill with a tailwind. Whee!! Oh, and this was my first ever run in a costume… yup.

We wrapped up our first legs just before dark, and hit up Sweet Tomatoes for some dinner. We then proceeded to M Resort where we were supposed to have access to the casino, pool, and facilities. We did not. So, we hunkered down while the wind literally rocked the van, and we waited for Van 1.

Our route for the second leg was a straight out and back. Patrick and I ran the same leg – in opposite directions. Guess who’s leg involved a slight uphill for 3.5 miles? Me! The out and back could have been really fun if it weren’t so darn cold and windy. There could have been cheering and car-eoke… but we mostly stayed bundled up inside and out of the wind.

I was actually warm enough running in shorts, a t-shirt and my Swiftwick arm warmers. It was nice! But once I stopped, the cold took over again!!

My last leg was the whole reason I chose this runner position. It was hilly, sure, and long. 7.2 miles on a path by Lake Mead. It was BEAUTIFUL. I charged up the hills while people walked. I took in the scenery. I loved every quad-killing, calf-burning second of that run – especially the sections through the tunnels!

I finished running wanting more – and I think that’s the way it should be

A few notes on the course:

The standing joke with my team was that we’re writing letters to Ragnar starting with “Congratulations on barely pulling off Rangar Las Vegas…” Between bad directions, wrong mileage, not having amenities promised on course, running out of safety flags (a piece of equipment that could get you disqualified if you don’t have them), and false road closures, it was WAY more of an adventure than I signed up for! Don’t get me wrong – I love Ragnar Relays and generally have great experiences – and I even had a BLAST on this one – but this race director has some serious work to do if they want to maintain that reputation.

That said – the Keys have been near flawless the past two years, and I’m looking forward to year #3 there. Carrie rocks!

Tour de South Florida

So, in 5 short days, I managed to put 800 miles on the rental car and have an amazing time.

I picked up my rental car in Fort Lauderdale as South Florida was under the rain and heavy winds from the outskirts of Hurricane Sandy. It took for-freaking-ever to get through Miami, but the rest of the drive went quickly. I arrived in Key West and parked downtown and started partying. It was good to see old friends and just take in the crazy shenanigans! I spent a grand total of about 34 hours in town, but it was well worth the trip.

I soon found myself en route to Venice, for Rev3 Florida! I would be participating in a relay with two lovely local ladies – and I’d be swimming. Unfortunately, it seemed as if mother nature had other plans. I hung out at the expo, met up with my relay teammates and Rev3 teammates, and prayed that the wind would die down.

It didn’t. Race day was swimless. I was bummed – but even if the water were swimmable, it was NOT safe for boats and rescue crews to be out there – which is kind of essential. The pros started with a 1.5 mile run.

So, instead of a 1.2 mile swim – I ran the length of transition and handed my chip off to my biker.

Then, I plated paparazzi for a while with my teammates:

Chloe
http://runningwithabottleofwine.blogspot.com/

Tara
http://taramartine.blogspot.com/

John
http://stevensonxc.blogspot.com

Jamie
http://twitter.com/dixie1206

Joel
http://trimadnessblog.wordpress.com/

My Relay Teammates making the handoff!

Crossing the finish line with Tiffany and Rae Ann!

I hung out for the last finisher. It was happy, tearful, and inspiring. Rev3 halts all crew work to bring EVERYONE to the finish line to welcome the final finisher. It’s pretty amazing.

 After the race, I went for a run (seriously) and had a nice sushi dinner in Venice. The following day, it was back to Fort Lauderdale for some wonderful beach time and a little reunion with some of my favorite people on the planet. 

 Tuesday came, and I left FL for AZ once again!

Tinfoilman Race Report

I put off writing this because honestly, I was bummed. So, let’s get that out of the way, shall we? I missed the podium by a minute, and I swam an extra 50, due to me not being 100% sure of my ability to count to 825 yards, and my counter being inattentive. That’s 40 seconds, right there. If I had that time back, I might have been able to bust my butt for an extra 10 seconds/mile on the run and snagged the spot. Bummer, right?

That aside, I’ve been nursing an injury. Since Deuces Wild Xterra, my volume dropped from 10 hours per week to about 4… including a full week where all I did was swim in a race at Superfrog.

So, forgetting about the first paragraph above, and focusing on the second, I had a GREAT race. Really, I did. It just took me a few days to get over myself.

The race was really exciting. I had quite a few friends and one coaching client who were competing in their first ever triathlon! I got to watch all of them swim. Tinfoilman goes in waves, from slowest to fastest in the pool. I was in wave 9, so I had all of the time in the world to hang out and spectate.

Swim:

Started off great. I drafted the girl in the lane next to me for the first 300 or so until she pulled away. I focused on keeping my effort level high and steady. I was about 80% sure that I counted right, but when I didn’t see the lane counter’s signal to stop, I kept going. I am NOT awesome at counting and it wouldn’t surprise me to be off by a 50 or even 100. I didn’t have a watch on and I couldn’t see the clock – which is how I usually keep track. When I finally got out, I was pretty sure I swam an extra 50, but I decided to forget about it because there was nothing I could do.

T1:

Need to practice taking the swimskin off, but otherwise, it went well. I got a new aero helmet, and I need to remember to put it on before my sunglasses. I ran about as hard as I could in bike shoes and hit the mount line.

Bike:

3 loops. I thought I’d hate it, but it was actually nice. It was fun to see my friends cheering for me 3 times on a 12 mile course! I went back and forth with a girl in an aero helmet riding a Cervelo P4. Darn right, my ego took over and I decided not to let her go. Stephanie (who went a 5:18 at Superfrog) went by me on the first loop, so I tried to stick with her for a bit – unsuccessfully, I might add. The course was great except one road – Euclid. It was terrible. It was also similar conditions to where I crashed my Fuji a few months ago. I tried to put those thoughts aside and just hammer up the terrible, bumpy, potholed road. I realized I was thirsty – and hungry! I brought no gels or food with me, so I settled for water. I was redlining and sort of felt like puking for the first two laps. I found a strong rhythm on the 3rd lap and almost wished the race was longer.

T2:

Quick dismount, quick ditching of the cycling gear. Sat down to put running shoes on because I could feel potential cramps building in my calves.

Run:

My lips and mouth were SO DRY! I just tried to focus on each person in front of me and pick them off one by one. I grabbed water at each opportunity. I could see Chrissy on the first lap, and I knew I was gaining on her. I didn’t even feel my knee the entire time. There were a bunch of spectators, which was cool, and I ran solo the entire time. I never really got lonely or felt like I was out there for a long time, which is a welcome change! I tried extra hard to run the tangents well. I was outsprinted by someone headed to the finish chute, but I couldn’t find the extra kick in the end.

Age Group Place: 4/23

Overall place: 60/320

Swim:

5th AG

11:42 (for an 875 instead of an 825. Oops)

Bike:

4th AG

37:18 (including T1 and T2 – computer had it at 35:XX. 12 miles)

Run:

5th AG

25:04 (3 miles)

Total:

1:14:05

For the first time EVER – my bike split ranked better than my run and my swim. Sign of improvement? Sign that lots of swimmers and/or runners do this race for fun? Who knows.

Now, I’ll focus on building up my running again working 10mpw this week and next, then jumping to 15mpw if all seems right. I also did my first bike commute since monsoon season this morning – and I hope to do that 2x’s a week. I’m also getting ridiculously excited for Rev3 Florida in less than two weeks!!! I’ll be doing the swim leg of a relay, and I’m looking forward to just having a really fun weekend

Rev3 Quassy Race Report

Let’s start with a little background, shall we? I signed up for the Olympic distance three weeks ago when I realized that having lost my job, I would have all the free time I wanted. I added an extra week to my Memorial Day trip home. I was slightly under-trained on the run and swim, but I can fake a swim, and my bike mileage was reaching new levels. I was excited. Then, I crashed my bike. It hurt, mentally, physically and financially. So, I had a REALLY LONG two week unintentional taper. I knew it was too late to cram in training, and sort of used that, and the fact that I no longer had a tri bike, as an excuse to slack off.

After scrambling around like a mad woman, I secured a bike to borrow, from my awesome Rev3 Teammate, Laura.

One way or another, it was going to be an interesting race day!

My mom and I hit the road on Friday afternoon. We cruised all the way until the Connecticut border, where we then spent well over an hour covering the final 20 miles to the race site. I picked up my packet, my mom and I checked in as volunteers, and I tracked down Laura and her bike.

I realized then that her bike had tubular wheels. I had spare tubes and tire levers. That wasn’t going to work. So, I rode with nothing. No CO2, no spares… I do not really recommend doing this, but this race wasn’t as important to me as just being there was!

We met some of my AMAZING Rev3 Teammates for dinner, and then me and my mom were off to our hotel. There was a restaurant in front of our hotel, and my mom was craving desert. She got a fruity drink, and I had a beer.  It was a nice way to wind down after such a long day.

Race morning came, and we were greeted with POURING rain. I knew it was in the forecast, but it was made extremely real to me on race morning.

I was 2 weeks out of a crash, on a borrowed bike, on hills, in the rain. I’ve ridden a good amount in the rain – in Florida. My experience riding in the rain ON HILLS was probably zero, unless you count a drawbridge or two.

I wasn’t thinking about anything else. I was thinking about those hills and turns in the pouring rain. I told my mom it didn’t even feel like a tri, because I hadn’t even spent time thinking about swimming or running that day.

My mom was volunteering at the swim start, so she headed down there around 6, and I went in to finish setting up transition. I covered my bike and run shoes in plastic and hoped they would at least be dry when I put them on. Racing in the cold and the rain are both new to me, so I put myself in the mindset that this would be a learning experience. I got into my Blueseventy Reaction wetsuit, and prepared for the swim. I was SO HAPPY I had sleeves on my wetsuit. I sold my sleeveless and picked up the Reaction and a PZ3TX swim skin, and figured I had my bases covered for any water temp. The 71 degree water felt SO WARM compared to the air and rain!

Swim was not my best, but it turned out decent. I found some great feet and was moving along… until I ended up WAY wide after the first turn. I’m not sure how or why it happened, but I found myself a good 30 yards outside of the line between the buoys. Oops. Note to self, take every OWS opportunity I can find in AZ! The water was amazingly warm, and after I rounded the second buoy, I held a pretty solid line to the finish.

Time: 26:30 Pace: 1:46/100m (1:37/100yd) Place: 8/32 AG

Got my cycling shoes on, helmet on, and didn’t know what to do with my sunglasses. I thought I might want them for protection from the rain, so I shoved them into my sports bra, and that is where they remained for the entire ride. I felt mildly dysfunctional and thrown off as a result of the weather. Plus, no wetsuit strippers!

T1: 2:27

Time for the ride. Let me start with my mother’s perspective. She took that picture of me at the swim exit, cheered me out of transition, and went back to the car and turned on the heat. No sooner had she closed the door, that the rain outside became a downpour. Fun!

I got out of the park and turned left. Shortly after that was a sharp left turn… and someone was on the ground recovering from a crash. I got scared. My strategy switch from “carefully crush it” to just plain “careful!”. The temperature was in the high 50s, and I was cold. I gradually lost feeling in my toes.

The downhills were mostly out of my comfort zone. I was constantly passing people on the climbs, only to have them blow by me on the downhills.

I really went through a range of emotions on this ride. It was stressful. I talked to myself a lot. I picture warm, sunny places to keep me warm. I gazed longingly at all of the SAG vehicles, thinking about how warm and dry it would be inside – and telling myself that dropping out was better than crashing. Luckily, I’ve got pride. I was determined to brave the elements and get myself to the end of the bike.

Eventually, the numbness spread, and I was numb from toes to ankles! I never noticed numb hands, so I wasn’t worried about not being able to brake properly.

On the final climb, I could see the lake we swam in. The scenery was amazing – but sadly my intense concentration on keeping the bike rubber side down caused me to miss a lot of it.

I want to go ride this course in the sunshine – I think it would be awesome!!

Bike: 1:46:57, 14.4 mph – told you it was slow! Still good enough to keep me out of the bottom 1/3rd of my age group. One girl in my age group managed to break the 20mph barrier, if that tells you anything.

Still focusing hard in the rain!

Got into T2, and struggled getting shoes on my very numb feet.

T2: 1:56

Mid sentence – yelling “I can’t feel my feet!” to my mom.

I started the run and I was SO excited to warm up a little! The course is really pretty, and at a run pace, I could enjoy it! Also, this was amazing running weather. I had my Pearl Izumi IsoTransition shoes on, and they drain really well! The uppers don’t hold a bunch of moisture either. I was worried that my feet would be cold, but I gradually regained feeling in them.

Around mile 1, I started running with some guy named Troy. This made my run awesome. He was talkative, and running a solid pace. I decided to hang on as long as I could.

At mile 2.5, I could completely feel my feet again! I was still running with Troy. He was cheering and happy, and we kept picking up runners and dropping them. Almost everyone we passed tried to hang with us for a while – likely because we started oozing positive energy. I was so incredibly happy that I toughed out the bike, that the run was a total celebration. The hard part of my day was over, and I just lived in the moment.

The hills were rough, but not too tough. This course is no walk in the park, but with a little hill training, it’s not soul-crushing either.

Run: 58:13, 9:32 min/mile

Total: 3:16:03

My slowest Olympic distance race on record, and my first 3hr+ finish. But, I’m pretty darn proud.

Decent swim, didn’t crash the bike, and actually had fun on the run

Post race involved sitting in the car with heated seats and the heater blasting. My mom and I walked around, grabbed warm drinks, and went out for lunch.

Duathlon National Championships 2012

This race was seriously top-notch. Despite not getting much more than 500 participants, while the Triathlon National Championship attracts over 1600, this event still is phenomenal. From the swag – tech t-shirts and hats NOT covered in sponsor logos – to the race numbers (see picture below), to the TriTats, to the amazing race facility… you get the point!

On race day, I finally met Kim! I know her from a mentor group over on Beginner Triathlete, and she’s a Tucson Tri Girl! …but I didn’t get a picture, oh well!

After a warm-up jog to and from the port-a-potties – which were plentiful! – I was ready to race. I lined up with Kim near the back, and we were off!

 

All I wanted to do was average 8:XX pace. I started running, and my wave, women under 50, took off! There were some FAST ladies here. Kim was ahead of me. I looked at my watch and saw 7:20. I backed off, and looked behind me. There were maybe 10 runners behind me. Crazy fast! I made it to the first turnaround pretty quickly, ran back past the start line, and headed to the second turn-around. It seemed pretty long, but before I knew it, I was climbing the infamous hill up into transition. It clmbs 100 ft in the last half mile. It isn’t huge, but it feels like it.

T1 was decent, but I really need to do a few B/R/B/R/B/R/B type workouts. I just don’t function that well in race mode yet. Anyone want to volunteer to guard gear in a parking lot for me? I ran out with my shoes on because of the sharp turn at the Bike Out.

Got out of transition, and started pedaling hard. Soon, I checked my GPS. I was going 15 miles per hour, and I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere despite trying very hard. Eventually, the road flattened and I realized that I was climbing the whole time… that was why I was going slow!  So, I pushed. I passed Kim, I hit the turnaround and I got tired. Kim passed me. I reminded myself that my plan was to hammer as hard as I could. I thoroughly enjoyed the long downhill back to transition! I almost wiped out at the second turnaround back by transition. I told myself that the race was half over and I needed to get moving!

I pushed the up-hills and I pushed the downhills. I realized that I was doing those well, but I subconsciously slacked on the flats. So, I made the effort to try even harder on the flats. I passed Kim again, and came into transition a little ahead of her.

My average on the bike was 18.5mph. I’m impressed. I really think that in the short amount of time I’ve been living in Tucson, I’ve had a biking breakthrough.

T2 was quick, but I did sit down to put my shoes on. When I try to put shoes on when my legs are already fatigued, I tend to cramp up in my calves. Sitting down solved this problem!

My plan for the second run was just to give it everything I had left… and it wasn’t much. I ran extra hard on the downhills, knowing that the uphills would slow me down. I did have to remind myself that it was just a 5k left! I didn’t walk up the hill, even though I really wanted to. I could barely breathe coming up to the finish line. My throat felt closed up.

For the first time, I was asked if I needed medical help at the end. I promised I was ok and just needed to catch my breath. I walked around a bit, and then headed home.

I went back for awards and claimed my spot at Worlds!

The awards ceremony was worth attending. It was informative, fun, and inspiring! There were standing ovations for the para-triathletes as well as the 88 year old finisher! There were awards for fastest transition and slowest! For the slowest, they gave out pies and a lawn chair

All around, it was a great event, and I’m happy with my performance:

ING Miami Marathon Race Report

Pre-race routine:

I spent the night before at my friend Christine’s house. She partied until 4:15, and we were up at 4:45. Somehow, I never heard her come in, and she never heard me leave – and she lives in a studio apartment!

Event warmup:

Patrick drove me to a spot a few blocks from the start. I made sure I had all of my race gear, used TriSlide to lube up those problem spots, and headed into the crowd.
Hit bathrooms in the Arena, and again at the port-a-potties near my corral. I was more calm than I expected to be.
I had wanted to start with the 4:30 pace group, but when I finally saw the sign, it was WAY in the back of the corral, and I wasn’t about to work my way back there.
I got into position and ran into a friend who was running the half!
15 minutes after the start, I finally hit the start line!

The Run:

Wow. Where do I start? I was smiling for almost the whole thing!We crossed the start line, and I was moving at about 10:20min/mile, and so was everyone else. I was so happy I ran into Rosa before the start, and we ran together for a few miles. I carried a water bottle, because I was told that the first aid stations were a total cluster. Glad I did! I chucked the water bottle after the second station and started relying on the course.

I lost Rosa around mile 3, and I was on my own. I chatted with a few people, was blatantly ignored by others… Just as we entered South Beach, the 4:15 pace group passed me. I had no idea they were behind me!
Around this time, I also changed the screen on my Timex. I had set the distance to 26.8, and the time to 4:30. The screen just had big #s, telling me how many minutes & seconds I was behind my goal time. I was probably around 4-5 minutes at this point.

South Beach was cool. I hit the 5 mile sign and thought to myself that I could do that 4 more times… and then still run 1.2. They had these 8oz bags of water they were handing out, which were the best thing EVER. (http://www.82gowater.com/site/). Somewhere on SoBe I also stepped on a mostly full one of those that squirted directly up my shorts. For a split second, I thought I peed.

We ran past a good amount of spectators, some still out drinking from the night before, some just waking up to cheer us on!

I picked up another running buddy around mile 7, and we chatted for about a mile. She told me to take the sidewalks over the bridges on the Venetian Causeway, because the metal grates were tricky. Shortly after I left her, I picked up another girl who works for lululemon. They had INSANE cheering sections at two different points on the marathon course, and she took off when an entire entourage ran about 1/4 mile with her.

Along the bridges, there were even people cheering from boats! I thought that was totally cool. The final bridge brought us back into the ING Cheering section. It was just after mile 10 – and I let the thought enter my head that I still had SIXTEEN miles to go! I quickly pushed that out of my head and decided I couldn’t count down miles until I had less than 10 left. Until then, I’d count up! The cheering zone was crowded but not very loud. The highlight was definitely the guy in the middle of the course with a “Free Hugs” sign. I gave him a BIG hug, then continued on to the crappy part of Miami.

The miles stopped flying by from 11-13. I was anxious to reach the Half/Full split. I eventually made it to the halfway point, crossed the mat in 2:13, and found my friend, Wally!

I personally do not bandit races. I think those that do are making their own decision. Wally wanted to bandit the half, but when he found out I was running the full, he asked to run the second half with me. I accepted. He’s ran the half at this event more than once, and really wanted to do the second half of the course.

So I picked up Wally, who had a Happy Birthday balloon tied to his shirt so I could find him. The balloon was meant for a friend whose birthday was the next day. But, it was Wally’s birthday earlier in the week. He was confused when people started wishing him a happy birthday because he forgot he had a balloon tied to his shirt!

I briefed Wally on my pace, progress, plans and whatever I thought he should know. We settled into a comfortable pace and kept going.

Shortly after mile 15, we came upon the hashers! Patrick met me on my side of the road and gave me a little cup of beer. I drank it, and I was off again!

My plan was to eat every 5 miles. I ate at 5, 11 (didn’t see the mile 10 aid station in time!), and at 15, I really didn’t want another gel. So, I waited. Mile 16 came and went, and I still didn’t want to. I knew I would be starting to cross that bonk line, so at 17, I forced one down. Luckily, it stayed down, and my stomach didn’t revolt.

I hit mile 18, and I was confident that I had 8 more miles in me. Around this time, I looked at my watch, and it said –:–:–. I was right on par with a 4:30 finish (for 26.8 miles though). My GPS had me about .2 miles further than the course at this point, too.

At mile 19, we were FINALLY headed back in the direction of the finish line. I was still happy feeling good. I could have stopped at a port-a-potty, but I didn’t want to. I was afriad it would be hard to get moving again. My stomach gave a few threatening grumbles for the last 7 miles, but thankfully, nothing awful happened.

We hit mile 20, and I saw my first runner in distress – sitting on the side of the road with medics attending to him. I was happy I still felt ok, but it was a reminder that things could shift at any time.

With a 10k left, gas still in the tank, I expected the miles to start flying by again. They didn’t. I kept breathing steadily, taking in gatorade and water at the aid stations, and pushing to mile 21.5 where I knew I’d see my hashers again. I grabbed a beer, a kiss and some high-fives and kept moving. To my surprise, two MORE hashers were running with me! Stop the Bus and Wimp! (Those are their hash names, get used to it!)

They caught up, told stories, and just distracted me from running. At mile 22, we split and head towards the Rickenbacker Causeway – the tallest bridge in South Florida. Wally complained, but I told him we’d just turn around under the bridge, and not cross over it. As we ran through the toll booth, I joked about not having change. Stop the Bus was happy to see I still had my sense of humor, but that was about to disappear.

Mile 23 brought pain. I was still moving, still picking off people left and right, but dang did it start to hurt!

Right before mile 24, I ran into yet another hasher! He was running the full and was struggling. We ran with him for about a mile before he dropped back. I hit mile 24 and started pushing with whatever I had left, which wasn’t much.

The finish line did not want to get closer. The last two miles felt like four! Wimp stayed back with my other friend, and Wally and Stop the Bus stuck with me. We came up to the last half mile, and Stop the Bus kept telling me to push harder! I told him I had been pushing harder for the last two miles!!

The put a nice drawbridge (read: FL version of a Hill) in that last half mile. Go, go, go. Don’t stop. I was struggling to breathe. I wanted to walk so badly, but I didn’t. As we passed the 26 mile marker, Stop the Bus told me it was my last chance to shave off a few seconds, and that I’d be happier for every bit of energy I put into it. I pushed a little harder, and crossed the finish line!

What would you do differently?:

For my first marathon? Not a thing.

Post race

Warm down:

Walked around. Found Patrick. Found Christine and her family. Her dad was SO PROUD of me, and I had never even met him before!

Patrick and I sat down in the beer tent, then walked like 1.5 miles to the car. We got some food, and headed to the hash, where I walked another mile or two, and had some more beers :)

What limited your ability to perform faster:

If I ran more while training, I’m certain I could run faster. But, we’ll save that for another time.

That’s wally to my right, and Stop the Bus to his right. Such awesome support!!

Planes, trains and automobiles… and ferries and my own two legs

…aka the Race Report for Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage

Thursday morning, we were up at O-dark thirty to head to the airport. The trip started out on a good note, with me losing my wallet somewhere in the airport. Luckily, my ID was in my fleece pocket and I had some checks stashed elsewhere. Crisis averted, cards cancelled, wallet found in airport (but I still haven’t picked it up!). One layover and a minor delay later, and we were at Sea-Tac!

Our team slowly assembled at the airport bar. After picking up our vans, we headed to our first hotel. Apparently in the Pacific Northwest, $99 gets you a big room in a hotel with a pool and a hot tub! We headed out to Target to pick up the extremely necessary supply of food for the van. Van 1, my van, randomly wandered the aisles… Van 2 had a list! Van 2 also slipped a self-enema package into our cart. Hilarious. We went out to dinner at a local burger place, and headed back to the hotel. Van 1 was assembling at 4:45 am, so we pretty much went right to bed!

We met in the lobby and found out that the hotel was nice enough to have breakfast out early for all of the Ragnar runners! Way to earn some bonus points, Quality Inn. Van 1 headed to the start line that was literally next to the Canadian border. The announcer kept telling us to scream loud enough to wake up Canada. We took some awesome pictures of our sexy race gear and headed to the start line.

Our first runner, Eric, donned the infamous pink camouflage shorts and started off team F*** That Hill.

By the way, when designing out shirts, we got Ragnar’s permission to use their logo. So, our shirts became F-Ragnar That Hill.

I was runner #3, so I had plenty of time to hit the many, many port-a-potties located at the exchanges. My first run was 8.5 miles, with about 550 ft of total elevation gain, 283 net elevation gain. That might not sound like a lot, but the biggest “hill” (in Florida, hill = bridge) that I run regularly is 25’, a local causeway is 55’, and my largest option within an hour drive is 78’. For real. Anyway, my run went really well! The roads were awesome, and the rolling hills made me wishing I had my bike! I had a running buddy for about 3 miles somewhere in the middle of the run, but he left me in the dust when he powered up a hill. I saw a dead deer in a ditch, and a lot of signs saying shotguns were allowed, but not rifles or handguns were. Should I have been concerned? I made it to my next exchange just under 10 minute miles and with a pretty angry IT band.

Luckily, while I still had 2 runs left, I was over halfway through my mileage! I broke out the foam roller in quite a few parking lots and fields along the way…

After all of the runners in our van had completed our first legs, we met up with Van 2 at the first big exchange. We handed off the slap bracelet (our “baton”) to them, and hit Olive Garden for lunch. Unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks? Yes, please! We headed to the next big exchange where we’d meet Van 2, and spread out in the grass for some naps. I changed into my sweet Odwalla kit! I didn’t wear it on the first  run because the top chafes on long runs, but I wanted to rep Odwalla! Thanks to them, both of our vans were stocked with Odwalla bars for us and for other teams!

My next run was 3.5 miles, and FLAT! I altered stride lengths to find one that was comfortable for my IT band. Oddly enough, long strides hurt the least. So, I bounded through the miles. I got stopped at a traffic light while my team’s van was next to me, so I entertained them with exaggerated stretches that really accentuated my butt. You’re welcome. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of this.  They moved on to the next exchange. Little did I know, my boyfriend was donning the infamous pink camo shorts…

Yup. He’s mine. Check out those tan lines. I flew with an average pace of 8:20. I handed off to my boyfriend in those awesome shorts… and I distributed a TON of Odwalla bars! We followed our runners along, and eventually made our way to the next big exchange. It was at a park, and it was just starting to get dark. Van 2 was doing pretty well, and was ready to run again! We got some food, and went right to the next big exchange to get some sleep in!

By the time Van 2 met us, it was just after midnight. I LOVE the middle-of-the-night runs at Ragnar. Eric was off first, for a really long up-hill run. We stopped twice to offer water and make sure he didn’t disappear. Luckily, my run was only 2.9 miles. I averaged a 9:05 pace. I struggled with the first uphill, but flew down the downhill sections. I kept seeing red blinking lights ahead of me and, thinking they were runners, I’d chase them down. Every time, they turned out to be the lights on the signs that were giving us directions!. I didn’t see a single person on that entire run. There was much RICE after I finished, and we hurried along to pick up Patrick after his leg, which was short, too.  I was happy to be done, but I was secretly jealous of Chrissy’s final run. It had two 250ft hills, started at night, and was greeted with sunrise and an AMAZING view at the top of the second hill. I don’t think she enjoyed it too much though…

We dropped off our final runner, and stopped to meet her. We got a glorious sunrise view.

We picked her up – and we  were done! We headed to a grocery store for some beer, and hit the finish line. We drank, napped and wandered while waiting for Van 2 and our final runner to arrive. We crossed the finish line as a team and got our bottle opener medals.

Our captain, Aaron, then informed us that we could save $300 if we got the vans back in three hours. That a lot of beer money – so we headed right to the ferry dock! We took a ferry from Whidbey Island, and drove the vans back to the airport.

From the airport, we took light rail up to the hotel in downtown Seattle. We showered, napped, and started partying.

It was an awesome weekend with some really fun people. I highly recommend doing a Ragnar Relay (or something similar) at some point. The beauty of them lies in the fact that runners of any ability level can participate. Our shortest leg covered just 11.5 miles (3.1m, 4.2m, 4.2m) in the 28.5 hours it took us to complete it. The longest distance ran was 21.5, so there really is something for everyone.

St. Anthony’s Tri Race Report

I did it! My knee survived! Here are the full results

bib number:	461
age:	25
gender:	F
location:	Ft Lauderdale, FL
division place:	61 out of 104
gender place:	466 out of 994
time:	2:53:22
pace:	0:
swim:	16:02
t1:	6:32
bike:	1:31:16
t2:	2:58
run1:	28:42
run:	56:34

So, Patrick, Duke and I headed out to St Pete on Friday night. After a brief stop in West Palm Beach to see an old friend, we headed across Florida.

Packet pick-up, bike drop off and the expo were all on Saturday. After dog-proofing the house, we went to check it out. I did a quick expo trip – mainly to see the wonderful people at Gu that gave me a free entry to the race! They gave us samples of Roctane Gu, Gu Brew, and Gu Chomps. All were pretty awesome, and I ended up using the Gu Brew during the race! I

Sunday morning came around, and we headed out before dawn. Breakfast was rice kirspy treats made with chocolate peanut butter. Warm-up involved a walk around the block with the dog, walking to transition, and then the LONG walk to the swim start! They shortened the swim because of the conditions, and moved it so we were pretty much swimming with the current the whole way… and they added like 1/2 mile run from the swim exit to transition!

Going into the race, I felt fairly under-trained. My IT band cause me to not run for 6 weeks. My bike volume was inconsistent. Rather than push through, I figured I’d keep it and a sustainable pace throughout the race to try to avoid totally bonking.

I was (thankfully) in an early swim wave. I lined up, and the competition looked fierce! I decided to step back from the front lines and hang just behind the leaders. BAD IDEA. This was by FAR the roughest, most violent swim start ever. I’ve never been in a pack of girls more determined to beat the living crap out of each other. I seriously considered getting to the outside and just chilling until the storm passed, but as soon as I did, it seemed to open up. That didn’t last. It was awful until the final turn buoy. Then, I got some space and cruised by a few people. My pace was 1:37/100m, so nothing to complain about there!

T1 was FOREVER long. We ran pretty far, barefoot, on the sidewalk, back into transition. I jogged lightly, trying to make the IT band happy. Once inside, my transition was quick! My run was pretty slow, and that really shows on the results. I chatted with a super-awesome fellow AGer in T1, and it was a nice lift of my spirits!

I ran out of T1 and quickly mounted my bike. I hit cruise control. I didn’t want to go too hard, but I wanted to be steady. The wind was nuts! I’d be doing 18-19mph with the wind, and like 14 against it. The course had tons of turns and was pretty cool. I had my new aero water bottle mounted between my bars. I liked it. I ended up finding a girl doing about my pace, so I sat like 15 yards behind her for a really long time. Before the halfway mark, I saw an athlete bleeding on the ground with a few people around him, waiting for an ambulance. Scary. I hope he’s ok! I would have stopped, but with other people there, there was really nothing I could do. I made sure the next officer directing traffic was aware of the situation. At the halfway point, there was water! I didn’t really need it, but I grabbed it anyway. I figured it was good to practice, since I wasn’t really pushing it. I topped off my aero bottle, and chucked the one they gave me – it was so efficient! A few miles later, however, the aero bottle had come loose. I only had 4 to go, so I worked with it. Luckily, 1 mile before the brick road leading into transition, I saw Patrick! I chucked my bottle at him so I didn’t have to worry about it anymore. I picked up the pace and hammered right to the dismount line. Speed: 16.3 mph. Yeah, I need some improvement here!

I jogged my bike into T2, but as soon as I got past the fence, I walked. I was nervous about the IT band and didn’t want to just start going. I changed shoes, switched from helmet to visor, and grabbed my number.

I decided to just run until pain started, then do run/walk intervals. I made it to the first mile sign in 8:40! I was feeling good and I was so HAPPY to be running! I walked all of the aid stations. It was getting hot out there, so at least 2 cups at each one – drink one, pour one over my head. A few families in houses along the course even had hoses out, and were spraying runners! I made it FIVE miles before my knee started to complain a little. I took a walk break, knowing I could make it in under three hours.  Pace: 9:07/mile.

Final thoughts?

1. My run fitness is still there! Despite almost 2 months of injury and no real running since March 19, I managed a great run!

2. I need to bike more!

3. I love racing – and this was a great race!

4. The field in Tampa/St. Pete is way more competitive than in Miami!

5. Duke is growing up! He was SO well behaved this weekend. I’m proud.

Miami Mile Race Report

What a BEAUTIFUL day for a swim!

We got up, grabbed Big & Toasty Sandwiches and iced coffees from Dunkin Donuts, and hit the road. Not the best pre-race breakfast, but I didn’t care. I was hungry, and they looked so good!

We headed South toward Swim Miami 2011.

We showed up, and parking was a mess. We were supposed to use the garage, but it ran out of tickets. So, we hit a surface lot nearby. We walked into the race, and there were no signs indicating where to check in. I finally found it, only to learn that they ran out of the right color cap AND they ran out of small and medium t-shirts. Oh well. I decided to hit the bathroom. They had NO port-a-potties. There were TWO stalls for all female participants and spectators. This is a huge pet peeve of mine…

Wrong color cap. Oh well!

After finally making it out of the bathroom, I realized that everyone had body markings and timing chips. These weren’t even mentioned to me when I checked in! I found the body markers, who pointed me in the direction of the timing chip tent… they had also failed to mention how many waves there were or when the waves started.

Timing Chip. The lack of Velcro meant I needed to put my Silly Bands to good use!

Masters women was the LAST wave. We got out to the dock where they promised we’d be able to see the turn around buoy… not true.

Anyway, I chatted and joked with the other women about how lost we were going to get, and how no one should follow me The air horn sounded and we were off! I made it to the buoy that was described as our first right turn… and stopped when I heard whistles. They failed to tell us there was a buoy that was the exact same as the one at the turn, about halfway down the course. I was a little frustrated, but I rejoined the pack. We were swimming RIGHT into the sun, and sighting was awful.

I returned to what I thought was the right course. After a few minutes, I spotted the buoy. Instead of hitting the yellow cylinder buoy, turning right, swimming 30 yards, hitting the orange triangle buoy, and heading back to shore (as we were instructed in the pre-race breifing), the two buoys were moored on the same line! It was so confusing. I swam hard into the turn around and headed back to the pier… or so I thought. It was in a marina, boats were moored everywhere, and sighting/swimming straight back was impossible! I think I took the long way around a few boats. A nice volunteer directed me back to the right channel. As I settled into the final push, when I could FINALLY see the finish line, I saw swimmers filtering in from EVERY direction! I was not the only one to have gotten lost. I sped by a few people and touched my timing chip to the finish tag.

I started talking to the girl that finished behind me. She had been terribly lost, too. It seemed to be the theme of the event.

I headed over to the timer’s table and grabbed my results. 24:23? Awesome! That’s a 1:25 pace! That also makes zero sense for how lost I was, and how much time I spent looking for the right course and correcting my course. So, I’m fairly certain that the course was short, too! … but I tied for first in my age group!

Sorry. I just complained a lot.

The weather was gorgeous. The water temp was perfect. The post-race spread of bagels, oranges, and melons was ample. The other swimmers were fun. I enjoyed getting in an OWS before my first tri this season. Races like this make me appreciate simple, well-marked courses even more

I’m dreaming of the day when every open water race has buoys and balloons like the La Jolla Rough Water Swim…

Roll with the changes…

…and that change happens to be severe pain on the lateral side of my knee. Initial diagnosis by the wonderful medical staff at the Canyonlands Half Marathon seems to be an LCL sprain.

I have sold my Cherry Blossom 10-Miler entry. The wonderful folks at the Club Med series in Port St. Lucie let me just move my entry to a tri later in the season. I registered for the Miami Mile at Swim Miami. I made a doctor’s appointment for Tuesday…

I have hid my running shoes. Ok, not really. It hurt SO bad, that I’m not even tempted to run. Swim? Totally. Bike? We’ll see. I got a new part for the trainer, so I’ll  have to install it and give it a try.

Canyonlands Half Marathon Race Report

I really wanted to run this in under two hours. I felt good. I slept well. The race was a late start (10am).  I tried to stay warm. The course was beautiful…

Mile 1 – 9:24 – too slow! Started out downhill through lots of people traffic.
Mile 2 and 3 – 17:25 – flying! I felt good, made up some lost time from the first mile, and decided to settle into a pace a little slower than those two miles.
Mile 4 – 9:03 – good. steady. happy.
Mile 5 – 9:00 – still a little fast, but I know the uphills are coming. The pace was pretty comfortable.
Mile 6 – 8:54 – really fast!
Mile 7 – 9:12 – made a conscious effort to slow down a bit.

..now the trouble starts…

Mile 8 – 9:44 – I walked a few times, for short distances. The outside of my knee was experiencing some stabbing pain! I did some quick math and figured out I could still come in under two hours.
Mile 9 – 11:07 – Something is seriously wrong with my knee. Every impact with the ground shoots pain. I knew my race was over, but I wanted to finish.
Mile 10 – 10:31 – Running stiff-legged seems to still work for me. I want to keep moving and get to the finish quickly so the pain will end.
Mile 11 – 12:56 – Resorted mostly to walking… it was sad, because I had the energy to keep going!
Mile 12 – 15:09 – Walking. Lots of walking. Plenty of energy. Sad to not be able to move
Mile 13 (plus .1) – 15:33 – Coming down the final stretch, everyone was talking and pointing at me. I just wanted to be done!

Official clock time: 2:18:02

A wonderful medic helped me hobble from the finish line to the first aid tent. The doctor in the tent poked, prodded, flexed, relaxed and poked some more. I got ice

I promise an update later about the trip, including photos!