- This race is notorious for terrible weather conditions. The extended forecast predicted a day filled with sunshine, 86 degrees for the high, and mild winds of no more than 4 mph. Yet weather conditions can change in an instant; remember last year’s Boise 70.3?
- My new Quintana Roo Cdo.1 Race arrived to Fitness Fanatics earlier this week, but because I didn’t have the opportunity to test it out, I decided to forgo the chance to race on a fast, fancy bike. I opted to have Jim put the race wheels on my Seduze instead.
- Finally, how could I successfully run in a race of such touted difficulty when I haven’t had the chance to run consistently since the last month has required me to rehabilitate my knee? I fully intended to either 1) race the swim and bike legs, and then walk the run, 2) jog the course at a pace far slower than anything I’ve ever run, or 3) feel better than I’d hoped and walk-run as long as I could keep my knee pain at bay.
This race would be a test of my ability to hold back, to
walk the fine line between participating and pushing too hard to cause
re-injury. This race would be a mental battle with myself; a test to see how
well I could stomach sticking to my plan of self-conservation while every other
woman passed me. This race would likely leave me disappointed and slightly
injured no matter how careful I tried to race.
Then I found a penny. Heads up.
The entire trip to St. George appeared to depend on the flip
of my coin. Heads: Ronnie, Bryan, and/or me experienced a strong stroke of
luck. Tails: the circumstances didn’t quite play to our favor. The weekend
panned out like this:
Tails: All of our flights were delayed at one point or
another. Bryan and me received notice at check-in that, due to construction on
the Las Vegas runway, our flight that was supposed to leave at 11:40am was
delayed by 2 hours. This threw a wrench in our plans when we were to meet
Ronnie, who already planned to arrive well before us.
Heads: Our flight’s delay improved from a 2-hour delay to
one of just over 30 minutes. We were back on track.
The view as we made our way into St. George. |
Heads: The bikes made it through security without any
damage. (If you’d have seen the amount of pipe insulation Bryan used to shroud
his bike, you might have thought it didn’t stand a chance of anything touching
it.) The security personnel who inspected them did a decent job of putting
everything back into our boxes just as they’d found it.
Tails: Friday morning’s practice swim in Sand Hollow
Reservoir turned out to feel far colder than what any of us predicted.
Heads: Race day morning arrived with clear skies overhead.
We felt virtually no breeze to speak of, and mild temperatures further
encouraged our pre-race outlook for the day. My feet were pleasantly surprised
by what felt like a slight increase in water temperature from the previous day.
Upon starting off with the wave of 20-29 year olds, I felt light and buoyant in
my Blue Seventy Helix wetsuit. I surprised myself with balls I didn’t think I
had when I started out in the front of my wave, kicked it into high gear to
avoid the mass commotion in the back, and rallied to find the bubbles of a girl
just ahead of the open water I had laid out in front of me. I pursued her the
entire swim, sticking like glue to the buoy line, rounding the corners with ease,
and pushing it in to the finish. I heard Bryan yell out my name as I flew up
the incline to my bike.
Sand Hollow Reservoir. This year, we were blessed with calm, temperate water. Thank goodness. |
Heads: Wetsuit off, socks, shoes, and helmet on, I busted
out of transition in just over two minutes as I approached Bryan and Ronnie
waving their arms just outside the chute. With a thumbs up and a “Get after
it,” I headed out on one of the most scenic, challenging courses I have raced.
Heads: The hills I encountered in this bike ride didn’t
bother me. Through all my training, I’ve come to realize I prefer climbing
rather than trying to maintain a constant effort on the flats. Each hill
presents a challenge of its own, and I usually achieve a significant mental
boost by passing young guys on all the hills. This course presents hills of a
steadier, gradual variety, epitomized by the final 5-mile climb at an average
5% grade up Snow Canyon.
Thank you, Quintana Roo, for supplying me with my new bike. I may not have had the time to race on the new one, but the race wheels sure felt fast on my old one! |
Heads: A longer climb means a greater opportunity to pass
more people. With that excitement, I posted a personal best bike split that
beats my previous time by more than 15 minutes.
Tails: The long climbs encountered on the bike course
weren’t confined to the bike course.
Heads: I came into transition off the bike after just having
busted my butt to pass the leading 25-29 year-old woman ahead of me. Yet she
beat me out of transition. I followed her up the first long hill out of
downtown at a steady clip that I knew was too fast, but I wanted to gain a
little bit more ground on her before I settled into my desired pace.
Heads: I caught up to her, kept up with her, and eventually
overtook her by the first mile. My enthusiasm began to slowly build, as my left
knee had decided to cooperate and felt great heading into the first major climb
at mile three.
Tails: The small muscle spasms in both my quads, just over
my kneecap, weren’t ceasing. I pictured myself succumbing to spasms that would
leave me hogtied on the side of the road while I watched my competitors zip by
me. I also couldn’t stomach racing so well to this point, only to
walk/hobble/limp the final 10 miles.
Heads: The Roctane gels I consumed with every chance I had
postponed disaster, mile by mile, until I realized I had just three miles left
to burn.
Heads: Still, no knee pain.
Tails: The quick outshoot of an out-and-back before the
final mile of downhill finish really sucked. To have finished all the climbing,
only to be presented with one last punch to the gut, really didn’t feel fair at
the time. My legs noticed, too. The spasms that had stayed confined to my quads
suddenly spoke out from my right hamstring and calf. Again, visions of me
having to pull off to the side of the road and watch the lead I’d created disappear, flickered through my head.
Heads: I prayed quite possibly my 73rd prayer of the race. I
rallied. I flew down the homestretch to the finish line. I crossed it in a time
I thought untouchable given the nature of this course. After 5 hours, 2
minutes, and 24 seconds, I smiled, walked over to the fountain in which every
little kiddo was playing, and stood with outstretched arms as the water soaked
me from head to toe. I felt like I was in the final scene of an action movie. I
had conquered one of the hardest courses in the Ironman 70.3 circuit. I further
earned the opportunity to compete in another of the hardest courses, Ironman
Vegas.
Jackpot: The entire weekend itself. Bryan and Ronnie might
possibly be two of the most hilarious travel partners known to man. We gave
each other the support we all needed to get through a tough weekend, and we
made the most fun out of every opportunity that we had.
I am grateful to Fitness Fanatics for helping me get all of
my bike needs situated in a small window of time. I may have missed out on an
opportunity to race my new bike, but I had all the help an athlete could ask
for from some of the nicest people so I could be as best suited to race as
possible.
Both Therapeutic Associates and Johnson Orthodontics helped
fund my way down to race in St. George. Without their contributions, I never
would have had the chance to put my training to the test. I look forward to
working with them in the future to further represent them and all the great
things they do for their clients.
Finally, other athletes from Spokane had phenomenal races,
too.
Ronnie
finished in 5:14:46.
Jayne
Anderson in 6:31:39.
Troy Nelson
in 4:39:31 (Headed to Vegas World Championships).
Shaun
Endsley in 4:53:25.
Pizza is my new pre-race food. It's also my post- race food. Can't go wrong with pizza. |
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