I’m not waiting for photos, since Steve and Susan took them and it will probably take some cajoling to get some out of them.

The day started off awesome. Chris decided the van looked like a bus and drove us…with the other busses…into the bus station at 120th ave off I-25. Oops, Detour! Back on the road, laughing, introducing ourselves, listening to XM radio. The energy in the van was insane and Steve-O was quiet as a mouse. Couldn’t get a word in edge-wise. I knew that we all meshed well, and that things were going to be fun. Chris was a total joker and kept us laughing the entire way…little did we know it was just a preview of what was to come.

Okay, a little overview of the team:

Leg 1 ~ Tim: Susan’s Husband, kinda reminds me of Troy, stoic, six foot five high, long long legs, hilarious dry sense of humor when he gets warmed up, no doubt a very good papa, AKA Beer Run.

Leg 2 ~ Me

Leg 3 ~ Steve: My coach, you all know him.

Leg 4 ~ Chris: Total kickbutt 23 year old triathlete, SLO town resident, Susan’s Training Partner during her Olympic year, made me laugh so hard I peed my pants…twice, balls to the wall runner, fellow Steamboat Hot Springs rock climbing partner (the kids wall), man with many nicknames (Detour, Bus Stop, Red Bull), and just a generally hilarious good guy.

Leg 5 ~ Susan: Olympic Bronze Medalist, mom to 2 girls, humble, motherly, Captain our Captian, fearless leader, roadkill counter, roadkill passer.

Leg 6 ~ Jill: she’ll ruthlessly pass your a$$ with an innocent smile on her face, energizer bunny, going through a breakup (he was supposed to run my leg, so I’m happy for the split…sorry Jill, it was meant to be), Ironwoman, cute as sin.

THE GOAL: Run 36 legs ranging from 2.5 miles to 10 miles from the Budwiser factory in Fort Collins to the High School in Steamboat Springs NONSTOP. Instead of the normal team of twelve, we had an ultra team of 6, so we each ran 6 different legs.

Legs 1-6: We were all excited to get going and Tim was sad to leave the Budwiser factory. The beer was calling. It was hard not to go out too fast and I think several of us did (Ahem Steve…4:42 mile pace at some point and Chris…sub 6’s most the way), but the majority of us were generally subdued by the 103 degree weather. There was plenty of skin showing amongst all the runners, so that was exciting. Our start time was to be 12:30 but we asked the race director to change to 12:00 and that was nice. Chris made sure they announced that we had the bronze medalist as our captain, so that was fun.

Legs 7-12 ~ I honestly don’t remember any of these legs at all. They must have been mellow and boring because the fun was just starting. There was lots of joking and smack talking as we started to pass slower teams that started ahead (roadkill we called it). There were a few teams that we started to develop some rivalries with…all of them Ultra teams that were ALL MEN…just had to point that out. Teams 103 and 104 were especially on our radar screen.

Legs 13-18 ~ The fun got started as we climbed up to Red Feather Lakes. Tim had an especially difficult leg of almost 6 miles with 1200 or so vertical, on a dirt road where the vans driving to the next leg continueally shot up a ton of dust. Sometimes the runner could barely see. My leg was next and this was my most challenging leg, the one I wanted to do the best on, so I dropped it down. It was 8.5 miles with 2 miles of downhill on the front and back. I worked the 4.5 mile uphill hard and got lots of roadkill. The van was following close and stopped to cheer a ton. Chris was yelling “SONJA” in full Stella form and I could hear him from a quarter mile away. I ran the entire way with a huge smile on my heart and when I finished the sun had gone down. Steve had a crazy all downhill leg which he managed to slaughter and then Chris had a downhill-ish leg in the dark. He was running so fast that when Susan and I were standing there waiting for him to come in the volunteer said “Is that a person on a bike?”. All you could see was the head-light and the red blinky rear light we had to wear and those two lights were moving so fast it looked like a bicyclist. HAHA! Susan and Jill had pitch dark night legs on a paved road. We were in Wyoming by then and with no moon you could see every single star.

Legs 19-24 ~ This segment started off with some star gazing. Showing Steve the Milky Way for the first time…the guy has never seen the milky way, crazy. Wow. These legs were all flat and downhill and pitch dark, some longer than others. I had a very peaceful run. I passed three people right off the bat and then I had nothing but pitch dark, trees, and stars to keep me company for 4 miles. It was effortless, fast and a total blast. Steve had a longer leg and I think he experienced a bit of vertigo. When Susan and I retrieved him at the end of his leg he was delerious and stumbling. We got him warmed up, fed up, and rested up and 20 minutes later he was a total chatter bug. It was a little scary there for a second, man that boy knows how to go hard. I think his pace on that leg was low 6 min miles. Susan and Jill again were nails, picking up some good roadkill for the girls team (the girls and boys were competing for road kill).

Legs 25-30 ~ These were a challenge. tims leg was hard, just like his last two, and the sun was starting to come up. I had managed to catch a few ZZZs along the way and was super tired. The last several legs I had passed team 103’s guy and there he was again waiting at the exchange. He asked if I was going to pass him again. I said “No, we’re going to run together this leg”. And we did. shoulder to shoulder we swapped stories for 7 miles. I learned about his life, and his team, and shared silly stories about ours. His name was Bo, and I was verry happy to have his company for 7 miles. I don’t remember much of the rest of the legs this time. Were were just crusin at this point, we melded well as a team and everyone was allways willing to help out another person with food, water, driving the van, directions, etc.

Legs 31-36 ~ These legs were brutal. Tim started it off with ANOTHER difficult leg…he had to run up Rabbit Ears Pass and it was brutal. It was mid morning and hot again, and his leg was just asphalt hill after asphalt hill. My leg showed up on the log book as flat and 4.5 miles. Nope it was up a big hill, then down a big hill, then up a big hill and down a big hill. I thought it was never going to end and I was trying my hardest to run hard. Steve had a hilly leg as well and all of us were a bit shocked on the steepness of the terrain. Chris got to run DOWN Rabbit Ears pass into Steamboat and his leg was evil downhill, super steep, leg killer downhill. Susan, I think, had her strongest leg, clocking like 7:15 pace and making it look totally easy. Jill brought it home for us and managed to pass team 104 which I think made them collapse in a hissy fit. But hey, we had girls and they had all boys, so it wasn’t like we were racing them anyways. We all ran in the last 50 yards together, some looking quite gimpy (Chris).

After some post race grub we hit up the Steamboat Springs Hot Springs and had a blast playing in the water. Chris and I attacked the little kids climbing wall until we had it mastered, although we kept having to wait in line behind the little kids. My shoulders were sore the next day.

We went back at 4pm for the awards ceremony where we humbly accepted our award for winning the Ultra Coed Team category. Tim alerted us yesterday that we set the corse record by 2.5 hours. BooYa. Sha-nizzle!

There were so many good times that I can’t even type them all. Steve and Chris were hilarious together, half the time talking smack, half the time spooning each other in the back seat. They made this entire trip a laughing fest. All of us have sore cheeks and abbs from all the laughing we did. I made some great new friends and can’t wait to do some training with Jill in the future. Susan and Tim are easy going, humble folks, and Susan is my new idol. If I am ever successful in triathlon I want to be just like her, she puts the term “positive role model” to shame.

Aside: In case anyone reads this who is doing a future relay I wanted to touch on my nutrition a little bit. Last year when I did the Colorado Relay I bonked BAD. This year I wanted to counteract that fact, and I did a smashing job. I want to share what I learned. First off, you won’t want to eat. You just won’t. It’s fun, your laughing, you think it will be fine. But you have to, and you have to have a plan. You can’t just bring some stuff and expect to eat it, you have to give yourself a plan for exactly what you are going to eat and when. My plan was to drink a Mix1 immediately after I got in the van (they are shelf stable, and I like them A LOT), then change my clothes to the next set of running clothes, then eat an almond butter and honey sandwich. I did that after every single run I had. After I did my little Mix1/Sandwich thing, I continued to snack on almonds, rice cakes, and Cheesy Bunnies, all while staying on top of water and Gatorade. I made sure to stop consuming the leg before me, and I was good to go. I think it’s natural to feel queazy in the middle of the night. Your body really wants to be sleeping and instead you are running, and eating (and laughing) so I think it’s normal to feel a little sick…all of us felt this and I thought we all did a pretty good job with nutrition. I had very little soreness the next several days, but I have felt flat in the legs. Epsom Salt baths have helped, and I am clearly on the road to being fully recovered. I Hope this helps any future runners.

I wanted to write up my race report while things were still fresh in my mind. What a day. I was lucky enough to stay up in Boulder last night with my Partner In Crime, Michelle. I love rooming and traveling with her, she’s my peeps! We had a great evening going out to eat with teammates and friends and then settled into a mellow evening, got our stuff together for the next day and hit the hay. 4:20am wake up and I was really ready to go. We were at transition well before 5 and were two of the first 100 to rack our bikes. Primo Spots.

I had like 2.5 hours until my wave went off, so I disappeared to be mellow. Then I saw some PC people warming up and jumped in with them. It was nice to have some company and good to catch up with folks that I haven’t talked to in awhile. We did a long long long warmup, probably a bit over 3 miles. I felt really good and I was excited to see what would unfold for the day. After a long wait in line for the potty I was able to find Troy and Annie who drove down that morning. They were doing quite well, although Troy had missed me. We had to catch up a little. I slipped into my friend Liz’s wetsuit and got into the water to warm up my arms and shake off a little bit of my nerves. I sold my wetsuit to a good friend (it was too big) but I haven’t bought a new one b/c I wanted to try a sleeveless. I LOVE the sleeveless. Something about having the arm movement really helps me out. Liz is prego, so she didn’t mind that I have been hogging her suit for like a month now. I have become really attached to it, it’s going to be hard to give it back.

I was in the last wave to go off. The race was also running late, so my wave ended up going at about 7:50. It was already like 96 degrees out when we started. Ouch. I was quite concerned about my elbow and racing. I knew I could swim the distance on it, but I was afraid of getting into a scuffle with another swimmer and hurting myself. I started WAY WAY right, like so right that I was outside of the start arch. They counted us down and I just got out steady and calmly. Lots of sighting into the sun, but I remained on course. I stayed right, watching the field of competitors when I breathed on my left side, keeping equal distance. I felt good. Every time the elbow gave me a zinger I would really focus on taking big scoops of water and getting my catch in the right place. Then I would get lazy and along would come another shot of pain…it was like shock therapy. Swim bad = zing, swim good = no zing. Around the buoys I went, keeping even tempo, minding my stroke. I exited the water ready to be done swimming, but in good shape. I looked down and saw a 27 number on my watch, but by the time I hit the timing mat it turned to 28, I still felt quite good about it. I always wonder just how far I am back in the age group coming off the swim, this time I went and counted all the ladies with faster times. 40 of them. I was out of the water 41st. Wow! That’s a lot of passing to get up to the front. No wonder why I am always feeling like I run out of real estate.

Transition was quick, although they added another bike rack to the “desirable” end of my row AFTER I had racked my bike. So my primo “first come, first rack” spot was now cramped and distorted. Such is life. Onto the bike and I was feeling good. I just passed, passed, passed ladies. I did get passed by one lady early on, but I let her go, thinking that she was a little overzealous and that I would get her on the back end. Never saw her again. Other than that I felt really strong throughout, strong on Old Stage, strong on the descent, and great on the rollers. I felt like I blew by every single person I passed.

Back to transition and whoosh, I was off. It felt fast, and I was happy to be running. I really tried to run hard…I really did. But it was tough, temps were in the 100’s and I was slow to get going. I would have phases where I would go really hard, then ones where I would loose my momentum and slow down. I looked forward to every aid station and took several cups of water and ice at each one. I tried to wave at teammates and did a pretty lousy job at it. Some times getting out some sort of jumble of noise. I hit the turn around, saw a few ladies in my age group ahead of me and worked on pulling them in, I was able to get every one within sight. I really gave it my all on the run, and even though I knew I wasn’t running my fastest, I knew that I was doing the best I could.

The Practical Coaching crew was cheering up a storm at the finish and I was so utterly happy to be done.

So, a few honesty remarks now. Beware. You are forewarned. When I finished I was ecstatic. I felt like I had a great race and that I had redeemed myself from last year. I had watched my watch the entire way and had hit the lap button several times at transitions and mile markers on the bike. From about the mid section of the race I was feeling pretty good about what my watch was telling me. When I hit the turn around on the run my watch said if I ran a 22 minute last 1/2 of the run I could break 2:30. I ran my heart out for that number and when I crossed the line and stopped my watch it said 2:30.52. I was still ecstatic. Thinking that I had taken about 10 minutes off my last years time. I was high! The next several hours I was my normal, jovial, “just had a great race”, Sonja. When the results came out my time was 2:36.14. The tears just started rolling and I just walked off, I quickly grabbed my stuff and just wanted out of there. I was upset. I was throwing a tantrum. I must have messed up my watch when I was hitting the laps and stuff and somehow stopped it for 6 minutes or so. I felt really defeated and seeing my splits was sad to see the same bike time from last year. I live on my bike now-a-days and to see what felt like no progress was a super duper ego blow. If you have raced with me before and have had a bad race you know I am the first person to tell you not to play the numbers game, that the numbers don’t “define” you. I couldn’t believe I was flipping out and it was amazing how hard it was to follow the advise that I give tons of YOU ALL when you have less than desirable results. I felt ashamed on several different levels. Ashamed of my performance, or lack thereof, ashamed of my attitude, ashamed that I was crying, just ashamed.

I didn’t want to talk to Steve about it, but he found me, and I got a talking to. He gave me a few little challenges, and although I am still processing my pissy attitude, I am coming around to learning some lessons from this experience. My PIC Michelle was right there for me, even though it meant that me dogging and complaining about my bike time was also complaining about hers being that we rode the same time. Again…in retrospect, quite ashamed of myself. I love you Michelle.

So, I wanted to be honest about my hissy fit today. This racing stuff isn’t all flowers and berries. Endurance athletes are hard on themselves, including me. Finding a way to get back to the warm fuzzy feelings I had about my race before seeing the results will be tough, but it’s something I’m going to strive to do. As always, any advise or similar experiences would help me a ton. Feel free to comment, or email me personally.

BTW: The watch I wore at the race has now been deemed bad luck on my wrist. If you would like a new watch (it’s only been worn once) then email me or hit “Contact Me” on the top of my site. It looks like this but it’s blue.

Results are here:
Swim: 28:05 (41st in F25-29)
T1: 1:04 (Fastest in F25-29)
Bike: 1:19:34 (19.6mph 7th fastest in F25-29)
T2: 0:45 (4th fastest in F25-29)
Run: 46:47 (7:33pace 7th fastest in F25-29)

Age-Group: F25-29: 6th (out of 101)
Overall Women: 50th (out of 527)

After an evening of nonstop laughter I was so ready for race morning to come at 4am. Michelle, Steve, Christopher and I traveled to the race site and got a primo parking spot. After racking our bikes and getting THE CLOSEST transition spots we hopped in the car and people-watched for an hour. What a total hoot. Triathletes are just funny. They are so different than runners who usually stretch and act calm. Triathletes like to walk around all nervous like, spend unimaginable amounts of time in the port-a-pottie, and strut around wearing too little clothing for 4:30am. They also like to ride their bikes around with no helmets to warm up, which can get them DQed. Doh!

Swim Start

Pook on the beach

Most of the PC crew did a warm up run together, and I probably shouldn’t have gone with them. I was in the second wave and as I got to the swim beach and pulled on my wetsuit I heard the gun for the first wave. I had 4 minutes to get my two caps and goggles on, get in the water, find the right spot to start, and get ready. Boom, I was off and feeling rushed. It was a typical swim for me with a moderate amount of body bumping, and some settling. I sighed pretty well and seemed to hit each buoy with consistency. As we turned the last buoy the next wave started to pass me. I had fun jumping on 4 different guys feet from this group, catching a 30 second draft and giving myself a reason to push push push.

As we exited the water I looked down and my watch said 26 something. My first thought…the swim is short. Ha! Give yourself some credit Sonja! The two minute run to transition was tough in the wetsuit, but a little fun too. Turns out the swim was a bit short, but the swim plus run to transition seemed to be closer to a normal mile swim time. 28:15 was my official swim time…so my first time seeing the 28’s in a race. There was still lots of room for improvement in my swim execution, but it’s getting stronger.

T1 was great. I enjoyed having the primo spot, and it was oddly reassuring to see Steve and Michelles bikes on either side of mine. I was sandwiched by two of my favorite triathletes. 43 seconds later I was on the bike.

So the bike was a total sight unseen course for me. I had heard rumors about the hills and that it was pretty but had never ridden the course. It took awhile to get going. Steve and I just had a pow-wow last week about my TT form and so I was still “messing around” with where to sit, how to sit, how to pedal, how to feel comfortable, and what gear to be in. It took some time. Troy and Chris were ALL OVER the course and they are seriously the loudest cheerers I have even encountered. They really do it up good. Anthony caught me several miles in, and the Tyler caught me a few miles after that. I know I can bike with Tyler so I put some “giddy” in the “up” and started to go hard. I kept Tyler in sight and used him to keep me focused and accountable. The hills were great and Troy said it was fun to be on the course and to watch me eat up all the ladies ahead of me. I just tried to consistently pass people and put in a hard effort. On the last stretch down Wilson Steve passed me and I really wanted to keep him in sight. It was great to ride behind my coach and to watch him in action.

As we came into T2 Steve was first, then Tyler, then me, but we were all within 30 seconds of each other. When I entered transition and racked my bike Steve was departing (and we were racked next to each other). That was cool. I had trouble getting on my second shoe, but even with that, a 38 second T2.

Taking in Water outside T2

I rolled out of T2 and saw Tyler ahead. I worked my way up to him and told him to jump on my shoulder. He hopped on and we ran to mile 1 together. I looked at my watch and in my running stupor I couldn’t get the correct words out and threw down an F-bomb. Poor Tyler thought that I was upset with the first mile split (which was 6:57) and claims that I “took off”. But…this is not true. The f-bomb came b/c I was trying to get the right words out. I was perfectly happy with 7 minute pace. I did however see SEVERAL ladies in front of me, and the truth is when ya gotta go, ya gotta go. I had to go get those girls. So I took them one at a time and tried not to over think things. Whenever I would come up on a girl I would straighten up my form and put a little surge in. This way I would give of the impression that I was running much harder, and then they would feel like they couldn’t go with me. It worked over and over again. Troy and Chris were near the turn around and again…wild and crazy cheering ensued!

Troy and Pook

At the turn around I saw five ladies very close ahead and vowed to get them all. A mile later I had them, but I knew my good friend Amy was on my heels. By mile 5 she had eaten me up, much like I tried to eat up all the other ladies I passed. Ha! What goes around comes around! She had a terrific pace going so I just tried to lock into her effort and drive harder with her.

As we came around the last turns my FIL was there taking pics and Annie and my MIL were playing at the palyground.

Here I am running my guts out and it was crazy to see Annie playing away! As we come around the last turns I see this lady ahead and she looks my age. She is clearly running slower, but I am running out of real estate. I watch Amy kick and eat her up, and even though I am kicking, the finish line is coming too quickly. We cross 6 seconds apart and I see she is in my age group. Doh. That was a tough one.

Can yo see me?

Coming down the home stretch

The point where I knew I wasn’t going to catch her

After a 5 minute section of feeling very near puking (I’ve never had that at the end of a race, but I think it was from the sprinting) Steve and I headed out for a cool down and to chear on others.

Post race Pow-Wow

Post race pook Hug

Practical Coaching had a GREAT day. Steve won his age group, Michelle was 2nd in hers, Beth 3rd, Barry 3rd, Anthony 4th, and I was also 3rd in mine. A great day, and a testament to what a great coach Steve is!

Pook and I on the podium

Michelle and Beth on podium

Results are here
Swim: 28:15
T1: 0:43
Bike: 1:27:17
T2: 0:38
Run: 43:10
Overall: 2:40:04
14th woman
3rd in F25-29

Today’s race was all about friends. My good friends Hillary, Ben, and Tana came out, bringing along Bens dad as well. You can image my surprise seeing them cheering for me as I came out of the swim. Very excited! Troy’s parents Roger and Marla came out as well. I haven’t seen them since they got back from a several week trip to Greece. I wish we could have visited more. It was great to have Troy and Annie out at the race again. Having my husband there always makes me feel better. Annie is such a trooper at the races. The Practical Coaching crew was in fine form and I thank them for all of their cheers. It was great to race with Michelle (who knocked it out of the park today), Beth (who is sooo back), Sara (who is ready to kick it into gear again), John (a dad who who was supported by his three cheering teenage daughters), and Barry (who I saw for 2 pico-seconds and he looked GREAT). It was also great to race and cool down with Amy, who has really put in the mileage and has become SO much more than just “Jordan’s Girlfriend”", look for her on the podium this year! Great job to all the racers, and many thanks to all the cheerers!

We had wonderful weather for the Boulder Sprint Tri today. It was warm, but not too warm. The water in the Boulder res was CHILLLY still. I did a little over a two mile warm up run, and then ten minutes in the water. After watching the start of other waves I headed to the right side of the start line in the water. I noticed that there was much less jostling in this section as most the racers headed left at the start of the race.

The swim start of my wave. Photo by Roger Wieck.

Here is Troy trying to keep an eye on me during the swim with the sun in his eyes. Photo by Roger Wieck.

Because of my optimal start location and sighting every stroke for the first good section I got off to an amazingly good start in the swim. I felt strong and confident and just tried to stay steady. When I got out I glanced at my watch and was excited to see the 13 number. I was hoping to swim in the 15s at least, so 13’s was even more exciting. We had to run quite a ways up the beach before the timing mat and so my official swim time is in the 14s. But still, very happy. I got a better idea of the intensity that I need to bring to Olympic level races in the swim.

Coming out of the water. Photo by Hillary or Ben, not sure.

Onto the bike. Any course in Boulder is a challenge. There is always a climb to get out of the reservoir, but you also get some screaming downhill. The way back is always a set of serious rollers. Crazy, but fun. It seemed like there were a lot of people with flats, or dropped chains. I just tried to stay steady, keep the effort consistent, and make big circles with the legs. I came into transition and had a particularly good dismount.

Coming into the transition. Photo by Hillary or Ben.

Off onto the run. Usually my favorite part, but it’s always tough out at Boulder Res. It’s flat, it’s gravel, it’s straight for a long time, and it can get boaring. LUCKILY, the Practical Coaching team had taken on the task of the run aid station. They went with a Christmas in June theme. Tyler was dressed up like Santa, and all the girls had cute little red skirts on and decorated tank tops. They went crazy when I ran by, I wish I could have stopped and chatted. I know everyone on the course today got a big kick out of the Christmas Aid Station.

Bookin’ it home on the run. Photo by Roger Wieck.

John coming home on the run, check out the definition in the legs! Photo by Hillary or Ben.

Beth bringing it home. Photo by Roger Wieck.

Results are here.
Swim: 14:20
T1: 0:51
Bike: 49:42
T2: 0:47
Run: 22:06
Overall: 1:27:44
5th in Female 25-29

3am is really early. I didn’t get much sleep the night before b/c I was nervous and that made Annabelle toss and turn. Finally at 1am my mom got up and watched cartoons with Annie while I slept. My parents van was loaded and we headed out at about 3:50. It took right about an hour to get to the parking lot that I had scoped out. We got a primo parking spot close to the race course and a short bike ride to transition. I loaded up and headed out. Racking my bike and setting up my stuff took about 10 minutes and at 5:10 I was ready to go. There are actually two transitions in this race. There is a .75 mile run when you get out of the water, so they let you put a bag at the swim exit that has a spare pair of shoes in it. BUT, if you take off your wetsuit after you swim and put it in the bag, then you don’t have to run with it. I thought that was a great perk because I hate running in my wetsuit. Here is the big transition on race morning.

Here is the tiny transition.

I dropped off my bag for the swim exit with my moms crocs in it and headed to get on a bus.

The bus ride over to the ferry building was pretty cool. We drove through the streets of San Francisco before anyone wad woken up. Once at the ferry dock I had about an hour and a half to chill before we loaded up. I went to the bathroom several times and texted Troy with some pictures of the view and the ferry. When it was time to load I suited up in my wetsuit and dropped my clothing bag in the truck. I was hanging out with Steve and Andrea and when we boarded the ferry they showed me the best place to sit so that you were first off the ferry. I am so glad they did this. I think it really helped me have a good swim. We chatted and got excited as the ferry took off from the pier. 2000 wetsuit clad triathletes on the ferry, nervous energy abounds. But the mood was actually a festive energy. You didn’t see a lot of serious faces like usual, it was mostly smiles and excitement. A bit giddy I would say. My dad took this picture of the ferry loaded up with all of us. He is standing at the swim exit.

At 8am on the dot a horn sounded and the pro field leapt off the side of the ferry. I didn’t really see much of it, but right afterwards the race people started yelling at us “Get off the boat”. Suddenly the entire crowd behind me started pushing and triathletes went spilling out of the boat and off the edge. It was so crowded that I had no chance to even contemplate jumping. I held my nose, covered my goggles with my hand and stepped off the edge, trying to aim for a spot that didn’t already have a body in it. It worked! I didn’t hit any one and I managed not to get jumped on myself. I popped up, saw the LARGE radio tower that I was supposed to keep between “1 o’clock and 2 o’clock” for sighting and took off. Several times in the first 5 minutes I encountered some body contact, but it was nothing like Austin, and before I knew it, everyone seemed to have found some space. I kept my tower at 1 o’clock and “Just kept swimming”, oddly the 56 degree water was no problemo. About 4-5 times during the swim I popped up and took a view of my surroundings. The view was AWESOME! I didn’t seem to have any swimmers around me. I was in no mans land. But, when I looked left there were lots of swimmers that direction and the same was true when I looked right. So I figured I was swimming right down the middle of where I needed to be. I put my head down and kept swimming. It was crazy how I kept swimming straight and keeping the tower at 1 o’clock, but the current took me down the bay, right where I needed to be. As I got close to the swim exit I could see all the people and could see the beach I needed to hit. I headed inward for it and washed up on shore right in the middle of the beach. I say “washed up” because as I hit the shore I stood up and a huge wave attacked me. I did several summersaults in the wave and sort of “washed up” on shore. I stood up and was facing the ocean, so I turned around, kinda embarrassed as there were 3000 spectators there and ran into transition. This is what swim exit looked like. Cool huh?

Dad caught a nice little pic of Andy Potts, who won today, getting out of the water. He’s on the right. Yummy, yummy!

I found my bag straight off, and stripped my wetsuit, shoved it in the bag with my goggles and three caps (yes, I wore three…I thought my head was going to pop off, but I was warm). Transitions are funny. If there is someone next to you that arrives at the same time, then there is always this feeling to race them. I had a lady, most likely in my age group right next to me and both of us were racing to get our suits in the bag, and shoes on. I had crocs, she had running shoes. I won that race. I was off and running in no time in my squeeky crocs. Squeek, squeek, squeek, all the way to transition. It was great when I got to the second transition that I didn’t have to take my wetsuit off. I de-croc-ed, put my helmet on, grabbed my bike and ran off.

When I got on the bike my legs HURT. I woke up that morning with sore quads and wondered what was up. Well, that first hill on the bike felt like I had already completed a triathlon, the quads were screaming. But for some reason, maybe because the views were amazing, or I was in SAN FRANCISCO, I didn’t sweat it. I just thought “Ohh, they will warm up, give them time”. And you know, they did. The bike hurt pretty bad. I rode hard and the quads were taking their sweet time warming up, but I just rode hard anyways. The entire course felt like one big hill. There were lots of downhills, but you go so fast that it felt like you would climb for 5 minutes, then descend for 30 seconds. So it felt like you spent most the race climbing. I got passed by a few girls, but always found a way to pass them back. I think the quad issue was a blessing because it prevented me from going out too hard. But by the end of the course I felt great and was able to pass lots of people when they were dying from going too hard in the beginning.

My dad was on the final descent with his camera. He was right at a spot where I was flying downhill, having a total blast.

The third transition of the day was simple as pie, and went flawlessly. I decided to wear socks under my racing flats at the advise of one of the pros. I’m so glad I did. They took just a few seconds to put on, but waking up this morning without tender feet is a blessing! I took off running pretty conservatively. A girl came by me rather quickly and I didn’t go with her. I needed a little more time to get ahold of myself. In Crissy Field I ran by my mom and Annie and my mom said that my swim time was 35 minutes. I got such a boost of energy! I was ecstatic! I was actually looking forward to the hills and the technical portions of the race. We hit the first set of stairs and dad was there cheering away.

I just stayed VERY consistent up them. Some people passed me running up them 2 at a time, and some people acted frustrated that I was going so consistent (read: slow). I just thought “well, they should have swam and biked faster”. Funny thing is I caught every one of them. After the stairs is a lot of twisty turny single track. The pros were coming back by me and it was so uplifting! At the top of the technical section I had reeled in another lady in my age group along with the lady that passed me in the first mile. Boy did that feel good, but the lady in my age group decided to give me a fight. She stuck to me when I tried to pass her. We ran hard up and over the hump of the hill and I was thankful for the competition. She elbowed me and said sorry and I got a little adrenaline kick, especially since she was one of those swimsuit clad, name on the butt kind of girls. We headed into a technical downhill down towards baker beach. It was a twisty wide trail and I hauled tail and cut every tangent I could. I just let it loose, remembering my old Cross Country days and put a significant gap on the ladies I had passed. We then hit the sandy beach portion. I just cruised along here, staying consistent, hunting for hard pack sand. Sometimes I found it, sometimes I didn’t. I hit the turn around and headed for the sand steps. Now these were just fun. Again, I took it slow. I walked up them with a good bounce in my step and didn’t try to over think anything. I kept thinking about how little I had left of the course and to make it the best I could.

Once at the top, there is about three miles of downhill and you are home. I just turned it on. I flew, and tried to pass as many people as I could. I just let it all out and enjoyed every second of it. I flew down the steps two at a time. Once in Crissy Field I knew I was getting close so I just tried to turn it up another knotch. One spectator that I ran by was pointing to Alcatraz and saying “Look, you just swam from there”. I got this huge smile on my face and he started going crazy for me. I was a bit overwhelmed by everything at that point. To look across the bay and see where I had swam while I was running my toosh off was pretty amazing. When you are having a good race the feelings rushing through you are surreal and every thought is sweeter and more meaningful. Two years ago the though of swimming from Alcatraz would have scared the dickens out of me. I have never felt that I was a strong swimmer, but all that is changing. ANYONE who swims from Alcatraz is not a weak swimmer.

Running the guts out of myself down Crissy Field, looking at Alcatraz.

Coming around the final bend into the finish I thought about all the people who were thinking of me. I thought about the Alcatraz party that was going on in Golden, Colorado. I thought about my grandparents, and about everyone who had called or texted well wishes. I ran down the final stretch with a huge smile on my face and I made a little T with my hands for Troy and then a little heart with my hands, and then I blew tons of kisses to all of you who cheer for me and support me. They were watching the finish camera at the party in Colorado and they all saw my kisses. I’m so glad!

This morning, my sore muscles and I have been sitting around in post race bliss. I really want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. Many of you have helped me directly make it to this race. It wasn’t easy to get here, but it was meant to be. Steve and Andrea especially. Andrea told me about the Charity slot, and Steve trained my body for a successful race. My mom and dad were immensely supportive. They sponsored our plane tickets to get here and watched Annie for the ump-teen hours it took to preview the course, pick up race packets, and race. I highly recommend their home for “Willis Training Camp”. The food is excellent! All my friends and family rooting for me yesterday, thank you, your “rooting” worked, and I felt all the vibes. Lastly, a huge thanks to Feedback Food Redistribution, a very worthy charity.

RESULTS are here.
Total Time: 2:43:29
Swim: 35:16
T1: 6:04
Bike: 1:00:24 (17.88mph)
T2: 1:25
Run: 1:00:19 (7:32 pace)
Place in Female 25-29 age group: 4th!!!

If I had to sum up this weekend in one word it would be FUN. When I got home my cheeks hurt from laughing, and smiling, we just had a lot of fun! I arrived in Austin on Friday. I was seated next to Steve and Andrea on the plane, totally by luck! Downtown Austin is 7 miles from the airport. I learned that there is no need to rent a car. Just catch a shuttle to downtown next time. I literally put 14 miles on the rental car in 4 days. Tyler, John, Beth and I were sharing a room at the Embassy Suites, and Tyler had already checked in for me. Once I rolled into town we threw my bike together in like 15 minutes, and headed off with Steve and Andrea for some grub. Hot, whoa, so hot. And humid, very very humid. I was really shocked, and really sweaty immediately. We walked down to Chuys, a sweet local spot that Lance Armstrong loves. Good New Mexican food. I had a margarita, we were all feeling festive! After grubbin’ we headed to bed and got a few hours sleep before Beth and John arrived at 1am. Okay, honestly, I didn’t even hear them come it, but Tyler said he got up and they partied for an hour before heading to bed. Man, I sleep through all the good stuff!

Saturday was all about reconnaissance. Tyler and I had mapped the bike and run courses, and we set of as a team to ride the course and get familiar. BUT…first we hit up the Austin Farmers Market (I am like a farmers market junkie, and love visiting markets in other cities). The ride recon went well, we were all VERY familiar with the course. After recon it was time to pick up our packets and drop our bikes into transition. It was wild. They didn’t give you an individual spot in transition, it was a free for all by age group. So it behooved you to get there early to get the best spot. BUT, packet pickup opened at 1 and there were droves of people with the same idea. When the doors opened it was a mad rush. Very poorly planned but I am happy to say that the Practical Coaching folks made out quite well. Almost all of us were out of there within 5 minutes and got the primo end spot on the racks. It was funny that the 8 of us were probably in the first 20 people to rack a bike. Sharp elbows!

That evening we headed as a big group out to Casa De Luz. This place was awesome. Totally vegan, totally in season, totally Macrobiotic, totally yummy. We were there for hours, just chatting, and enjoying the company. If I lived in Austin, I would eat there weekly.

Sunday morning was game day. Our hotel was a 1 block walk to transition, so it was great to sleep in and wake up and walk over. Ahhhh. The 4 of us walked over to transition and then went our own ways. I had transition set up in like two pico seconds and was ready to get out of there. I headed to the portapotie several times, walked around, slept on a bench for a little while, and then things got going. Waves started going off and before I knew it my wet suit was on and I was waiting in line to jump off the pier into the water.

THE SWIM:
It was a deep water start and I lined up close to the front, on the right. I should have gone on the left. When the gun went of I got pretty beat up. I was getting passed and then immediately getting stuck behind people. I was trying to work my way around them, and then getting hit, kicked, and thrashed. I just had a difficult time getting clear of people. The way out was down river, so you had a little push, which you didn’t feel. The way back was up river and you felt that one big time. I was finally able to relax at the turn around and start pushing hard. I swam the last half as hard as I knew how. Rounding the last corner you then had to swim cross current. For some reason this wasn’t a problem for me. Volunteers pulled me out of the water and I was off and running.

T1:
Long run up to transition. No big issues here except the weight of the bikes on my rack had pushed the rack into the grass so deep that the 6 inches clearance my bike had was now a negative 3 inches. I had to finagle my bike around to release it from the grip of the rack. Helmet on, and off. It was a long long run out of transition and I stepped on lots of nasty gravel type rocks.

THE BIKE:
I absolutely loved this bike course. It was a four loop course and it was through downtown Austin. You did this big loop around the capital building (taller than the Capital Building in Washington…everything is bigger in Texas). The loop around the Capital entailed two climbs and 6 high speed turns. It was like a bike course! I pushed as hard as I could through the entire four laps. I passed tons of people, I couldn’t really keep track of who was in my age group. One girl in my age group passed me back and I just said “no way”. I put it down and never looked back. Never saw her again. I ran into (not literally) most of my teamates at one point, especially the ladies who started in waves near me. It was great to have friends on the course. Beth kept me accountable. I passed her and a little while later she passed me back. I stepped on it harder, knowing Beth was giving me a kick in the butt. The turns were the best part of this entire race. I’m so glad I learned through Steve how to take 90 degree turns without breaking, I gained lots of time on people because I knew how to turn.

T2:
I forgot to take my helmet off. Doh. Wasted 10 seconds correcting that error.

THE RUN:
Ouch. Boy is it hot. The run was a two loop course and each loop seemed a little bit long. Immediately a lady in my age group FLEW by me, I mean FLEW. She was running so strong, I couldn’t even go with her. Just flying. On the first little out and back section I saw two ladies (three if you include the one that just FLEW by) that looked like they were in my age group. I tried to pick it up but I was hot. There was Beth again, yelling at me to go get them. So I picked it up. I worked really hard that first loop to pick off the lady I saw ahead of me. When I got close to her she gave me a little battle and I prevailed. But I thought to myself that it would have been a good opportunity to practice some of my strategy. Usually the people I pass never go with me, but she did, and I should have used that fact as a chance to battle with her and wear her out. I started running for the next girl and taking all the water I could along the way to dump down my uniform. They had ice water on the course and it was great to dump that all over myself. The second loop I really tried to pick it up to pass the lady that was ahead of me that I was sighting on. I slowly reeled her in and found out that she wasn’t in my age group. Doh. About half way into the second loop I heard the people cheering saying “Go ladies” and I wondered who was behind me. It was the first lady I had passed. She was sticking to me. I realized that I need to go hard and drop her immediately or she was going to give me a run at the finish. I put in a nice mile long surge and she disappeared for good. I rolled into the finish running strong, and having fun.

Ah, it was over. That evening I hung out with Steve and Andrea after I found them while I was taking an evening stroll. We had pizza, chatted it up, and explored South Congress Ave. Awesome spot if you are in Austin, not to be missed! We had cupcakes too, they were yummy.

Monday morning we all headed out for a run together and this was definitely the highlight of the entire trip. We started out running, but we ended up swimming, diving, running, turtle hunting, swimming, jumping, being silly, joking, running, being crazy, etc for about 3 hours. We had swimming contests, we learned how to do back flips. We ran all over the place, and just had a blast together. This was the water we swam in, ick, what were we thinking?:

We came back wet and really stinky, but super happy. After that was lunch, a little more exploring South Congress, and then off to the airport. Such a blast of a time.

Results - Highlights:
John, Tyler, and Andrea all qualified for Nationals! I am so proud of them for putting up stellar performances and getting into “The Big Race”

Anthony raced to 2nd in his age group in the extremely talented mens 30-35 age group. Total Rock Star.

Steve is racing like we like him to and won his age group. We are such proud students and we all hope we can grow up to be just like Steve!

Beth is so back. She had an awesome race, and I can see that she will be right back on track by Nationals.

Julie, Barry, and Priscilla all had great performances, very clearly showing off the hard work they have done in the off season.

Results- Me:
15th woman overall
5th in F25-29
Swim: 30:09
T1: 2:23
Bike: 1:07:15 (22.1mph)
T2: 2:00
Run: 47:31 (7:39 pace)

Whew! What a race. We are having a blast here in Austin, and boy is the racing great here. The one bummer is the heat and humidity. I feel like an old lady saying that, but it’s true. I didn’t bring enough clothes, because every trip outside ruins yet another set of clothes (sweat).

No race report just yet, but I’ll give you the highlights.

Swim: the river was sweet. But I got severely thrashed in this swim. I just got beat up. I was scared that I wouldn’t swim faster than the current on the way back and would end up in the Gulf of Mexico, but I was able to keep up and make it to transition in about 30 minutes.

T1: boom boom boom quick, efficient. Lots of running with the bike before we were allowed to mount.

Bike: The frickin BOMB. Loved it. It was a 4 loop course with tons of turns so I got to practice all of those turning skills that Steve taught me. I pushed hard the entire time and was able to post 22+ mph. 1:07 something.

T2: pretty good. forgot to take my helmet off and had to run 10 steps back to put it back.

Run: Ouchy. The heat gets me. I took the first loop pretty mello and then cranked it down on the second loop. I was throwing water down my sports bra at every aid station. Hot hot hot. I gave it all I had on the run but I still was left with something to be desired. I wished I had been able to go harder. It happens. I was somewhere in the 47 min range, which is a bit on the slower side for me. Heat…I gotta get over that.

Overall, I was either 6th or 5th in my age group. Right now it says 6th but there was a girl ahead who I think only did 3 bike loops. So 5th possibly. Who knows, not too important.

We are having fun here, and the fun will just continue! More highlights when I get home!

Today was quite a hoot. Andrea at Practical Coaching put together three relay teams to run the Colorado Colfax Marathon. It was quite the logistical doing on her part! Getting 15 people all to the correct location, and making sure everyone knew who they were handing off with, and how they were getting around was quite the feat. Great job Andrea!

We met at 4:30am! Ouch! But it was necessary for everyone to get on the same page. After our pre-race meeting each group of three took off on their own to get to their starting spots. I was running the last leg, 7.5 miles and so Andrea, Noell and I had brought our bikes. We planned to ride the course, following the runners until it was time to head to our start. That way we got a good warmup and we weren’t waiting around all day to run. The biking part was so fun. We biked over to the start line and watched that, then we rode along with the runners until we had seen all three first leggers (Kayla, Laura, and Beth). We hung out at the first exchange until they came in and watched leg 2 take off (Chelsea, Shaun, and Ann). They all ran such fast 5K’s that by the time we visited the portapottie and tried to catch them on our bikes we had missed them. We continued riding up looking for the leg 3 runners (Jenna, Michelle, and Chris). We saw Michelle and decided it was time to turn around and head to our own legs.

I was looking at my watch and seeing how fast my team was running I knew it was time to skedaddle. They were bookin’! We stashed our bikes on Chelseas bike rack, suited up, and took off on the 3/4 mile jog to the exchange point to wait for the leg 4 runners (Jenna, Doreen, and Gaye). I was getting a little worried running over there because I knew I was cutting it close. I arrived and looked down the road and the first person I saw was Gaye. I made it with a max of 30 seconds to spare. Eek. No time to catch my breath, no time to compose myself, I was off.

I took off really slow, just trying to get into the swing of things. The first 2.3 miles I just warmed up. Then I started picking it up. I definitely negative splited the effort in the race, but it ended up being like a tempo run because I would see a marathoner who was struggling (every one of them was hurting pretty bad). I would slow down and run with them for a little bit telling them they looked good, to stay strong, and that this is what they trained for. Then I would pick it back up hard and run to the next marathoner. I felt like a total fraud in the race. People cheering kept saying the nicest things likes “you look great” and “awesome pace”. I needed a big sign on my chest that said “RELAY” b/c my green race bib wasn’t doing the trick.

The race flew by with my little “support” tactic and before I knew it we had wound back through downtown, along Colfax and were heading into city Park. That last mile was cake for me, but so tough for those marathoners. When I came into the finish all the other Practical Coaching legs were there, cheering their heads off. It was great to hear them. They rocked the cheering house and totally upstaged the cheerleaders (yup, cheerleaders…pom poms and all).

the finish tent was sweet, Panera bagels up the yin-yang, lots of tasty treats, and drunk looking marathoners.

This race was a total blast, but it was a combination of watching and cheering the marathon runners, and having all my peeps there that did it for me. Lots of fun. Thanks to all the ladies (and the two boys) that ran on our relay teams today. Also many thanks for Jon, Tyler and Anthony who acted as our very studly male support crew. You all rocked the house.

Results are posted here

We were 4th in the Open Female division (but we would have been third in the all male teams. Our times were:
Gun Time: 3:25:55
Chip Time: 3:25:31
Pace: 7:51
Leg 1 - Beth 10K: 50:36
Leg 2 - Ann 5K: 26:03
Leg 3 - Michelle 10K: 48:43
Leg 4 - Gaye 5K 26:40
Leg 5 - Sonja 7.5 miles 53:56

Great Job ladies!

Arriving in Tampa after an uneventful flight was quite the shock. It was warm, damp and totally beachy. By the time we got to our cottage it was nearly midnight. We were staying in a little one bedroom cottage about a block off St. Pete’s Beach. I put together my bike that evening and we hit the hay.

Friday morning we awoke to a cloudless sunny sky. I was itching to get to the beach, but we needed to hit the store for breakfast and lunchy items. Friday was spent unintentionally sunburning the smitherines out of ourselves. I had one goal for friday - have fun and don’t get burned. Yeah, kinda blew that one! At first we thought we would be fine, but as the evening wore on we realized we were in big trouble.

Saturday we woke early and got to the race site for a pre race debriefing by Steve and Andrea. They did a great job of explaining the course while keeping a casual tone. We had to turn our bikes into transition that day, and boy was transition HUGE. It was by far the largest transition I have ever seen, with over 4000 competitors. That evening we met for a group meal over near our cottage at a very nice Itallian place called Gigi’s. Everyone was festive, Troy and I were just hoping our sunburns would heal.

I slept great before the race. I think having the sunburn got my mind off everything else as I was just trying to send healing thoughts to my skin.

The morning of the race I woke with very minor sunburn pain and I was ready to go. It was totally cool to travel to the race with Troy. We cranked up the music in the car and didn’t have to worry about 2 year old eardrums. We were rockin’ out. Transition closed at 6:45 am but my swim wave started at 9:00 am. Nice huh? We arrived a bit close to transition close time and I luckilly got set up and out of there with 4 minutes to spare. Troy and I parked the car and we headed over to find a shady spot to chill, stay calm, and watch some of the bikers come by. It was nice to be “around” the course, but not really involved, and thus able to keep my excitement curbed.

Fifty minutes before my swim wave start I went for a fifteen minute run and then walked over to the swim beach, got into my wetsuit and got into the water. The water that day was 74 and thus legal for age groupers to wear a suit, but not for the pros. I did a rather long swim warm-up, swimming down to the first buoy and back about 4 times. I got in the crowd with all the other light blue caps and I was really calm, but a bit stern, and for some reason very focused. I was very within myself, and nothing around me seemed to make me nervous or bothered.

Swim: Run Run Run, Dive into the water. Spit, Ack, Salty. Swim Sight Swim Sight Swim Sight. I wanted to sight often all the way to the first buoy since I always get lost in the first portion of the swim and usually end up way off course. For the first time I stayed on course and swam straight…for awhile! The swim was broken into three legs and when I made the second turn to start the third leg I could see starfish on the ocean floor. I was totally mesmerized by this. I was so excited that I swam off course and a guy on a jet ski had to get me going back in the right direction. The swim exit is a set of stairs that you have to swim up to and climb out of. This part was really cool, one of my favorite parts of the swim. I looked down at my watch and saw 29 minutes. With all the choppy water and the starfish, and the getting slightly lost I was ecstatic! I gave Troy a thumbs up!

T1: I ran into transition, straight to my bike between row 45 and 46 (Crazy, huh?). Wetsuit came off perfect (because it’s too big) and I was on my bike quick.

Bike: The bike was wild. This course was flat, and fast with lots of turns. Luckily Steve has really trained us how to turn so the entire Practical Coaching team sailed through the bike portion. The course had a lot of people on it since I was in the last swim wave. I was passing a person at least once every 5 seconds. I went by hundreds of people. Drafting laws were a bit hard to enforce, but since I was passing people so often I felt safe. Half of the Florida police department was on the course keeping us safe. I felt so safe in fact that in many points in the race I relaxed my upper body, put my head down and peddled as hard as I could. It was such a top notch race!

T2: In T2 I had a really bad thing happen. I lost control of my bike (I was holding it by the handle bars) and the back of it slid out to the side and hit a lady that was running behind me. I am so trained to stay calm during adversity during races that the lady yelped and I just kept running. I didn’t apologize and I just feel horrible about it. After I racked my bike I had the hardest time getting my shoes on. I had to stop, take a breath, calm down, and try again. They went on that time. I still feel bad about hitting that lady.

Run: Exiting transition was so cool because I could see Andrea and Julie up ahead. As I ran by Andrea I gave her a pat on the tush, she was looking great and running super strong. Soon I passed Julie as well, and was able to tell her good job. The run course was an out and back through a swanky neighborhood. There were huge shade trees and bomber aid stations every mile. So totally awesome! I took it out at a very conservative pace and just tried to ramp it up. I looked for ladies in my age group and wasn’t seeing very many. I would see a lady ahead that looked young so I would go catch her…only to see she was 33 or 31 or something not in my age group. I did this the whole way and did pass a few people in my group. Everyone on the course and along the way kept commenting about my awesome pace. I was just crusin, but it was tough to weave through all the runners on the course. I saw Michelle, Nicole, Jenna, and Sarah on the course. It’s always awesome to see friends! Apparently I never caught up to the leader in my age group. I pushed hard…but not too hard into the finish and standing there was a lady that looked my age. I checked her calf and sure enough she was 27. It turns out she had from 40 seconds to 1 minute on me the entire race. Just out of my visual!

I was really ecstatic to find out I was second in my age group. My FIL Roger called Troy and let him know the news and it was just icing on the cake. This race was the most fantastic race I have competed in. Afterwards they had oodles of food for the athletes and free beer for athletes, spectators, anyone who wanted it. SO WELL RUN! So totally cool.

The whole team waited and waited and waited around for the awards ceremony to see me get my award. It was unbelievably sweet of them. We even saw Bree Wee, but I was too shy to say hi to her!

Ahh, I am still basking in the great race euphoria, we will definitely be back next year! I highly recommend this race. Fantastico!

I didn’t plan on racing today. Nope, nada. After asking Steve what I should do instead of my planned bike for today (bike out of commission for awhile) he said if I wanted I could come do a 5K out at Wash Park today. Steve was going out to help one of my teammates, Sandy, post a great time to get into a good Bolder Boulder heat. I stayed up late last night with friends, had like 5 smores, and didn’t even sweat it that I might race today.

Another one of our teammates, Kirk, was going to jump into the race and help with pacing as well. It almost felt like a little pacing party this morning. Troy and Annie came along to the race, as did Steve’s son, and Sandy’s 4 kiddos and her brother and niece. It was a total party.

The original plan was for everyone to help with the pacing but as we got on the line to start Steve changed it up on me and gave me a new little strategy that he wanted me to attack. I admit having the game changed last minute was totally fun. A year ago I would have been MAD, but today I just got a little smile on my face and said…”I’ll try until I blow up”.

After the national anthem and some really touching words by Congressman Perlmutter we were off. I stuck straight to my plan that Steve outlined and this took me across the one mile point at 6:12. My first thought was that this was too fast. But I was sticking to my plan. I relaxed up, calmed down and just focused on turning over the legs, calming the mind, and let my body do what it loves. I came into mile 2 around 12:40 and felt right on. I decided to put in a surge that would hopfully pull me away from the lady I was running with and into the lead. I surged hard up a little hill and just let it come to me.

I was in the lead. It’s funny the feelings you get when you are leading a race. Instead of relief, it’s dread. You have this idea that everyone in the race is coming to get you. You use all your mental strength you keep your head on straight. In the lead, the work is all yours. I heard Kirk yell something at me from behind. I figured they were further directions from Steve, being relayed up the race pack. Before I knew it Kirk was at my shoulder running stride for stride with me. I stood a little taller and ran a bit harder. You see, Kirk is a bit ellusive amongst the group. He is a amazing rock star of a triathlete and one of those people that just being in his presence makes you feel fast. It was great to round the last turn with him.

I really felt like I was on pace to break 20 minutes today. That number seems to be my nemisis. I don’t run 5K’s too often, but when I do, I haven’t broken 20. I think the last 1.15 was a little long, or maybe I wasn’t flying as fast as I felt. My finish time was 20:25. I took the first overall slot for the ladies, and Sandy pulled in right behind me with the third place slot. Second went to local tri-star, just turned professional, Kylie.

All in all, I had a ton of fun executing a race strategy today. I learned a lot and this race really added to my confidence level as a competitor. Steve just keeps teaching me little by little, piece by piece. I just keep praying (or meditating) that I continue to have the clarity to absorb his teachings. I really feel like he is “raising me” in the sport and I couldn’t feel more lucky for the mentorship he provides. As we warmed up he was giving Sandy all these tips, and I was just basking in the fact that I got to be there to listen as well. He really knows how to race, and he is full of many gems.

Tons of thanks to Troy as well who totally was out there for me today. I was thinking on the way home about the sense of ease I feel when I run by my husband in races. It’s instantly calming. When he isn’t there my whole race feels off. He adds way more than I can describe to my race experience. Just knowing that someone out there doesn’t care if you stick to the plan or not, if you blow up or not, bonk or not. He could care less, he’s always just there with a smile on his face, cheering his guts out while running after a two year old. I am SO stinkin’ lucky.