Kona Bound..

NOT!!
Well, thought I would write my race report while it is fresh on my mind. First of all, when you get up at 4:00 AM in Texas, it is really 3:00 AM for us. That is the time Hartley and I woke up this morning. I had everything in the car-so only had to brew the in room coffee, eat my 2 bagels, red bull and bottle of Gatorade. Off we went at 4:45 and believe it or not, we got stuck in somewhat of a traffic jam at the race site. But all was OK and I made it to transition area in time. For those of you that have done the race, it has changed. Your spot was marked with your number, they changed the direction of the transition so you had to run about 1/2 mile out of transition if you were at the end I was (that is an exaggeration but seemed long with no shoes on after the bike-ouch!).
I was in the first wave of the swim-which had it's negatives and positives. First of all, it was not hot yet. We took off and I felt great on the swim. Just cruised, got a little over-heated in my wetsuit but all in all did well. It was a bit discouraging when some from the wave behind us started passing me but then the wave behind THAT was catching up and that was just a taste of things to come. You see, if everyone in the waves behind me is younger than me, then guess what happens? You get passed alot. And I mean ALOT! on the bike. I was feeling quite discouraged until I started to notice the young men that were passing me-of course admiring their bikes! :)
I had a good bike ride. There are many hills, some of them steep, but short. It was overcast much of the bike-it even rained a little which was a welcome surprise. But alas the weather gods finally pulled through, true to Lubbock and it got hot near the end. I sucked on my shot blocks the whole time, drank lots of water, took sodium tabs and Sustained Energy drink. I felt great on the bike. I decided not to wear a watch cause I get stressed looking at time these days. So I just go by how I feel. All was good on the bike and before I knew it, I was back in transition. The thing NOT to do is take off your shoes and jump off the bike barefooted in this race. Did I think I was a pro or something? The rocks in transition killed my feet. Hartley was there-I was so glad to see him. He helped me figure out where my bike slot was. There was no place to put my bike cause some menopausal woman had mis-parked her bike. So my hubby moved her bike so I could rack mine. Seems like my T-2 was about 3 minutes-sure was slow. I took off on the run and then it hit me-my legs HURT!!! I mean they were toast. At least I had learned from previous racing that you can feel like dog-doo-doo one minute and problem can be solved the next. Let's see-how many drugs could I take at once to deal with this pain??I took 2 Tylenol and one Advil-a no-no (the Advil) but I didn't care..I did my planned "run"-walk one minute, run one minute. Then came the hills. I am not talking little wimpy hills-I am talking BIG, STEEP HILLS! It was getting hot. I thought oh my it is going to be a long day! Of course I was trying to stay positive so you know those really annoying people who are always smiling and chatting to everyone that goes by? I decided to be one of those people. It did help a little. By the time I got to mile 4, the stomach cramps started-oh damn-I have been here before. After the "hills" there is a long stretch of flat with no shade. Then I started to have this feeling like I was being jet fueled ahead by air or something-but then I realized I was passing some major gas-I mean ALOT! I felt a little embarrassed but my previous coach, mark mico, told me once that when a woman is racing, all lady-like behavior should go away. So there i was farting like a college boy and still following the plan. I didn't chat much at this point-was too embarrassed! But I was feeling slightly better. I was afraid to eat any gel cause of the stomach thing. At aid station 5 or so I discovered nectar of the gods-coke! No, not that kind of coke, I mean Coca-cola. Oh man-that CURED my stomach issues. It was AWESOME! Of course there were still people passing me-one was a guy in his 60s. Oh well. but I began to pass folks too-that was different.. The run at Buffalo Springs is hard, there is no other way to put it. I drank Coke every mile until they ran out. Started to get a blister so had to stop and put band aids on it. Just another problem to solve. Eat, drink, take salt tabs, took in some gel finally-I got confused after awhile when to take what. I saw other Outlaws on the run-that was really cool and lots of folks commented on the Outlaw jersey..Still chatting-finally found 2 older men who chatted back and we got ourselves back the last 3 miles. I crossed the finish line in exactly the same time I did it 3 years ago-7:15. I looked and my splits for the swim (39 min.), bike (3:32) and run (2:56) were almost identical to the ones in 2004. I consider this improvement because I am older!! Unfortunately, I couldn't find Hartley at the finish line. I felt great at the end, jumped in the lake and that felt like heaven, finally found Hartley and here we are back in hotel room. i did the ice bath on the legs-first time-not very much fun-jury still out whether it helps or not. Believe it or not, there are 19 women who were in my age group. I finished 14th. At least I wasn't last! These are serious women who do Buffalo Springs..So no Kona trip for me or even Southwest Series points but I am left feeling like I really am trained and I still have it! For this menopausal lady-that is an accomplishment..So now we are going to pig out at the awards ceremony and watch the pros get their prizes and see my competition. Hartley finished FIRST in his age group on the sprint. He is becoming quite the athlete!! So I got a finisher's medal and a finisher's T-shirt which I will wear with pride!