Jay Benson Sprint Triathlon Race Report..

Rule #1:

Do NOT go out the day before a race, when you are feeling body dysmorhic, which seems to be the case alot lately, and try on new bathing suits for the race! It seems my body has discovered back fat-you know the stuff that rolls over the back of a tank suit. I was looking at black one piece tank suits to go under my tri stuff, for the swim, at the end of Sunday's race. I was not a happy camper leaving the sporting goods store, size X in hand..H tries to be good to me when I am in this place but I am totally and ridiculously irrational. It is like there are two parts to me. The part that says, F^&*k it, I love my body the way it is. I am one lucky woman to look so good! Then the evil part chimes in and says OMG, you have never, ever been this big and had such a fat stomach before..and BACK FAT!? Are you kidding me? OK, it was a rough day but finally I resolved to do something about these 10 lbs. I think the hormones have got to go! More BD later..There is an article in Triathlete Magazine called "Body Image..Are Triathletes Obsessed?" Really?..You mean I am not alone?

Night before the Jay Benson Sprint Triathlon: I am still grumpy, not as bad..Eating little solid food so as to: please dear God, do not let me have to go to the BR on the RUN, which is first tomorrow. There are no trees, no bushes, nothing but me and the other 400 competitors out there and please I do not want to have to go! OK so this is a weird prayer for a middle aged woman but about as crazy as the bathing suit incident earlier...Pre race jitters..I am grumpy. I do not want to do this friggin'race. Who signed us up for this damn thing anyway? Oh yes, that was me..H is no help-he does not want to race either! Such a different space than last weekend when I was so excited to rock it with my daughter at the half, AT SEA LEVEL!! I told a friend one day years ago..Honestly, I HATE racing triathlon! I love the training. I HATE the pressure of the actual RACE! He agreed.

Race morning: I wake up before the alarm, still in grump ass mode. Waaaahhhhh!! I am whining before we even get into the car..Why the hell are 2 grown retired folks doing something they do NOT want to do at 6:00 Sunday AM? Well, we decided we were going for the picnic afterwards, which was planned as our team picnic and we LOVE our OUTLAWS!! Our buds! Right away I get a text from Michi, god bless her, saying Happy Mother's Day! A brief breath of fresh air! Thank you Michi..

We arrive on the base a good 1.5 hours before race time..Then I see it...I think it is a mirage! ABOUT 8 PORTA POTTIES outside transition! I have died and gone to heaven...I spent alot of time in those potties before the race..my prayers were answered!

I ran into my friend Anne, doing her 2nd tri, Geekgirl, Sweet Baboo, Dread Pirate, MG and Michi..many more Outlaws including Mark, who had the dreaded official uniform on! That was wierd..

Run:

OK so they decided since half of New Mexico showed up for this race, they would start the race in three waves this year. Let's put the old ladies last..GREAT!! More time to stand around and have to hit the porta potties. The gun went off for us at 8:40, a good 40 minutes past the men's start. I felt pretty good to start but always have a dry mouth in this race to begin with, until some nice lady gave me a drink of her water. I started my watch at the beginning and never looked again until the end. I figured I was running about 9:30-10:00 miles. Longest 3 miles ever in the desert. Just get me to that damn swim!

Run Time: 29:27 ..meh..the usual..

T-1: 18  I did manage transition practice on Saturday because often I can make up my sucky run time here.

Bike: Jumped on the ole' SWTrigal Cervelo and me Zipps and off I went. Again no sense of time but I was pushing it! I passed a bunch of folks, one lady in my AG. YAY!!! I hadn't seen too many in transition, aside from my friend Carol, who always wins, is a fantastic athlete..I have known her 8 years and she has qualified for Kona, etc. I aged up to her AG this year and when I saw her and chatted I knew, Oh well, there goes my first place!  Ha! Like that was a possibility!

On to the bike. About 2/3 into the 12 miles, I was tired...My mental state at this race was light years away from last weeks run, where I felt like an OC Rock Star. This week I felt like a very grumpy old lady..So my thoughts were about to give into give up "F&*^k it" mode when I made a decision: OK instead of giving up here, take all that pissed offness and make it work in the race. Don't give up, get angry!! So I did. I blasted to the end, hopped off my bike and grabbed my cap and goggles.

Bike time: 40.05  A bike PR!!

T-2: 1:37 Why didn't I think to bring my shoes to run from one end of transition on the rocky road like DP did? Oh well, I got to the pool where to my horror were women walking down the ladder to get into the pool. Are you kidding me?

The Swim: Ok, so I had a coach tell me once, You can be a nice person and ladylike and all that but at race time, all bets are off!!! So there I was YELLING, LETS GO THIS IS A RACE-HELLO! and jumped in the water and pushed a couple of ladies out of my way so I could start swimming. Only to be confronted with someone doing the breastroke in the left lane! Now I have had my time doing breastroke in a tri swim, I know what that is like but for god's sake, get in the right side so we can pass on the left. I just pushed her over and swam on. I swam under folks, beside folks..but I passed alot of people. Around meter 300 I got tired, really tired and thought think I will rest for the next 100 then just push it in!  H said he saw me slow down. I just was done...So that is what I did. I think I passed another woman in my AG so there-I think I beat at least 2 women in my AG! Ran across the mat and DONE!! Hit my watch and it said 1:21. That was a relief!

Swim time: 8:52 Not my best but I'll take it!

Post Race:

OMG I was so relieved to have this race over, it was incredible. Stayed to cheer my friend Terry in-her first triathlon at 54 years old!! That was awesome..

As I went to shower before the Awards ceremony, I saw Carol-she told me her time and that she has beaten some other woman right behind her. So I am thinking Maybe 3rd? Is that possible? The results were being posted right then so I asked H to and check to see if I placed, assuming Carol came in first.. I got out there and he said YOU DID IT! YOU CAME IN THIRD! I screamed!!! For the first time in my Jay Benson history I had placed in my AG. I was so happy for about 5 minutes until I ran into Carol at the awards thing. I told her I had come in 3rd and she said no, she thought she had come in 3rd. Oh rats! That means I was 5th!  H hadn't looked above Carol's name because she usually wins but lo and behold 2 other women beat HER...That was so disappointing but soon my mind was on food at the picnic and listening to the announcer read all these ridiculously fast times of winners. Jay Benson is the biggest race in the state and literally people come out of the woodwork to race this Sprint Tri. Folks you will never see, ever again in a season. They must train all year just to do Jay Benson and kick the rest of our asses!!! It is kind of annoying. 

Fast forward this AM. I am thinking I probably got 5th out of 7 in my AG. OK, I wasn't last, right? Then I look and had the surprise of my life! There were 16..count them..16 women in the 55-59 year old age group yesterday! Are you kidding me? My attitude immediately became one of joy. I got 5th out of 16 women!!! 91st out of 262 overall women. I can now say I am a step above middle of the pack, right?

Geez, and to celebrate, we signed up for an Olympic distance tri in Lubbock Texas next week with Michi and MG..I think I really am crazy or masochistic or both!