As I mentioned in my last post, I really wanted to get through this race and finish. It is a challenging course. I'm not where I want to be with training because of the recently diagnosed ulcerative colitis. My only goals for this race were to finish and work as hard as I could. I am really happy that I accomplished this. It was a huge mental boost for me to know that I can get through this race, especially considering that just a week before the race I couldn't move because the abdominal pain had been so intense, and the neck injury that I've been dealing with had worsened.
My sister's college graduation ceremony was the day before the race. I wasn't going to miss that for anything. I'm proud of her achievements and wanted to celebrate with her and my family. I ended up getting home way later than we expected, so I only got about 4 hours of sleep. But that's life.
On race morning, I was up at 3:30. The weather forecast was low 70s, which I think is cold, but comfortable enough. I know most people liked the temperature for racing. My dad spent the entire day as my personal support crew, for which I am very thankful. Sorry if some of this is TMI, but I'm sharing anyway. I ended up sleeping in the car on the way up since my meds make me uncomfortable in the morning, and my dad was nice enough to drive. We got to T2 to drop off my shoes, and I was surprised that there weren't more people up there. We drove down to T1 (as close as we could get in the car). I had to change what time I usually eat before the race (I've always eaten an hour before) because lately I have had to go to the bathroom almost exactly an hour after I eat anything. I didn't want to have to deal with that during the race, so I had to eat earlier. I know that seems like a silly thing to think about, but when we have our race day plans set up, we need to be prepared with every little detail, but be adaptable in case anything changes. I didn't have to run during the race, so mission accomplished.
It was awesome seeing so many of my friends getting ready, volunteering, and cheering. Before the race started, my coach told me to smile the whole race. I think this was the most important advice. It helped me not think about the pain and remember why I am out here. I race because it's fun. I enjoy pushing myself as hard as I can during training and racing, getting to the finish line, and reaching my goals.
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| Pre-swim start (Photo credit: Mark Davis) |
The swim was interesting to say the least. There were three different distances- World's Toughest Half (WTH), International, and Mini. WTH had the furthest swim at 1.2 miles, so they had yellow buoys to mark their turns. Ours was 1.5K (0.9 miles). We had orange buoys. The swim out was uneventful. The water was perfectly comfortable temperature-wise. I felt as if I had a good pace and was sighting well for the first two buoys. After the second buoy, we were looking straight into the sun. There were no sighting buoys (that was my one criticism of the course if any). I had absolutely no idea where the next buoy was. I swam towards where I thought we were supposed to go. I was alone. I finally saw an orange buoy and started swimming toward it. As I got closer, I realized that it was the start buoy. The Mini race was starting. I could now see the turn buoy way off to my right and turned toward it. The Mini swim course went straight to the buoy that I was now headed toward. Now I had an extra pack of swimmers to go through. As I got to the turn buoy, there was another crowd of the WTH athletes. It was bunched up from there to the end of the swim, but I was able to make it through unscathed and with a decent pace. The abdominal pain started becoming more noticeable about the last turn buoy, but I had to keep going. I thought I had lost a lot of time, but I heard the announcer call out Elsie Winter (They couldn't get Elise's name right haha) right ahead of me. I wasn't the only one who took the scenic swim route. Swim time was 25:31.
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| Coming out of the water (Facchino Photography) |
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| On the bike (Facchino Photography) |
I got on the bike and started heading up the hill. The bike course for the international according to MapMyRide has 2,155 feet of climbing over 40 K. It's not easy. I'm glad I had a couple rides on the bike course because it was a technical course. You really have to know what gear to be in around each corner because every turn is followed by a hill- usually going up. I had everything planned down to when I would take my first Gu (right before Shirland Tract), which is one of the most difficult portions of the course. I saw someone with a dropped chain almost immediately after turning onto this street. There were chalk messages cheering on Jenni (who did WTH) and me on Shirland Tract (
Total Intensity Sports peeps rock!). I laughed to myself when I saw "Yum hills" further up the hill. My dad went all over the bike course to cheer me on. I loved seeing him out there so much with his GoPro and cowbell. I saw the first men coming back a little bit after the aid station. I expected to see the first women several minutes later, but I did not until the last street- a couple minutes before the turn around. I was very relieved that I was not as far behind as I thought. Elise was out in front followed by a few others. Everyone seemed pretty close. I saw Coach John out on the course on my way back, and Mark a little while later. Heading into T2, I misjudged the hill right before transition. I was planning on a flying dismount, but it ended up being so slow and ungraceful that I ended up having to just get off the bike a little before the dismount line. Not one of my better moments, but good for a laugh. My bike time was 1:29:02.
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| Run Run (Facchino Photography) |
I was expecting the 10K run course to be about the same level of difficulty as the run at Rancho Seco as far as elevation and trail difficulty go. There were some technical spots on the trails and a few hills. Nothing crazy, but I wouldn't call it easy. It took my legs about a mile on the run to start feeling good. The next mile or so I felt as if I was having a strong run. There was one section that veered off down a hill to an aid station where I saw Amber and Aimee volunteering and cheering. I'm really glad they were there because I really needed that boost! By about mile 3, the pain was really starting to intensify. It was tough, but I knew that I was going to get through this race. I just focused on my run stride, smile, and getting to the finish line. This is usually when I kick it into the next gear on the run to finish hard, but it wasn't there. I was able to maintain my pace and kept going as hard as I could. Because I did not preview the course, I did not realize that the second loop was shorter than the first loop. It was a very welcome surprise. I was spent when I crossed the finish line. My run time was 51:15. My final race time was 2:49:53, which was good for a 2nd place age group finish and 5th overall.
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| 25-29 F (Photo Credit: Daddy) |
Congratulations to all of the athletes who raced this weekend. It's always fun to see everyone out there working hard and having fun. And congratulations to Elise (aka Elsie haha) on an awesome race and the overall win.
Thank you so much to my sponsor
Rudy Project for helping make this all possible. This was my first race to try out the Wingspan helmet, and I love it! Thank you also to Coach John Pottebaum and my Total Intensity Sports teammates for getting me ready for this, especially with the extra unexpected challenges. Thank you to all of the volunteers, race staff, and friends who were out there supporting all of the athletes. And of course, thank you to my wonderful parents who have always been supportive of me and for taking care of me.
I am really looking forward to the rest of this season. After finishing this race, I know that I can push through and compete and I'm excited for some PRs. There is no quit. See you all at Tri for Real.
