Another year, another TriKW in the books. Yup. That dude from those Wranglers commercials was in my swim wave. Cool. He was the only one wearing a full wetsuit. By all accounts, he was super gracious to all the people that wanted photos. I never got to ask him for one. I did have a moment when we passed each other on the bike when I shouted “BRETT FAVRE!!“. Not sure where that came from as I’m not really into the Footballs. Or Wranglers. I may have given myself a heart attack if like Patrice Bergeron or Trot Nixon were racing. #4 did well! His wife did better. More than one great athlete in that family!

Yesterday’s race was a perfect example as to why this is one of mine favorite races. It’s amazing to be out on the course racing and see so many of my friends racing too. It’s awesome to have so many people I know cheering us on at every point. It’s great to have everyone you know at the after party (which should really just be sponsored by Fireball. oy)

It’s also sometimes tough to have so many people you know at a race. I end up feeling pressure from it. If I fail or something goes wrong, there’s a whole lot of people to witness it! And some stuff did go wrong!

This race began with some pre race weather related stress. Like every single forecast predicted like hurricane conditions for the race! Ok. Maybe not a hurricane but definitely a whole lot of rain. What’s the  matter with a little rain? Welllllll…..this island is not so good with the whole draining thing. We got so much rain Thursday and Friday that even if it didn’t pour on Saturday morning, there was definitely going to be a lot of standing water throughout the race course and transition.

Saturday morning came and thankfully every forecast was wrong! Yaaay! So one major worry off the list. But turns out, I had bigger issues. The following is TMI fo sho. But these posts are warts and all. (unfortunately for you). Basically, I was gonna have to race with Aunt Flo. And not super sweet Aunt Flo that gets you some cookies, tea and a nice rest. No, this was mean, vicious Aunt Flo. The Aunt Flo that you would beg your parents to not make you visit cause she keeps punching you in the stomach like non-f’ing stop and makes you sick. She’s a peach. I long for Victorian times when they just made your stay in bed for the whole thing. Except they didn’t have cheese curls and Advil so that’d be a bit of a bummer. Any who, pre race I wasn’t sure I’d be able to leave the bathroom long enough to get dressed in my super squeeze (uncomfortable) race gear, never mind racing for 2 1/2 hours. But I ain’t no quitter! I am woman, hear me, well, whimper! The main problem with this is that my pre race fueling was basically Advil and hope. (oooh….FORESHADOWING!)

I hopped on my bike and took off for the race. Which is like my favorite thing ever. I live 1/2 mile from the race! I don’t thoroughly enjoy going past my house 6 times (!) but I love the fact that I live on the course and it’s where I train. I got to the course and forgot about the fact that a battle was being waged on my insides. So great to see so many people I love racing and cheering! I had friends doing all distances, divisions and relays. Super cool to see so many friendly faces. I went through the pre race set up and then proceeded to spend my time pre race either standing in line at the port a potty or inside the port a potty. Luckily, lots of friends to wait it out with. Normally when I have at least an hour from transition close to my wave start I eat a bit and get some electrolytes in. But I just couldn’t this time. I was so excited to race and let the chips fall where they may.

Race time! I decided to not wear a wetsuit as the water was fairly warm. The size of my ass allows me to float at the surface so I don’t gain much buoyancy in salt water with a wet suit. And frankly, I wanted one less thing to deal with. I headed into the water and the horn went off. Start time! I took off like a shot out of a cannon! ok. more like a Conch on the move. There was a bit of a current going against us but I soon found my rhythm (slow as it was). Problem though. I’m so slow that the next wave of racers was fast approaching. I had one dude literally swim right over me. Like I was a patch of seaweed he needed to get through. That was unnerving, but fine. Just pushed through. Then another dude came out of nowhere and kicked me so hard in my shoulder that it took my breath away. MAN, that hurt like a MoFo. I shook it off best I could and swam on. It became crystal clear instantly that my swim was going to be a little off after that. It hurt every time I pulled my right arm. Oh well. I pushed through and finished the swim (and not last either! holla!).

I stumbled my way to transition, grabbed my bike and took off. As always during a race. Like ALWAYS. I suddenly forgot how to clip in and had a super awkward start. Aces. I was worried about my internal sitch vs bike seat but luckily the pain in my shoulder brushed that right aside. Had some wind against me on the way out and was definitely being a big, fat whiny pants. I was literally riding without using my right arm and bitching about it to myself when a dude with NO RIGHT ARM blew past me. I swear to Dog it was as I was feeling like I couldn’t go on. Talk about a “suck it up, Buttercup” moment. So I told myself to shut up and keep going.  I was trying to get some electrolytes in me as much as I could and before I knew it, I was at the turnaround for second and final lap. As I headed into the wind again, I started to not feel so good. Uh oh. “I’mFineI’mFineI’mFineI’mfineOHMYGODIHAVETOPUKE” was pretty much the way it went down. I knew Dave Harris would skin me alive if I vommed on my bike (plus that’s just gross) so I pulled over and let it fly. I was just thinking “thank god nobody is here to see this” when I looked up and saw my friend Josh running towards me, blazing his way to his 2nd overall finish in the Olympic. Oh crap. He asked if I was ok, I tried to act like I totally meant to do that and we post moved on. You see, I like to get to my run as light as possible. Yup, that’s it.

Finished the bike and got to the run. (I’m boring myself now. Sorry, almost done). I didn’t feel great on the run. Like at all. I think I was pretty dehydrated. My calves started cramping. My back was cramping. My cramps were cramping. ugh. I had some BASE salt with me and I just kept trying to take a lick every 10 mins just to save my race. I was doing a walk/run/shuffle thing. The great thing about Triathlons is fellow athletes are generally super supportive on the course. It was an out and back run so I got to encourage others while they were encouraging me. I had turned around and was at my lowest point when my friend Seth suddenly came up next to me and really helped get me going again to get to the finish. I was so happy to get to that damn finish line lol. It’s a glorious thing to head down a finish line chute after (literally) leaving everything on the race course. I was smiling from ear to ear. I got my medal and went to find beer and my friends (Yes, in that order).

Final results? 5th in Age Group (yes, there were only 6 of us). I knocked 4 mins off my swim, 4 mins off my bike and 2 mins off my run. I lost too much time in T2. mainly cause I felt so horrible. I had a ton of trouble putting my shoes on. I was super dizzy. I hit the higher end of my goal on the swim, bike and run. and missed my overall goal by 4 mins. HOWEVER, I did knock 7 mins off my best time for this race (which, weirdly was year one)!  Overall, I’m super happy with the results. Two days later I’m still a bit banged up but am ready to get back at it! only one month til my next race……..