Last weekend (make that 2 wknds ago-----I am now editing the blog I started 2 wks ago!), we raced Heart O' Dixie for the 3rd year in a row. We packed our things up and headed out Friday evening. We have a friend who is nice enough to let us stay at his home, since he has a cabin at the fairgrounds in which he stays every year. That leaves a nice, empty home for us to stay at the night before the race for free!!!!! Thank you Patrick ;)
Patrick text Matt Friday evening as we were making the drive to Philadelphia. He said Matt was number #167 or so. He then said I was #12? "What?" I said. "He's joking. We signed up at the same time. Why would I be so close to the start?" Apparently, they seeded the top 10 men and top couple women they recognized from previous races. I should take that as a compliment, right? I will say it was very flattering to put my bike in transition next to the "elite men." I was not worthy, by any means in my mind, but it was nice to think the race directors thought so ;)
Only, this put additional pressure on myself. "What if I bomb this race? What if I my legs won't make it through this one due to all the Ironman training buildup and fatigue?" I thought. Oh well, we would just have to find out.
I walked up to the front of the pack, still wondering if they really wanted ME to be up so close to the front? "I'm going to get clobbered and swam over in this swim!!," I thought. Ugh, not so much. Here comes the race report:
Swim: I jumped in and decided to bilateral breathe the whole time--(something I
usually don't do in races. Strange enough, I only got passed by one swimmer
in the water. Good thing---I couldn't see the buoy b/c my goggles were fogged
up. I was sighting a white gazebo, not the place I was supposed to be
sighting!! Ughh......me and my wonderful sighting abilities:) Luckily, when
he passed me, I tried to draft off his feet and realized he was making a sharp
right turn. I followed his lead and it put me back on track. Not a stellar
swim by me--------swim time was about 25 seconds worse than last year. I blame
it on bad sighting and fatigue ;)
Swim: 15:02
Bike: Last year, I biked 22 mph on that rolling course. I remember looking at last
year's results and thinking, "Oh, I can beat that. I am a much stronger biker,
especially on hills, since I have been focusing more on them for Canada
coming up. Well, after 5 miles, I just lost all motivation. I looked around
me and there was NO one in sight. "Is this a race?" I asked myself. It felt
like an ordinary training day. This proceeded for the first TWENTY miles of
the race!!!!!!!! One guy passed me, otherwise it was like a ghost town out
there. Needless to say, this didn't help my motivation that was already
lacking :( I kept on keeping on though, and up ahead at mile 21, I saw the
first place female at the time. I passed her with 6 miles left on the bike.
I knew this was the only place I would hold her off. She comes from a strong
running background I heard, and according to her Heatwave results this past
season, she was running stronger than ever. I pulled into T2 and got ready
for the run.
Bike Average: 21.9 mph (close to last year, but not cigar. Blame it on the
Ironman training fatigue and slight headwind?)
Run: Here's where I thought it might all fall apart........or did at least for the
first couple miles. Mile 1 is slight uphill the whole time.....not so
encouraging after just getting off the bike and legs still getting used to
the run pace. I immediately started walking out of T2. My friend, Stacy, was
leaving T2 the exact same time as me. He turned around and looked at me. "You
ok?" he asked. Just exhausted and no mental game, I told him. I did start
running at a slow pace and kept him in sight ahead of me. I kept waiting for
the female that I passed on the bike to come zooming by me. And she did. Mile
2, I believe. I told myself to dig deep. My legs weren't feeling extremely
heavy. I was just fatigued all over. I always have a reserve in me in runs,
somehow. I don't know where I finally found it that day, but starting at mile
3, my legs just got stronger and stronger. Looking back on my Garmin, each
mile split got faster and faster. I was pretty happy to have negative splits
on that humid and hilly run.
Average Pace: 7:21 pace
(pace is not totally correct though----the course is short,
which leads to a faster overall split......I'm not
complainin' ;)
3rd overall female (out of 94)
1st overall Mississippian female
Like I said, my race was actually slower that last year by 1 minute, but given the circumstances and fatigue lately, I am still proud of it.
I laughed with Matt after the race. I told him I saw two VERY pregnant ladies out at the post-race awards. I envied them. I'm sure they didn't feel the same way, being "about to pop" and standing out in the extreme heat :)
I continue to have the baby itch. I told Matt I want to be that large next year at Heart O' Dixie, so I won't even have the desire to race while he's racing it ;)
I think it's time. I know it's time ;)
