Sunday, June 28, 2009

Buffalo Springs 70.3 Race Report

Driving to the race this morning it was lightning. And the wind was blowing HARD. Rain was imminent.

The Kestrel and I checked in and I ran into Elizabeth.

I'm in the middle of this picture by the Texas A&M girl. The water was downright HOT. I spent half the swim wishing I was not in a full wetsuit, and the other half trying not to cough while swimming.

Spectators were not exactly conducive to Steven's long-distance photography of the Kestrel taking off on its first race. The pictures don't give it justice - but the bike is FAST!

When I first got on the bike I felt absolutely awful. My legs felt bad, I felt bad, everything felt wrong. I have never DNFd and I was seriously considering it. Having been sick I didn't want to make myself worse and thought maybe I had under-estimated how hard it would be to race after being sick. I decided to eat a GU and ride easy for five miles. If after this point I didn't feel better I would drop out. Thankfully, something turned around.

With nothing to lose and maybe some to gain I decided to push the bike. In the process I got snot all over myself and the bike. Thankfully it ended up pouring and washing everything off. Somehow I ended up setting a PR on the bike and riding into the fastest female amateur bike split of the day, something I have never done before. I wish I had photos of the pouring rain as I headed back to T2 - it was awesome.

It quit raining on the run, which made it a bit steamy. I didn't feel terrible on the run, but I also didn't feel amazing. It was a run.

Somehow I earned myself and IV. Unfortunately though they missed my vein and emptied half the IV bag into my arm before I realized it and had them remove the needle from my swollen arm. They offered to re-stick me. I decided drinking would be a safer option.

Cathy and I decided we should race together more often. Both of us PRd the overall distance, I chased her on the bike and she chased me on the run. We finished 1-2 overall female amateurs. It was a fun day!