I don't know why I am having such a hard time with this post. Maybe because I have already written a bunch of race reports and am getting tired of it. Probably because I am should spend this time packing up the house since we are moving today in 2 weeks! Definitely not because I did not like the race. I loved the Scofield Escape! So here we go:
Wait! First I need to go shave my legs and arm pits. I realized that there is no way I can go to the pool tomorrow morning like this! Excuse me.
Ok. I am back. Since it is now 10:30 pm, I will give you the short version.
Camping at the race site is awesome! The whole campground was reserved for athletes and their families. Loved the atmosphere. It was a real treat to have friends and fellow athletes so close. Like one big family. The actual camping was less glorious. Max finally went to sleep at 10:30, Noah had a nightmare and woke up screaming at 11:30, and I was still awake after midnight.
The PowerTri ladies!
Rolled my bike down into transition before 6 and could not wait to get on a speedboat to carry us out to the island. I was really excited for this part! There were only a little more than 50 Escapists and we all squeezed into 5 motor boats. The guys were trash talking, as usual, and the girls were being nice.
Here we are, taking off!
We drove, and drove, and drove some more. It seemed rather far. Can you find the island in the picture below??? The swim was 1.8 miles but there were only buoys for the second part. So we all decided to sight off of some trees in the distance. We jumped into the water and just played around for a while. It was such a great group of athletes and we were having so much fun, I almost forgot that this was a race!
I think I did a pretty good job sighting. At the beginning, I went out of my way to swim with a couple of guys. I figured it would really help to draft since it was such a long swim. But as soon as I got onto their feet, they went off course. Forget that! I was by myself for the rest of the swim. Which was not too bad because I managed to get out in third position overall and almost 7 minutes ahead of the other girls.
I like to think my transitions are super fast and that's why these pictures are so blurry... Haha. Not really. But it's nice to pretend.
Well. I definitely need to practice my bike mounting skills. But - believe it or not - the mount line was on a pretty steep hill. I could use that as an excuse...
I had been on the bike course twice before. Came up a couple of weeks before the race, rode the course, was not happy with it. Came up again, rode the course again, climbed the steep hill (4 miles long) twice, felt better about it. So, I knew what to expect!
It took my quite a while, though, to catch my breath after leaving T1. I remember thinking: "If I can't get my breathing under control soon, I am going to be in big trouble once the climbing starts." We were racing at high elevation and I could feel it. I really enjoyed the ride, especially the climbing. It was great to have Marcel Vifian, a former pro, cruise around on his scooter, cheering and giving advice. He is the coach of one of my competitors, Ali Black, and yet he was helping me out as well!
Last hill. On the bike.
The run started with a nice climb out of T2. Max helped me get up it by cheering loudly. After that it got pretty lonely. Not a fan of running on a black highway. But I knew what was coming and was mentally ready. The miles clicked away and I was feeling (mentally) better than expected. Got a little worried at the turn around because I thought I was loosing time to Leslie and Ali. Which I was, but not very much. I had about a 9- minute lead, which I did not know until Marcel told me.
I loved seeing my friend, Carlee, out there. She competed in the Olympic distance race (her first one) and did really well. Then she jumped back on her bike to come out and cheer me on. It really made a difference and I was able to pick up the pace a little. Thank you!
I felt fine but I was glad when it was over! I got kind of emotional for a second at the finish. This (for me) means that I really pushed myself hard and gave it my best!
Right as I crossed the finish line, I saw Noah run up the hill. I was really happy to be able to cross the finish line with him and Karl. I wish I could have been there for his whole race but he was just fine without me!
Ali Black, a super cool and tough chick, took second and we decided to use one of the big, empty tubs with ice for a little recovery bath. It felt so good and was so fun!
My good friend and teammate, Leslie, came in third. Max and Kaitlyn decided they deserved to be on the podium as well. And they did. Watching such a long race is definitely hard work!
Thank you, BBSC, for such a great, beautiful, fun, hard, well-organized race! I really hope I can come back some day! Special thanks also to Karl, Noah, Max, Carlee, and Jen! You guys are the best!
There is probably more I could/should say but it's too late and I am too tired. So I am out.
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