Race Morning
The alarm went off nice and early at 3:30 am for the 6:10 am start. During my sleep I had erased Saturday's Half Marathon from my mind and it was now a blank slate. What Half Marathon??? I like to claim that I am pretty good at 'playing pretend' and figuring out ways to trick myself. This time it worked pretty well!
Check-in and set-up was nice and smooth. Keeping it as simple as possible. Nothing note-worthy until the usual The-race-starts-in-10-minutes-and-I-just-got-here-looking-for-the-best-spot-for-my-bike Heini shows up and asks: Can I squeeze in here? I was rather speechless but then my nice neighbor chimed in and gave him loud and clear No! I kinda felt bad but not really.
Lake Mary looks anything but inviting which is why I hadn't swum in it since last year's edition of Mountain Man. But today I had no choice. So I sucked it up.
(Sorry. No swim or bike pictures. My support crew didn't show up until Mile 8 on the run...)
The Swim
I am a fan of low expectations. Fearing the worst, the lake was actually not so bad. Definitely less oil and gasoline taste/smell than last year. Water was nice and warm while also extremely murky. Not a chance of seeing anything including the hand in front of your face. I realized that I don't really care as long as I can somewhat see the buoys above the water. This was definitely a concern of mine since last year I couldn't spot a single one and this year I was having a hard time finding them even while standing on shore! Not good.
I lined up toward the front. Not because I am the greatest swimmer but because I am trying to be brave. I think it might come in handy in Vegas in a few weeks. Especially if the girls are going to be as mean as last year! The gun went off and so did all the women, older men, and relays. And, boy, did they ever take off! Like they were all going to swim the 1.2 miles in less than 30 minutes. Having come out of the water in first place last year, I was a little confused. Why was everyone sprinting? Did everybody but me improve by leaps and bounds? I figured I had no choice but to go with them while trying to keep from getting pushed under. This is certainly not my favorite part of a triathlon but I have learned that it won't last forever.
Then, suddenly, I couldn't breathe. Panic attack! Yes. This happens to all (or at least most) of us at times. I am totally blaming the altitude. There just didn't seem to be any oxygen in the air. No matter how hard I tried to get some in my lungs, I still felt like I was suffocating. I already saw myself backstroking the entire swim. Or, worse, getting on a boat and recording my first DNF. But since I didn't feel like telling you all on this blog about how I couldn't even get to the first buoy in the swim, I just kept my head down and told myself that, once on the bike, I could breathe all I wanted to. It was tough but I hung in there and eventually got over it.
By the time I had recovered I was almost to the first buoy. I looked around and saw... one other girl swimming off course. Where was everybody else? Well, one girl certainly was right there. On my feet. The. entire. swim. We all know how that goes. Slap. Slap. Slap. I expected her to drive me absolutely insane but I surprised myself and stayed calm. Overall I was having a blast! I just love open water swimming and couldn't help but smile. Literally. I mean: How lucky am I to be healthy and fit, enjoy a beautiful sunrise from the water, and spend this day with friends doing what I love?
But all good things come to an end and eventually it was time to get out of the water and really get this party started! The race clock at the top of the ramp said: 30:22. Yes! Not bad considering how much fun I was having (after that little panic attack).
The Bike
I am going to skip the part where Eddie, the race director, yells at me as I am running out of T1: We are watching you, Sarah Jarvis! And I then promptly have the world's worst bike mount because somehow my pants get stuck on the seat??? The mount certainly wasn't as flying as I had practiced it. Oh well. Time to get out of there!
I know this bike course better than any other course! Yes. It's Lake Mary Road. Just to give you an idea: The race was 6 days ago and I have already biked (part of) that same course twice since then. In case you are wondering if this is the only road we have to ride on, the answer is: Yes. Basically.
So you'd think I wouldn't get lost during the race. Right? Wrong! I knew I needed to turn right after about 8 miles in order to go around Mormon Lake. But somehow everybody in front of me proceeded to go straight and the volunteer at the intersection was also waving us straight ahead. So I went straight. Only to turn around a couple of seconds later and yell: Aren't we supposed to turn? Volunteer: Not if you are doing Olympic! Wait! What? I slammed on my brakes and turned around. Some guys behind me followed and we went back on our course. I am still confused about it all but I figured it wouldn't make or break my race.
For the next 48 miles I saw a total of 3 people. Except for the little out-and-back section where I was trying to figure out if there were girls ahead of me and how close the others were behind me. Other than that I passed and dropped one guy and a couple of Olympic racers. That's it. Talk about a lonely race! But, knowing that the run part would be much worse, I made the best of it and entertained myself quite nicely. Until my left leg was giving me more issues than usual. Worried about the run, I figured I might as well slow down a bit. Worst-case scenario: Some girls catch up to me. This would certainly make things more fun, so I was willing to take the chance.
Fortunately, no one ever came by. Right as my Garmin decided to quite for the day, I saw my Super Supporters for the first of many times! Totally made my day!
The Run
I am not usually one to tell my friends or family to come watch my race. It can be almost as exhausting as racing itself and sometimes rather boring. This time, however, I was basically begging people to please come out and cheer for me on the run. Seeing how we not only bike but also run on Lake Mary Road, I know this course far too well. It's brutal not because it is difficult (except for climbing and descending Marshall Lake hill) but because it goes on forever and ever. On. the. same. straight. road. All. the. way. to. the. Mailboxes. and. back. While everyone that competed in the Olympic distance race is driving by you on their way home. Sweet!
But thanks to the Super Supporters, friends, and Karl who came with the boys after church, it wasn't so bad! Except for maybe mile 5 where I was having a little meltdown because I was certain that the other girls were right on my heels. When Karen told me that I had a big lead, I replied: No, I don't. They are running me down. I sounded like I was about to cry... She then did what any good friend would do. She looked at her watch, waited until the next girl came by, then biked up to me and told me I had a 6-minute lead. Oh. Ok. Phew. Meltdown diverted.
She gave me some more splits which indicated that my lead was rather safe. At this point, consciously or not, I gave up. Which I am not terribly proud of. I definitely didn't give this run my very best and consequently I am not over-the-moon with my performance. That said, I feel like I can only really push my mind and my body to its limits so often. And with the 70.3 World Championship only 4 weeks away, I just wasn't willing to go to the well today or make my left leg even worse. So instead of suffering like last year, I was able to enjoy my friends and family on the course and even chat with a few fellow competitors.
Since I took much better care of myself nutritionally this time after last year's disaster, I felt good after the finish and was able to make some new friends and go back out on the course to cheer. We even stayed until awards. That's always a plus!
Thank you to
and
for your help and support!
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