This race was a last minute throw in a few weeks ago. After coming off the high of Kokopelli Tri, I decided I wanted to do one more race before the end of the season. I pushed SUPER hard the three weeks leading up to this race and rested before the race, and it PAID OFF!
The King family was so generous to let us stay on their houseboat for the weekend. Which were AMAZING accommodations!
At the last minute, Jodi and Mark joined me on our drive down to Powell. Jodi’s hubby couldn’t go, and we talked Mark into it the day before. 🙂 On the way to Powell, we stopped at a great dinner in Hatch, called the Galaxy Diner. Great owners and good food. After a long day of driving, we arrived at the houseboat. It was beautiful! We got settled in, and Mike let us take out the wave runners. It was fun to enjoy the lovely day by spending some of it on the lake goofing around.
The rest of the team joined us that night, and we had a yummy pasta dinner, good visits and then off to bed. I had a great night’s sleep on their very comfy couch. Yes, I can sleep anywhere (as my Ragnar team found out in 2009.)
I was nervous that morning because my last few races have been on the road, I’ve been eating Powered Donuts the morning off. Not precisely race food, but it doesn’t upset my stomach as bagels, eggs, and shakes do. So hey, if it works, it works.
We rode our bikes to the transition area. So glad I bought my backpack bag this spring. LOVE that bag for my triathlons. Kristin, Mark and I found a spot together, and I got set up and marked. Their timing chips were yucky. They hurt ankle and as I found out later, make it hard to get the wetsuit off.
The swim started down the ramp and boy was that a LARGE ramp. During echo and even Kokopelli, the ramps weren’t that crazy, so I didn’t think I’d need flip flops, so I didn’t bring my flip flops down, and that hill was rocky, choppy and LONG! About halfway down, I thought about going back, but the race was starting, and I didn’t want to stress. Little did I know I still had an hour and 45 minutes to wait before I’d even swim. Had I known, I would have turned around. I had PLENTY of time.
They started the Olympic males first, then spaced the women 25 minutes after them, then the sprint men than the sprint women. The event director said it was the amount of people per life person in the water, which made sense, but it would have been nice if their race instructions would have said there would be that long of a delay between swim starts. Because with that long of a wait, I anticipated, I would have already finished the race and planned nutrition accordingly.
Finally, it was our turn. I had my new goggles since I got the weird eye thing after Kokopelli the month before. They fit great, and I was ready. While I was swimming, I remembered my coach Nichole had told me I wasn’t kicking enough. So I kicked. I felt faster in the water. 1/3 of the way through it got wavey. No biggy, but I saw a lot of gals struggling. Got out of the water and wished I had my flip-flops. I power walked through the rough boat ramp and made it to T1.
The bulk timing chip got caught up in my wetsuit. UGH!! I thought, what idiots for making such a stupid timing chip. I threw on my bike stuff and headed out. First time I wore my new Rudy Project Wingspan helmet. I LOVE IT! It was so comfortable. I was passing a lot of people that morning. At one point, I thought I couldn’t be that fast today; maybe it’s the helmet, maybe it’s that fact that I’ve been working my little butt off. Either way… I knew I was killing it. I didn’t have my
area water bottle on, so I had a bottle in my cage. Grabbed a drink, though I put it back in the cage. NOPE! Dropped it. Oh well. It’s only nine more miles. I felt fast and strong on my bike.
Ran into T2 with two other guys, who happened to be racked on either side of me. The best part of coming in with them was knowing they had a 20-minute swim lead and I had caught up with them. 🙂 They must have realized that too because they were area hogs. Oh well, I grabbed a big drink from my other water bottle and headed out on the run.
This is where it all came together. I kept running. I ran hard and fast up the hill. I had energy and felt good. Who was this person and what did you do with the Meg that can’t run? I was coming up the hill to the turn around point and saw Mark. It was so great to see him. We cheered each other on, and I kept running. I walked for a few while I took a drink, then started to run again. The rest was all downhill, which was awesome. I passed my coach with less than mile to go, and she gave me some advice on pushing through hard. As I came up on the finish line, Brad, my coach’s hubby came up behind me. He is a much faster sprinter, so I crossed right behind him.
As we crossed the finish line, there were no finisher medals. That was odd. I just paid $95 for a race with no bling. I went over to transition and changed my shoes. When I came back, Brad had my finisher card with my stats.
2nd place … WHAT!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!
OH, MY HECK!! I started to jump up and down. I couldn’t believe it. Then I looked at my time. 8 minutes off Kokopelli. SERIOUSLY!! WHOHOOOO!!!
I called Shane to tell him. As I was telling him, this wave of emotion came over me, and I started to cry. I placed FINALLY! BUT it wasn’t just placing; it was my PR and the realization that I LOVE THIS SPORT and I am kicking butt in it. Years of hard work. This sport doesn’t happen over night. Honestly, I never thought I would love this sport as much as I do.
Wins:
- Felt strong in the swim, bike and run
- My RUN was the BEST ever
- PR by 8 minutes of Kokopelli
Bummers:
- Wished I had brought my flip flops to the lake, didn’t realize how long the ramp was
- Like to have eaten something while I waited another 2 hours to start.
Lessons Learned:
- Check to see if the race has finisher medals. Because this one didn’t! I did get an interesting and kind of lame 2nd place medal.
