WOW! What a weekend!
I just spent 13 hours driving to and from a race within a 32 hour window - for an Olympic distance triathlon. At first it seemed like a really good idea. I didn't want to do any of the races around here but wanted to add a July race to the roster. I asked Elizabeth for suggestions and that's how I found out about Evergreen.
Evergreen Lake is a small lake surrounded by evergreen trees (duh) located just north of Bloomington/Normal and south of Peoria, Illinois. Getting there meant driving 6.5 hours from KC ALONE because Paul was racing this weekend himself, and while we would have been home in time for him to race, he needed to be rested. This would also mean that I would not know A SINGLE PERSON at the race. I would be ALONE. While a little scary, it was also an adventure!!!
Finally got to town around 5:30 p.m. Friday night and drove to the race site immediately. Packet pick-up was uneventful - just my numbers and swim cap (I opted for no t-shirt and saved $5! More RDs should do this.) Racking your bike the night before was optional. Because the racks were only assigned by wave, I choose to leave my bike - and got a SWEET spot on the isle end of the first rack for my wave. I drove the bike course (lots of gravel) and run course (pretty flat - no shade) and then headed to town for dinner.
Dinner and hotel - uneventful so I'll skip those details.
I will say, Friday night I was a little scared about the weather. The wind was blowing HARD all day Friday at 20-25 mph and it was COLD! Like low 60s. The morning low was supposed to be 56 and the high for Saturday was only going to be 69! While this made for a wetsuit legal swim (YES!!!) I was afraid I would FREEZE on the bike - the run would be perfect.
Okay, okay... Saturday, get to the site and set up transition. It's chilly but not as cold and the wind has died to 5-10 mph. Talk to a couple of girls at my rack, headed out for a 10 min. run to warm-up, listen to the "pre-race meeting" and then suit up for the swim.
Our swim wave was all women 39 and under and there weren't very many - maybe 50 -75? I was freaking out a little - just nerves. I knew once we got going I would be fine. And I was. Until we got to the first turn and I couldn't see the next buoy. Where was it??? Here's where the stupid mistakes of the day start: I just stopped. I STOPPED SWIMMING for like, 10 sec. while I tried to located the stupid buoy. I KNOW! Ridiculous! I finally pulled myself together and decided to follow the swim caps to the next buoy and found it just fine.
SWIM: 29.18 - 2nd fastest swim split in my AG
Out of the water and onto the bike. Stupid mistake #2: I forgot to put my computer back on my bike! I had taken it off when I left it in transition over night and forgot to put it back on. This actually may have been a good thing - I went totally by feel and mashed it more than I should have but that made me faster. I started to feel like maybe my back wheel was flat. Another freakout - I stopped to check if it was flat! What is wrong with me??? It was fine!!! It was just the wind that was slowing me down not the wheel!!! Other things of note - some jerk in front of me slid on some gravel at a turn and ended up all over the road. I went left to avoid him and yelled "LEFT!" but he must have thought I wanted him to go left and he ended up running me off the road...precious seconds lost. I stayed upright but road in the grass for 2-3 feet.
BIKE: 1:17:03 (19.4 mph) - not exactly happy with this but at least it's consistent
Back from the bike and out for the run. I decided at the last minute to not use my Zoots (with the elastic laces) but run in the Mizunos instead - which have regular laces - which means tying them like a nerd. I also decided to run with socks for the first time in a long time. Socks = smart because I always get blisters no matter how much Body Glide I use. Shoes = stupid because I had to waste time tying the laces because I did not put in Yankz BUT I may have run faster because I was more comfortable. (The Zoots have been giving me knee pain on account that they really just need to be replaced after a year of racing in them).
Run was a run. Faster than I have been all season but still slow by comparison. At mile 5 my timing chip came off - I kicked it off with my foot by accident. I had to go back and get it, re-attach it quickly, and carry on. Then, when I'm like, 100 feet from the finish line, it comes loose again and I slowed down so that it would not fly off. More precious seconds lost.
RUN: 54:13 (8:44/mi pace)
OVERALL: 2:44:01
PLACE: 7/20 AG
The thing that saved me here was my swim. If you look at the AG results, I have the slowest run split of all the girls in the top 10 - but also the fastest swim split and a decent bike.
This race was FULL of fierce competitors! It was the regional qualifier for USAT and the Illnois state qualifier for BOUS. I knew this going into it and did not expect to place - BUT I beat my time goal by a full minute! My run speed is (SLOWLY) coming back! And despite all the little time sucking mistakes, I still finished with a decent overall time.
The absolute best thing about the race? THE FINISH LINE FOOD! You know, you go to these small, "local" races and the finish food sucks. They never have ANY protein and its mainly bananas, oranges and soda. What athlete recovers on that crap? But Evergreen had pulled pork sandwiches, sub sandwiches (complete with chips and a cookie), Panera bagels, watermellon, little individual baggies of cheese chunks, pasta salad, and plates and plates of homemade cookies!
I ate, packed up my stuff, headed back to the hotel for a shower, put on my compression socks, and hit the road. Another 6.5 hours in the car, ALONE with nothing but Patton Oswalt and David Cross to keep me company.
All in all, despite the drive, I am really glad I did this race and did so well - in my mind. And that's all that matters.
