Vineman Full Aquabike
I really intended that this would not be a long long long race report. But it turns out that when you race for 9.5 hours you end up with a lot to report.
Once I got into transition, I set up all my stuff, grabbed my wetsuit and headed out to get in one last port-a-potty stop. Except that by the time I got out of there, I realized there were only a few minutes until my wave started. How did that happen? I wriggled into my wetsuit and got ready to head down to the water.
The swim is in the Russian River and is a simple out and back (with a slight current against us going out upstream). Only one turn at the top and then another turn at the bottom to do the loop a second time for the full distance. The morning was overcast and actually slightly foggy and misty on the water. I kept feeling like my goggles were fogging up. I felt like I was making a steady pace but I couldn't find a good pair of feet to draft off of. It was chaotic. There were 200 women in my wave and hundreds of people already in the water from all the waves in front of me. (We were the last full-distance wave.)
As I approached the turnaround buoy I noticed a lot of people standing up and walking around the buoy. The unique thing about the river is that it's only 7 feet at the deepest and much shallower than that at many places (I could see the bottom for a lot of the swim). People just stand up sometimes and walk, but especially at the turnaround. With the mist and fog and all the black wetsuit-clad people wading through the wader, it gave the eerie effect of a horde of zombies. Totally surreal. By this point, I was annoyed enough with my goggles that I stood up for a second and gave them a rinse. I got back in and realized my goggles weren't foggy, it was the mist on the water. Oh well.
Back down the river, made the turnaround, lapped my watch and headed back up river for loop two. This time we had even MORE people swimming up the river with us. We were mixed in with more waves starting. It was an unbelievable amount of people. The start hadn't been very rough, but now it was rough. I got whacked in the head multiple times, a couple times hard enough that I literally yelped, "Ow!!" I had planned to just sight off the shore, but I was constantly having to look ahead of me to make sure I wasn't running into slower people from waves and waves ahead of me.
By the end of the swim, my arms were starting to get tired and my left shoulder was bothering me a bit (which had never happened before). I had not kicked all that much during the swim to save my legs (instead letting the wetsuit help keep my back end buoyant) so my legs felt good. Coming into the final stretch the people around me started to pick it up so I did as well. There were no people to help us out of the water and when it got shallow enough that I couldn't swim any more, I stood up, but we were still a ways from the shoreline so we had to walk/run in. It was super rocky and I said, "ow ow ow ow ow" with every step.
My swim time was 1:14:56 (37:48 for the first lap and 37:04 for the second lap by my watch). I had been hoping to be closer to 1:10, but probably the lack of much kicking and constantly sighting and weaving around people slowed me down. I was third in my age group on the swim, however, so I can't really complain too much. It was a good time and I had a long day on the bike ahead of me.
I found my bike, patted the water off my arms with a towel, put on my arm warmers, gloves, helmet, and sunglasses (even though it was still foggy/misty). I jammed all my swim stuff into my bag for transport to the finish line (it's a point to point so for the folks doing the full triathlon, they have two separate transition areas).
I had my shoes on the bike and there's a steep little hill out of transition. I had it in my easiest gear and had scoped it out the day before and decided it was doable with my shoes on the bike. But when I got to the mount line there were a bazillion people there so I ran my bike up the hill, jumped on at the top and headed out onto the course with the fastest transition time in my age group of 5:36.
I continued on the bike, eating and drinking at regular intervals. After awhile I needed to pee. As the time went on, I really really needed to pee and things were getting uncomfortable. I tried to pee on the bike but it wasn't working well. I passed the first aid station at mile 18, tossed my first bottle into the bottle toss area and grabbed a Gatorade bottle hand up from a volunteer. Gatorade isn't my favorite, but I knew it was what was being offered on the course so I did train with it on some of my longer rides and it worked fine for me. There was a long line at the port a potty so I threw out any idea of a proper pee and just did what I could to relieve my discomfort along the way.
The roads were sooo awful. Just lots of cracked and patched pavement and potholes. It took a lot of mental concentration to get around everything and make sure nobody was passing me while I was avoiding the hazards. Thankfully, most people said "on your left" when passing and I tried to always do the same. When the sun came out and there were sections dappled with shade from trees, it made finding the potholes even harder and I hit a few potholes really hard, spraying sports drink out of my aero bottle and all over me and my bike. As the day wore on, the constant focus on the bad roads became very draining. I couldn't just zone out and ride. I had to be constantly looking at the road.
I continued on feeling good and passed another aid station again taking a bottle hand up and evidently passing a timing mat (I didn't see) at mile 29 which clocked me at 1:56:31 for a 14.9 mph average. I felt good and was making good time so far but it was also some of the easiest parts of the course. The hills started in and I feeling good, but I was about ready for a break and a proper pee so when I hit the aid station at mile 40 and saw that there was no line, I rolled in. A volunteer grabbed my bike and racked it for me, which was awesome and I popped into the bathroom. Feeling much refreshed I grabbed my bike and headed back out.
Around mile 45, the big hill of the day, Chalk Hill, rose up to meet me and…it wasn't that bad, actually. I didn't have to get out of the saddle, I just kept turning my feet over and made my way to the top. There were some awesome spectators that really helped. I especially have to hand it to the screaming group of people dressed as superheroes who were telling all the cyclists that THEY were super heroes.
Over Chalk Hill and down the other side, I saw our rental car parked up the road and then spotted my mom, Roger and Emmaline. They were fussing around with Emmaline in her stroller and I rolled up and stopped. I hadn't stopped long ago, but I thought I would just stop a moment. We had a brief chat and I remember asking Roger if Cav won the men's Olympic road race. :P I headed off again and make quick work of the next 10 miles of downhill/flat to the finish line and the start of my next loop.
At this point I assessed my state of mind. If I had been doing a half Ironman, could I have run a half marathon? Definitely, yes. Could I do another loop of bike? Yes. I knew it was going to take me longer than if I'd been done on the bike and run. I also made note of the fact that I was in a much better place mentally than I had been at Longhorn in 2007 when I was just SO DONE with the bike at mile 56. However, I did ride that race faster than I rode the first half of this race. But I consider Vineman to be a more challenging course and I was more conservative overall this time around, I think. 3:53:32 for the first loop (by my watch so that includes time I spent not moving).
I headed back out into the little connector section that would take me back to the main portion of the course that we would duplicate. I have to say, it's a bummer the half people don't get to do that piece because it was probably some of the most beautiful parts of the course. I just marveled at how amazing the day was and how amazing the experience was. There was a beautiful section of the river we crossed on a little narrow one lane bridge and there were beautiful old trees and forest. It was also a bit hilly, but it was rolling and didn't bother me.
I sort of realized after we started the second half that I didn't see special needs. I didn't particularly NEED NEED anything, but I sort of felt like I put the bag together, I should maybe reapply some sunscreen or body glide or something. Then I came around a corner and there it was. A volunteer called my number down to the people at the bags and by the time I rolled up they had it out and were running it over to me. Awesome volunteers. I thanked them profusely and began applying sunscreen to my arms where the arm warmers had been and had probably wiped away the sunscreen. I tried to get a little on my back but sort of did a half-ass job figuring I was probably okay. (Big mistake later…)
I ate some chips and some crackers, stuffed an extra gel into my bento box and switched out for a fresh baggie of pretzels and peanut butter cracker sandwiches. The dude in front of me was eating a McDonald's cheeseburger which sounded REVOLTING to me. I incredulously blurted out, "Oh my god!! Is that a hamburger?!?!" He sort of defensively said, "yah" and kept munching. I felt bad and said, "Whatever works! Good luck out there!" I tossed my bag up the hill into the pile of used bags. Offered up my sunscreen to the volunteers for their pile of "stuff that's good and that people might want but perhaps forgot" pile and headed out onto the course again.
And then it just became a case of keeping the pedals moving. Miles ticked by, some faster than others. Another aid station, another bottle hand up. I started alternating plain water with Gatorade just because I was becoming sick to death of the lime Gatorade. I considered dropped in an electrolyte tablet to the water, but I didn't want to try to get it out of the bottom of my bento and I figured I was getting enough from the gels and the Gatorade. I tried to avoid stopping to pee and by this point had mastered the art of peeing on my bike and felt like I was peeing less than the first time around, but still peeing enough that I knew I was staying hydrated well. I did my best to ignore some seriously egregious drafting out there without making snarky comments to those people. I actually saw a fairly high number of officials on the course and hoped they would take care of it. I later came upon one of the really bad drafters on the side of road dealing with a mechanical issue with her bike so I figured the universe would also help take care of those jerks.
I came back through the first aid station (originally at mile 18, now at mile 75ish I think). I went through the motions - tossed my mostly empty bottle and took a hand up. I went to put my new bottle in and my bottle cage flopped over sideways, having lost it's top bolt. Brilliant. Now what. I pulled over to assess the situation just as a volunteer walked by with a stack of chocolate chip cookies. "OHMYGOSH ARE THOSE COOKIES!?!?!" She said they were but being out in the sun they were all gooey and melty. "Tragic. I'll take one. You're now my hero." She told me that someone's grandma brought them. It was the best damn cookie I EVER HAD. Thank you someone's grandma.
I polished off the cookie and decided to take my chances with my bottle cage and hoped it wouldn't flop over. I rode around the corner and there, in front of me was the SAG wagon!!! I flagged them down and they pulled over. I told the guy my problem. He found a bolt, popped it in and I took off, thanking him profusely.
I had newfound energy (both mental and physical) after the cookie (and small stop) and I was enjoying myself again. I came around a long curve downhill and there were spectators cheering. I yelled "Woooo hooooo!!!" out too them and they cheered louder. I continued and felt truly remarkable. I remember Michelle told me if my mood changed in either direction (good or bad) to eat. I had eaten recently and decided this was really just a genuine good mood on my part (the cookie really did it for me).
I kept riding. I saw Roger, Emmaline and mom around mile 79. I didn't stop this time instead hollering, "I'm doing good! I'm going to keep going!" So I just kept going and feeling pretty good for the next 10 miles.
Around mile 90, I was starting to feel tired and sore and ready to be done. At mile 92 I saw my family again and stopped this time. I needed a quick break and was feeling sort of ready to be done. I had 20 more miles which sounded so far, yet so close. I stopped probably longer than I should have, but I really needed the break before the big hills again. I took off feeling like what was probably the mental low point of the race for me.
Things had really thinned out and I spent long periods of time without seeing other cyclists or spectators. The next 10 miles were so slow and the wind had picked up. It was from the south, probably around 10 miles an hour. It didn't feel bad. I'm using to riding into worse (thank you Parmer). It was getting hot and I was pretty sick of all the stuff I had to eat and when it came time to eat, I kept putting it off another 5 or 10 minutes, which I knew was bad, but it was getting hard to stomach anything at that point. I just kept telling myself it was less than 2 hours and I didn't have to run.
I stopped one last time at the last aid station. The same awesome volunteer took my bike. I took a banana hand up just to have something different to eat. I used the "real" bathroom (well, a port-a-potty feels luxurious after peeing all over yourself for hours). Took one last bottle and headed back out.
Chalk Hill, as easy as it had been at mile 45 was TORTURE at mile 100. If it were not for the awesome spectators, I might have fallen to pieces. But those superheroes were still there and actually, this time there were more of them! They had music blaring out of their car that brought back a funny memory for me and really pushed me over the top. And I knew it was mostly downhill. Just one last little hill after that and it was all downhill or flat to the finish.
After that last hill I became a woman possessed and rode like a CRAZY person. I gave every last ounce I had. I started picking out a cyclist ahead of me (poor people that probably still had to run and wondered where I came from) and willed myself around them. I went bonkers. I couldn't believe I still had more energy in me, but there it was. I don't know where it came from but I was going so fast. 20-25 mph for the last 8 miles or so. I pushed and pushed and then I came around the last corner and I was done! Yay! (4:15:53 for the second loop. Quite a bit slower than the first loop.)
As glad as I was not to have to run, I confess, there is something anti-climactic about rolling up to the dismount line, getting off and running into transition and just being…done. A volunteer asked if I was doing the aquabike and handed me a medal which I couldn't get on over my helmet. I also realized I had no shoes so I spent the aftermath clomping around my bike shoes (getting food, finding my swim bag from the morning, etc.).
I felt pretty okay, all things considered. Could I have run a marathon? HELL NO. Well, I suppose with proper training in the running department and no crazy pushing the last 8 miles, I guess. Do I ever want to? HELL NO.
Oh, and my bike time. I was hoping for around 8 hours. If you don't include the stops, my moving time was 7:57:44 So in terms of time in the saddle, I made that goal. However, with all the stops, I ended up being 8:08:30 with an average pace of 13.8 mph. Does that suck? Nope. My goal, really, was to finish my longest ever swim and my longest ever bike and not have had a crummy time. Those stops made my day much better, I'm sure of it. I wish my second loop of the bike was closer to the first loop but with the wind and heat and just being tired, I'm not surprised. Overall, I'm happy and I'm proud of what I did. It was so hard at times, it was oddly fun at times, it was good experience and I did what I set out to do.
Thanks so much to all my friends, family, training buddies and coaches for so much support during this whole journey. It's been fantastic having you all cheer for me.
And my official results:
Swim 2.4 miles - 1:14:56
Transition 5:36
Bike 112 miles 8:08:30
Overall 9:29:02
Pre-Race
Roger dropped me off a few blocks from the race site and I walked over and got into a long line of people trying to get into transition. I didn't see anyone body marking so I wasn't sure what was up there. I figured I would set up and figure that out later. The line was very long and it took me about 20 minutes to get into transition.Once I got into transition, I set up all my stuff, grabbed my wetsuit and headed out to get in one last port-a-potty stop. Except that by the time I got out of there, I realized there were only a few minutes until my wave started. How did that happen? I wriggled into my wetsuit and got ready to head down to the water.
Swim
The swim start was very chaotic and it was hard to know what was going on. I couldn't tell who was on deck or who was getting in so I just went over and huddled up with people wearing my same color of swim cap. Then suddenly we were going into the corral. The wave in front of us went off but there were a bunch of girls that missed the wave and were running into the water (it was a deep water start). One girl ran in crying and we all tried to reassure her that it was only a few seconds. Finally, after about 10 stray girls from the wave before, we all waded into the water which, I think was in the low-mid 70's (and felt blissfully warm compared to the 55 degree outside air temperature). I swam over to a good place to start and thought I might tread water and get in that last pee I didn't get before the start but suddenly an air horn was going off! We were starting. I hastily hit my watch, cursed the disorganized start and headed out.The swim is in the Russian River and is a simple out and back (with a slight current against us going out upstream). Only one turn at the top and then another turn at the bottom to do the loop a second time for the full distance. The morning was overcast and actually slightly foggy and misty on the water. I kept feeling like my goggles were fogging up. I felt like I was making a steady pace but I couldn't find a good pair of feet to draft off of. It was chaotic. There were 200 women in my wave and hundreds of people already in the water from all the waves in front of me. (We were the last full-distance wave.)
As I approached the turnaround buoy I noticed a lot of people standing up and walking around the buoy. The unique thing about the river is that it's only 7 feet at the deepest and much shallower than that at many places (I could see the bottom for a lot of the swim). People just stand up sometimes and walk, but especially at the turnaround. With the mist and fog and all the black wetsuit-clad people wading through the wader, it gave the eerie effect of a horde of zombies. Totally surreal. By this point, I was annoyed enough with my goggles that I stood up for a second and gave them a rinse. I got back in and realized my goggles weren't foggy, it was the mist on the water. Oh well.
Back down the river, made the turnaround, lapped my watch and headed back up river for loop two. This time we had even MORE people swimming up the river with us. We were mixed in with more waves starting. It was an unbelievable amount of people. The start hadn't been very rough, but now it was rough. I got whacked in the head multiple times, a couple times hard enough that I literally yelped, "Ow!!" I had planned to just sight off the shore, but I was constantly having to look ahead of me to make sure I wasn't running into slower people from waves and waves ahead of me.
By the end of the swim, my arms were starting to get tired and my left shoulder was bothering me a bit (which had never happened before). I had not kicked all that much during the swim to save my legs (instead letting the wetsuit help keep my back end buoyant) so my legs felt good. Coming into the final stretch the people around me started to pick it up so I did as well. There were no people to help us out of the water and when it got shallow enough that I couldn't swim any more, I stood up, but we were still a ways from the shoreline so we had to walk/run in. It was super rocky and I said, "ow ow ow ow ow" with every step.
My swim time was 1:14:56 (37:48 for the first lap and 37:04 for the second lap by my watch). I had been hoping to be closer to 1:10, but probably the lack of much kicking and constantly sighting and weaving around people slowed me down. I was third in my age group on the swim, however, so I can't really complain too much. It was a good time and I had a long day on the bike ahead of me.
Transition
Finally out of the water and onto the shore I ran up the carpet to the line of wetsuit strippers. I looked them over and picked the guy that looked like a seasoned pro (ha) and flopped down onto the ground in front of him. He grabbed my wetsuit and yoink! It was off in a flash. I stood up, told him he was the most amazing wetsuit stripper ever, thanked all the volunteers there and told them they were awesome and headed to find my bike on the far side of the racks. I knew I was racked on rack 21 and all the racks had been numbered, except I was now on the opposite end (closer to the end my bike was on) and there were no numbers on that side. So I had to run all the way back down to the other side, find number 21 and then run all the way back up. Grrr.I found my bike, patted the water off my arms with a towel, put on my arm warmers, gloves, helmet, and sunglasses (even though it was still foggy/misty). I jammed all my swim stuff into my bag for transport to the finish line (it's a point to point so for the folks doing the full triathlon, they have two separate transition areas).
I had my shoes on the bike and there's a steep little hill out of transition. I had it in my easiest gear and had scoped it out the day before and decided it was doable with my shoes on the bike. But when I got to the mount line there were a bazillion people there so I ran my bike up the hill, jumped on at the top and headed out onto the course with the fastest transition time in my age group of 5:36.
Bike
Out on the bike course I was surprised to see Roger about a half a mile in. He cheered and I was very happy to see him. Early on the bike there's not much to report. It was still overcast and chilly. I was glad to have my arm warmers but my core was a little chilly being wet still. Speaking of arm warmers, I knew that I was likely to ditch them somewhere on the course so I had cut up some socks I never wore. The thing is, these socks were some crazy purple and blue stripped socks that I loved but never knew what to wear them with. I was a little reluctant to give them up but they were a noble sacrifice. But as I continued through the morning, whenever someone would pass me on the bike, they would remark on my arm warmers! Here's a photo from the previous day next to some of the amazing scenery with my crazy arm warmers.
I continued on the bike, eating and drinking at regular intervals. After awhile I needed to pee. As the time went on, I really really needed to pee and things were getting uncomfortable. I tried to pee on the bike but it wasn't working well. I passed the first aid station at mile 18, tossed my first bottle into the bottle toss area and grabbed a Gatorade bottle hand up from a volunteer. Gatorade isn't my favorite, but I knew it was what was being offered on the course so I did train with it on some of my longer rides and it worked fine for me. There was a long line at the port a potty so I threw out any idea of a proper pee and just did what I could to relieve my discomfort along the way.
The roads were sooo awful. Just lots of cracked and patched pavement and potholes. It took a lot of mental concentration to get around everything and make sure nobody was passing me while I was avoiding the hazards. Thankfully, most people said "on your left" when passing and I tried to always do the same. When the sun came out and there were sections dappled with shade from trees, it made finding the potholes even harder and I hit a few potholes really hard, spraying sports drink out of my aero bottle and all over me and my bike. As the day wore on, the constant focus on the bad roads became very draining. I couldn't just zone out and ride. I had to be constantly looking at the road.
I continued on feeling good and passed another aid station again taking a bottle hand up and evidently passing a timing mat (I didn't see) at mile 29 which clocked me at 1:56:31 for a 14.9 mph average. I felt good and was making good time so far but it was also some of the easiest parts of the course. The hills started in and I feeling good, but I was about ready for a break and a proper pee so when I hit the aid station at mile 40 and saw that there was no line, I rolled in. A volunteer grabbed my bike and racked it for me, which was awesome and I popped into the bathroom. Feeling much refreshed I grabbed my bike and headed back out.
Around mile 45, the big hill of the day, Chalk Hill, rose up to meet me and…it wasn't that bad, actually. I didn't have to get out of the saddle, I just kept turning my feet over and made my way to the top. There were some awesome spectators that really helped. I especially have to hand it to the screaming group of people dressed as superheroes who were telling all the cyclists that THEY were super heroes.
Over Chalk Hill and down the other side, I saw our rental car parked up the road and then spotted my mom, Roger and Emmaline. They were fussing around with Emmaline in her stroller and I rolled up and stopped. I hadn't stopped long ago, but I thought I would just stop a moment. We had a brief chat and I remember asking Roger if Cav won the men's Olympic road race. :P I headed off again and make quick work of the next 10 miles of downhill/flat to the finish line and the start of my next loop.
At this point I assessed my state of mind. If I had been doing a half Ironman, could I have run a half marathon? Definitely, yes. Could I do another loop of bike? Yes. I knew it was going to take me longer than if I'd been done on the bike and run. I also made note of the fact that I was in a much better place mentally than I had been at Longhorn in 2007 when I was just SO DONE with the bike at mile 56. However, I did ride that race faster than I rode the first half of this race. But I consider Vineman to be a more challenging course and I was more conservative overall this time around, I think. 3:53:32 for the first loop (by my watch so that includes time I spent not moving).
I headed back out into the little connector section that would take me back to the main portion of the course that we would duplicate. I have to say, it's a bummer the half people don't get to do that piece because it was probably some of the most beautiful parts of the course. I just marveled at how amazing the day was and how amazing the experience was. There was a beautiful section of the river we crossed on a little narrow one lane bridge and there were beautiful old trees and forest. It was also a bit hilly, but it was rolling and didn't bother me.
I sort of realized after we started the second half that I didn't see special needs. I didn't particularly NEED NEED anything, but I sort of felt like I put the bag together, I should maybe reapply some sunscreen or body glide or something. Then I came around a corner and there it was. A volunteer called my number down to the people at the bags and by the time I rolled up they had it out and were running it over to me. Awesome volunteers. I thanked them profusely and began applying sunscreen to my arms where the arm warmers had been and had probably wiped away the sunscreen. I tried to get a little on my back but sort of did a half-ass job figuring I was probably okay. (Big mistake later…)
I ate some chips and some crackers, stuffed an extra gel into my bento box and switched out for a fresh baggie of pretzels and peanut butter cracker sandwiches. The dude in front of me was eating a McDonald's cheeseburger which sounded REVOLTING to me. I incredulously blurted out, "Oh my god!! Is that a hamburger?!?!" He sort of defensively said, "yah" and kept munching. I felt bad and said, "Whatever works! Good luck out there!" I tossed my bag up the hill into the pile of used bags. Offered up my sunscreen to the volunteers for their pile of "stuff that's good and that people might want but perhaps forgot" pile and headed out onto the course again.
And then it just became a case of keeping the pedals moving. Miles ticked by, some faster than others. Another aid station, another bottle hand up. I started alternating plain water with Gatorade just because I was becoming sick to death of the lime Gatorade. I considered dropped in an electrolyte tablet to the water, but I didn't want to try to get it out of the bottom of my bento and I figured I was getting enough from the gels and the Gatorade. I tried to avoid stopping to pee and by this point had mastered the art of peeing on my bike and felt like I was peeing less than the first time around, but still peeing enough that I knew I was staying hydrated well. I did my best to ignore some seriously egregious drafting out there without making snarky comments to those people. I actually saw a fairly high number of officials on the course and hoped they would take care of it. I later came upon one of the really bad drafters on the side of road dealing with a mechanical issue with her bike so I figured the universe would also help take care of those jerks.
I came back through the first aid station (originally at mile 18, now at mile 75ish I think). I went through the motions - tossed my mostly empty bottle and took a hand up. I went to put my new bottle in and my bottle cage flopped over sideways, having lost it's top bolt. Brilliant. Now what. I pulled over to assess the situation just as a volunteer walked by with a stack of chocolate chip cookies. "OHMYGOSH ARE THOSE COOKIES!?!?!" She said they were but being out in the sun they were all gooey and melty. "Tragic. I'll take one. You're now my hero." She told me that someone's grandma brought them. It was the best damn cookie I EVER HAD. Thank you someone's grandma.
I polished off the cookie and decided to take my chances with my bottle cage and hoped it wouldn't flop over. I rode around the corner and there, in front of me was the SAG wagon!!! I flagged them down and they pulled over. I told the guy my problem. He found a bolt, popped it in and I took off, thanking him profusely.
I had newfound energy (both mental and physical) after the cookie (and small stop) and I was enjoying myself again. I came around a long curve downhill and there were spectators cheering. I yelled "Woooo hooooo!!!" out too them and they cheered louder. I continued and felt truly remarkable. I remember Michelle told me if my mood changed in either direction (good or bad) to eat. I had eaten recently and decided this was really just a genuine good mood on my part (the cookie really did it for me).
I kept riding. I saw Roger, Emmaline and mom around mile 79. I didn't stop this time instead hollering, "I'm doing good! I'm going to keep going!" So I just kept going and feeling pretty good for the next 10 miles.
Around mile 90, I was starting to feel tired and sore and ready to be done. At mile 92 I saw my family again and stopped this time. I needed a quick break and was feeling sort of ready to be done. I had 20 more miles which sounded so far, yet so close. I stopped probably longer than I should have, but I really needed the break before the big hills again. I took off feeling like what was probably the mental low point of the race for me.
Things had really thinned out and I spent long periods of time without seeing other cyclists or spectators. The next 10 miles were so slow and the wind had picked up. It was from the south, probably around 10 miles an hour. It didn't feel bad. I'm using to riding into worse (thank you Parmer). It was getting hot and I was pretty sick of all the stuff I had to eat and when it came time to eat, I kept putting it off another 5 or 10 minutes, which I knew was bad, but it was getting hard to stomach anything at that point. I just kept telling myself it was less than 2 hours and I didn't have to run.
I stopped one last time at the last aid station. The same awesome volunteer took my bike. I took a banana hand up just to have something different to eat. I used the "real" bathroom (well, a port-a-potty feels luxurious after peeing all over yourself for hours). Took one last bottle and headed back out.
Chalk Hill, as easy as it had been at mile 45 was TORTURE at mile 100. If it were not for the awesome spectators, I might have fallen to pieces. But those superheroes were still there and actually, this time there were more of them! They had music blaring out of their car that brought back a funny memory for me and really pushed me over the top. And I knew it was mostly downhill. Just one last little hill after that and it was all downhill or flat to the finish.
After that last hill I became a woman possessed and rode like a CRAZY person. I gave every last ounce I had. I started picking out a cyclist ahead of me (poor people that probably still had to run and wondered where I came from) and willed myself around them. I went bonkers. I couldn't believe I still had more energy in me, but there it was. I don't know where it came from but I was going so fast. 20-25 mph for the last 8 miles or so. I pushed and pushed and then I came around the last corner and I was done! Yay! (4:15:53 for the second loop. Quite a bit slower than the first loop.)
As glad as I was not to have to run, I confess, there is something anti-climactic about rolling up to the dismount line, getting off and running into transition and just being…done. A volunteer asked if I was doing the aquabike and handed me a medal which I couldn't get on over my helmet. I also realized I had no shoes so I spent the aftermath clomping around my bike shoes (getting food, finding my swim bag from the morning, etc.).
I felt pretty okay, all things considered. Could I have run a marathon? HELL NO. Well, I suppose with proper training in the running department and no crazy pushing the last 8 miles, I guess. Do I ever want to? HELL NO.
Oh, and my bike time. I was hoping for around 8 hours. If you don't include the stops, my moving time was 7:57:44 So in terms of time in the saddle, I made that goal. However, with all the stops, I ended up being 8:08:30 with an average pace of 13.8 mph. Does that suck? Nope. My goal, really, was to finish my longest ever swim and my longest ever bike and not have had a crummy time. Those stops made my day much better, I'm sure of it. I wish my second loop of the bike was closer to the first loop but with the wind and heat and just being tired, I'm not surprised. Overall, I'm happy and I'm proud of what I did. It was so hard at times, it was oddly fun at times, it was good experience and I did what I set out to do.
Thanks so much to all my friends, family, training buddies and coaches for so much support during this whole journey. It's been fantastic having you all cheer for me.
And my official results:
Swim 2.4 miles - 1:14:56
Transition 5:36
Bike 112 miles 8:08:30
Overall 9:29:02
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