It has taken me a long time to even get this post started and up. I don’t know what to say about it besides….
IT WAS HARD AS FUGG and I FINISHED!
It had to be, for me, the absolute hardest race I have ever done. THE HILLS are nothing to laugh at. They were not rollers or little lumps…the hills were straight up CLIMBS that they even put a picture of a mountain on the course maps for the bike and run at every single hill. Mountains they were.
My motto has always been “I may be slow, I may even be last, but I will look good doing it.” I lived up to my motto that day with a glorious DEAD ASS LAST finish.
But here is what I KNOW…Compared to ME last year at my last OLY where the bike course had half the hills (and could be considered flat in comparison) and the run was absolutely flat with no hills and NO SHADE for that matter…
I DID OUTSTANDING!!!! GO ME!
The swim was cancelled due to heavy rain and the water not being good for humans. Just about everybody was pissed yet at the same time didn’t want to get amoebic dysentery or some form of mad cow flesh eating disease. Stuff happens – go with it.
The morning of the race it was 45 degrees and NOBODY was mad anymore about getting into the water. AT ALL.
We staggered our run into transition to get our bikes by swim wave, 2 at a time and we were off.
BIKE – 2:07:22
I actually felt great on the bike. I incorporated everything I learned from my Spin90 Coach (John Hughes) and from my TriCoach – Pro Suzy Serpico. I kept my rpms at 85-90, MOSTLY – not so much on those hills. I felt slower that I wanted but I didn’t want to push a big gears and burn out. I attacked each hill, got to the top and pushed through. I was pretty pleased with myself. I did TriPhilly Oly in 1:58:03 with half the hills and I – GASP – unclipped on one loop. Columbia was mad, crazy hilly hard. I RIPPED IT BABY!
One day I’ll be a bike machine maven – I’m going to let John have at me for some outdoor sessions and I’ll try and not cry – what does it matter though – sweat and tears look the same. (Knock,knock,knock---hey, Norm! Come on out and put me through my paces…I’m sure you will have my lip trembling in short order. LOL)
RUN – AKA
BATAAN DEATH MARCH – 1:49:41
This picture is of me coming UP Gatrorade Hill on my way out to the skate park. Speaks volumes. I was done and was looking for someone with a fork to stick in me so it would just be over.
But then I saw my BFF Run Buddy Misty with her cowbell telling me to pick my head up, it will be okay and my Momz was at the water stop, handed me a cup and looked me in my eyes and I KNEW I could go on. She has a way of speaking volumes without saying a word.
I’ve been trained well. I can do the distance, but I just was NOT prepared for the hills on this run. It was just as disrespectful as the MC17.75 Course. When I got out into the neighborhood portion of the run (the back 3 miles), I was alone. I knew that to get back to my mother (who’s shift had BEEN over, but I knew she would wait for me) I had to get my mind game together. I started singing a song from the movie Santa Clause is Coming to Town:
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you'll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you'll be walking out the door
You never will get where you're going
If you never get up on your feet
Come on, there's a good tail wind blowing
A fast walking man is hard to beat
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you'll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you'll be walking out the door
OVER AND OVER – as this is the only part I know…and soon I was walking up Gatorade Hill for the last time. Princess Cara picked me up with about a 3/4 mile to go and kept running back an forth and Leslie brought me in the last .5 or so…and at the finish line was my husband, Shawn and Danny and a bunch of the RipIt crew.
IT WAS DONE!
I thought I had made no run progress from last year and the foot injury that (that is still nagging me, but I have an ortho and chiro on the job and hope of pain free running in my near future); however, last years TriPhilly Oly Run was FLAT as a pancake (albeit HOT as HADES) and I finished 1:41:51. In comparison, I was SPEEDY FRIGGIN GONZALEZ on the Columbia Course. RIPPED IT – AGAIN!
I spent the afternoon in a drug induced coma – LITERALLY. I accidently packed a vicodin instead of a motrin (which look exactly the same except one is slightly smaller) at the end of the race. Once I woke up, I beat myself up over my “poor performance”, had a short pity party and then remembered…
See you out there!
