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 Swim
Comments: Started out the swim just with the adrenaline of the day starting to surge through my body. I was just so happy to be out there, and was trying to navigate through a few bodies to get some open water. It seemed that the girls were going all sorts of directions. I decided/ended up sighting on my own, with two girls on my hips or me on theirs. There was one girl in particular who I swam with the majority of the way until the bridge on the way back. Did swallow some water coming back through the sailboats, as the water got a little choppy. What would you do differently?: Maybe seed myself closer to the front so as to not have to navigate around bodies?  Transition 1
Comments: Wetsuit strippers were three to an athlete, so they made quick work of me! Grabbed my T1 bag and then sat down on the grass to try to pull my stupid socks on. What a task! Wish that could be faster - would definitely do shorter races without socks, except that I have to wear them for the run, so if not now, later! What would you do differently?: Figure out where I was supposed to drop my T1 bag. I dropped it on the way running to get my bike, and then got there only to realize no other red bags seemed to be around. It MAY have something to do with the fact that only 9 other girls in my age group had left transition, so there were no bags to take... :) hee hee  Bike
Comments: I came onto 37th Street to the most horrible bumps all along the road to T2. I had to use a porta potty so bad, those bumps did nothing to alleviate the urge. Followed my nutrition plan, with the exception of not eating all the jerky, and grabbing some gatorade from the second aid station on the bike and adding a tablet of nuun in an attempt to get in some more electrolytes. I think I drank too much gatorade after filling my aero drink solely in an effort to prevent it from dousing me in orange syrup. What would you do differently?: Felt pretty well executed, with the exception of the gatorade incident. Transition 2
Comments: Came into T2 and immediately started yelling my bib # to volunteers. Found my rack, had a volunteer to show me where my bag, was, and she even emptied my stuff out and handed me my visor. She was VERY helpful! I just wanted to get outta there to go find a porta potty.  Run
Comments: I really felt good on this run. After I went to the porta potty, that is. It was so great running through the finishers area, seeing people like Lisa Bentley and Tara Ross coming into the finish. Once you were away from the crowds, things got a little tougher. I actually enjoyed the hills and the course. This makes me super excited for IMC. I've ran a good portion (25 +km) of the middle section of this course and that where the crowds will be thin. I'll totally be able to reflect on this race, and all the others, that got me to that point, and enjoy the course, knowing that the hills are coming! Had to hit up another porta potty on the turn south to the short out and back. Took the time to tighten my right shoe slightly, as it was a little loose and I was starting to worry about my orange pedicure job :) Drank mostly water on the run - used a lot of sponges (those things are heavenly) and did take in a shot or two of powerade and one thing of coke. Had some great support at Weaselhead coming back up, and then came soaring into the finisher's chute on my 737 jet. What would you do differently?: I wonder if I could have pushed it a bit harder on the run. I held back at the beginning, worried I might blow up, and with 3 km to go I was starting to have some negative thoughts creeping in, but I do think maybe I could have pushed it harder. Post race
Warm down: Crossed the finish line to the announcer saying 'now there's a girl who knows how to have a strong finish!' - ha ha ha! Not sure exactly what happened after the finish, but hung around in the athlete area for a while before heading out to meet up with my most wonderful superfans Greg and Catherine, and then my mom and bro and sister in law. Had to take it easy as the stomach wasn't doing so well, so lots of sitting and relaxing. What limited your ability to perform faster: Perhaps my mental strength? Event comments: It was the first race, so given that, it was pretty good. It was just so exciting to be part of a big race like that, and cross the finish line with your own finishing tape! I felt like a real super star coming down that chute, and got tons of energy from all of the crowds. My favourite cheerers and biggest supporters of all were of course my wonderful boyfriend Greg, and my good friend Catherine. There was never too much cowbell and honking during the day! Thanks so much you guys. Also great to see so many other familiar faces wishing me well, including my momma! What a great day! Last updated: 2009-02-12 12:00 AM
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Canada
25C / 77F
Sunny
Overall Rank = 360/1079
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 8/54
Was up too late the night before getting all of my bags organized. I think one of the downfalls of this being a local race is that you don't have to have all of your things organized (for travel to the race) beforehand. I wrote out a nutrition plan and got that all organized, and got a few hours of sleep.
Race morning I woke up at 4:30. Greg and I were in auto-pilot, getting breakfast and getting into the car. Picked up my other superfan Catherine, and we were on site by 6:00am. Went to my bike first, but should have held a spot in the porta potty line, which was insanely long. Pumped up the tires, found an elastic to hold my aero drink, and dropped off my t1 and t2 bags. Peed, put on sunscreen and chamois butter, got Greg to put on my wetsuit, and headed down to the boat launch.
The water was chilly at 7:30am, but I think that is expected! I was chatting with Cathy and Paulina and other random strangers in my age group, and did a quick little 'get wet' before coming to stage myself on the boat launch (vs. out in the open water, which was an option). Waited patiently for the lady standing on the dock to countdown to zero!