Virginia Run Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Okay so my number was 117, Chippy was 115. Haha. Apparently, in her world, a 2:00 pace per hundred translates into a 4:30 time per 250m. Um, what? In my mind, I can swim 4:30 at the pool while training, so why not now? And not to mention that if I put down 5:00, it would take 7:00 because NO ONE tells the truth in this race. So CHippy let me go ahead of her, and then proceeded to track me down after 75m and grab my ankle at the wall, then sit there with a big smile on her face. That's all I have to say about that. She's fast. If you want to hear one of the 64 excuses I've come up with so far, I'm happy to oblige.

Um, not get passed by a girl?

Yikes! I knew it was going to hurt, this parking lot is rough. Ran my bike through transition, over the timing mat, over the speed bump, jump on bike, put left foot down, "Oh, shit! Where is the shoe?" Apparently, it hit the speed bump on the way over and the cleat disengaged. Stop. Back up. Put shoe on. Get on bike. Sheepishly ride away.

Dumb luck. Technically, I had already crossed the mat, so the time I lost was counted on the bike.

Windy. The whole shoe thing threw me off a bit at the start. Then, as I went put my right foot into the shoe, I pulled the end of the strap all the way through the hook, so I had to feed it back through before tightening up the velcro. That sucked. Not the best way to start. Oh, and did I mention that I broke the computer mount in T1 also, so it was just sort of hanging from the aero bars. I told myself early in the bike that I was just going to race now. It was windy, I was freezing, sure I'd be pissed, but things could be worse.

Then of course I started passing people, lots of them. I had a bottle of watered down gatorade, and kept trying to drink but it made me want to throw up. I also had a gel taped to my top tube, not because I thought I would need it, but it's more of a comfort thing for me. The thought it eating that almost made me dry heave.
Wow, I'm off track here. Wind was gusty, had a few crosswind gusts that knocked me around but no major handling issues. My feet were completely numb.

It's all gravy, baby. Maybe be faster like Daremo. That dude is money on the bike.

Painful. Very painful. I didn't think I was ever going to make it to the rack. Got the bike set. Into my shoes pretty easily (baby powder is WONDERFUL). Hat on and I was peace out girl scout.

Lay down a strip of carpet from the dismount line to my bike rack.

There was a theme with my shoes today. Crossed the timing mat and got to the end of the sidewalk. I couldn't really feel my feet, per se, but I could feel something moving around in my shoe. Ahhh, yes. Rocks! Stop, shoe off, shake out the rocks, wink at the little kid who was laughing and trying to get his fathers attention to tell him about the man who just took his shoe off, shoe back on, start "running."

Though process was this: I originally wanted to finish under 0:59. Because of the windy bike I would like to finish under 1:00. My watch already says 0:42:somethin-somethin. Gotta bust my ass. Couldn't feel my feet for the first mile, grabbed a cup at the turn around but didnt really drink any of it, around mile 2 my feet started to burn (that feeling you get if your hands are really realy cold from being outside and throwing snowballs without gloves on, and then you come inside and run them under water). THen my shins started to hurt really bad. But I was determined to break and hour. I got a few "BT!" shouts on my way back in... that's always fun. Then I saw CHippy and threw up some weird gang sign. I was hauling ass by now. I'd love to see my split for the last mile. It's gotta be mid 5's max. I am amazed I got through the last section without running into anyway, as it's pretty chaotic in there. It's pretty much a blur, as I was going all out to try and break 1 hour. Swweeeeeeeeeet. I did.

Not get rocks in my shoe. Run faster. Now I'm just pissed that I didn't break a 6 minute pace, 'cause that woulda been sick.

Food. Talk. Water. Warm clothes. Ridicule by all BT'ers for being passed by a girl in the pool.


I like this race. Great schwag, great entusiasm... they do the best they can with what is available. And it is super close to my house. Can't beat the 3 minute drive home after a race.