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 Swim
Comments: I set off and maintained my cool the entire time! I couldn't believe it. I just swam carefully from buoy to buoy and got it done. I have no complaints. Even stayed cool when the waves from behind passed me. When I got to the swim exit and I popped up much to the surprise of my fans. They knew I was worried and were stunned by my time. Victory! What would you do differently?: Not worry so much!  Transition 1
Comments: Used wet suit trippers for the first time. Next time I can do this even faster, but I talked to them for a few seconds. Pretty cool. My transition area was in a great position, right on the main path for bike and run in/out. So lucky. I popped on the hydration backpack, glasses, helmet and shoes and was off. We were arranged by number so ladies in my AG were nearby. Fortunately being a slow swimmer makes finding my bike pretty easy :) What would you do differently?: Be ready for the strippers.  Bike
Comments: This was harder than I hoped. Started out into a headwind as we headed south to Sturgeon Bay. Then we headed into the country for an out and back with a loop and some moderate hills. It rained pretty steadily for about miles 20-40 at least. Carrie's family/friends cheered for us at about 10 places which was amazing. I passed Carrie after an hour, so we gave them a little challenge watching for us. In my training rides I always allowed myself some longer pit stops, which was a mistake. I was getting pretty sore on this ride. Unfortunately the valve on my hydration pack was leaking, but the rain took care of that. I did managed to drink my whole 70 ounces of sport drink (500 cals) and take 4 gel bursts every 30 mins or so. With the rain I didn't take a lot of water, but I didn't let up on the nutrition otherwise. That was my main goal. Around mile 40 I started to get really bored and really tired of the whole ride. I stopped for a potty around there and it helped to get off the bike for a minute. Around mile 50 I realized my tire looked pretty low in the front so I stopped to check it - yep, soft. I only had such a short distance left, so I checked the tire for any obvious problems and when I didn't see any I decided to inflate it a little and keep going. This was my first use of the co2 cartridge and fortunately it worked as advertised. I tucked it in my pocket and rode until mile 53. I stopped again and reinflated, this time getting the little inflator stuck on the valve - ARGH! Fortunately I managed to get it off and rode it in. It never went completely flat, so I was happy and think I made the right decision. I am not great at changing tires and it was gritty, I might had suffered another flat. What would you do differently?: More riding, less stopping on training rides. Transition 2
Comments: I decided to use the portpotty in transition, which wasn't the best use of time due to layout. Otherwise I was very fast and happy with how it went. What would you do differently?: Hold it.  Run
Comments: This was mostly amazing. I left transition and felt immediately comfortable and ticked off mile after mile around a 10 m/m pace. I alternated sport drink and gels at each aid station, so that took some time (walked). The hill at 3 wasn't as bad I thought it might be. Running through Egg Harbor was fun and saw my crew at the corner by Shipwrecked. I felt amazing and they looked pretty surprised to see that I was happy! The hill at 6 was intense and I walked as did most around me. There was a sweet downhill back to Egg Harbor, saw the family/friends again, and then continued south. Until now I ran the whole time except for the aid station and just felt like I was in someone else's body. It was very overcast and drizzly - my kind of weather. After mile 9 started the bluff (FINALLY) and it was much worse than I thought it would be. I seriously could have crawled or used the guardrail to pull me up. It was hard to stay excited. The crowd was really helpful and Carrie's mom walked partway down to walk with me, which was really really nice. I crested the hill to more cheers and was really glad to be done. Despite this victory, and knowing it was virtually downhill from there, this is where it started to get really hard. I hadn't run much beyond 10.5 miles in training in a long time. The bluff hill took a lot from me. The next stretch is long and flat and so many people were walking, it was hard to stay motivated. I alternated a slow run/ short walk and soon ran across my new BT friends. Walked with them for a minute before I decided I better get my move on. Used the very tilted portapotty around mile 11, scary but necessary. I've never pottied so much in a race before, but it was all good. Finally hit mile 12 and tried really hard to be positive. By now my knees and quads really hurt. The last 1/3 mile or so is straight downhill and it was AWFUL. There were lots of folks cheering, even more folks leaving (sigh) and I was really hurting. I "ow ow ow"ed my way down the hill. Then I see the finish and I'm ready to cry again, which happens to me sometimes. I was never so glad to be finished and mostly held it together until I passed my family/friends and the photographer. Then I was so overcome that everyone who saw me was worried, thinking I was cramping or otherwise hurt. I assured them I was okay, just a baby. Got the medal and left the chute to meet my mom. Run splits: 9:43, 10:24 (Gatorade), 10:14, 10:42 (gel), 10:50 (Gatorade), 11:19 (hard hill), 11:19 (other half of hill, gel), 10:40, 11:24 (bluff), 14:05 (this must be where I hit the potty) , 12:43, 11:22, 12:30. What would you do differently?: More training never hurts. A mental toughness might have sped me up a little at the end. But all in all, this went about as well as I could have hoped. This is not my best half marathon, but it's actually a minute faster than my worst standalone half :) Post race
Warm down: I stretched my glutes which were super tight. I needed to head back to the finish to wait for Carrie and she was through soon. Was a huge relief that we were done! I still can't believe it. I couldn't stand to drink any more water. I then felt a tiny bit queasy so I got a bbq sandwich and Fresca and felt a lot better. Packing up and leaving a race is always such a buzz kill. All in all I have no regrets about this day and was really lucky to have my friend Carrie to share it with, as well as my mom for making the trip. Event comments: This really is the best executed race I've encountered. The area is beautiful, everything was wonderfully organized and I really enjoyed it. While I don't feel the need to return, I would recommend this race to anyone. I am looking forward to passing this message on to the RD. Last updated: 2009-10-15 12:00 AM
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United States
70F / 21C
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 208/266
Age Group = F30-34
Age Group Rank = 37/41
(Overall is female only)
Friday: Drove from Minneapolis with my friend/racemate Carrie. Took about 5.5 hours and my shoulders were sore - great. Drove to the park for our packets and then drove all but 3 miles of the course. Our hotel was nearby and really nice, except for a strange smell to our room. Unfortunately that ended up permeating everything we owned... eww! Had a nice dinner at Shipwrecked, which ended up being right on the run course.
Saturday: Got up and did a short ride (on part of the run course, near our hotel) and quick run. Went back to the race site around noon. The sprint in the morning was finishing up. We got in the water for a practice swim and I was very nervous. The water was wavy and we learned later that 30-something folks were pulled from the water. Crazy, considering it was only a 1/4 mile swim. This didn't bode well! I felt like swimming was impossible with the current/waves and I was in no way better prepared for my swim because of it. I spent the rest of Saturday worrying. We also attended the race meeting, which was very informative and well worth our time. Met some family/friends for an early dinner and managed to get to bed around 9:30 and slept fairly well.
Sunday: 4 came around WAY too early. The forecast was for rain overnight and it was cool and wet, but not really raining like we were worried. I packed my things in the race packet bag instead of my tribag just in case, and used individual bags for my run and bike stuff too. Had my usual breakfast of bagel, pb, banana and coffee and had some ibuprofen just in case :) Packed up the car and headed to the race site. We ended up being in the first 20 or so cars. We walked our stuff to the transition area, which we hadn't seen until today. It was so sweet - we had individually marked spots. It was so easy we could have slept in for another hour! Oh well. We milled around the race start area looking for our crew for a while. They announced they'd be delaying the race for 30 minutes due to a storm coming towards us. We did get rained on periodically, but it never got very bad. Amazingly, the water was FLAT. I must live under a lucky star! I couldn't believe it!
I walked back to transition to grab my wet suit before it closed and found my mom. I told her to meet at the swim start, but it was a little confusing to her not being a racer. When I saw her I immediately teared up in relief of seeing someone who would sympathize with me. I was still really worried about the swim and had so many pent up emotions about the whole event. She calmed me down and we got my stuff and walked back. Then we stood around and waited. Carrie's wave was 13 and mine 14, so we had a long time to watch the other swimmers start.
I decided to wear my noseplug, a "crutch" I haven't used for a year in races or the pool. I am so glad. I did a little swimming to get used to that again and get wet. I was so glad to see the water was more than manageable compared to the day before. I finally was able to get lined up on the beach and head toward the start.