=( Frowny face!

As we were being corralled for the swim I felt a tug in my belly, which started to turn into a gnawing feeling. Um, a little early in the race to be hungry, don't you think??

It seems like I had a good swim, but I would have hoped for a better time. I really felt awesome during the swim. Despite clawing myself over and around other swimmers. It felt good to pass LOTS of folks from the first wave. Always felt like I was too far to the right of the buoys.

I'm not to sure. I had people swim on top of me and I swam on top of others, but was I affected by it more than the 6 other chicks in my age group that beat me in the swim? I don't know. I don't know how much help swimming more to the left would have been, either. Usually, when I go around a buoy I am so close that I have to stop kicking so I don't kick people behind me, but staying to the right lets me keep my swim momentum going.

Why I was so low on the totem pole rank wise is beyond me. I think I was 17th overall. I usually have trouble getting my suit off my heels quickly, so I guess I gotta get to the point where I don't need to use a hand to get them off of my heels. I bet you that what took time was to grab my nutrition and stuff it in my pocket.

I don't know, does anyone already carry their gels and bars in their tri top under their wetsuit during the swim??

As soon as I mounted my bike... TWO gels AND my CLIF BAR fell out of my back pocket. It didn't hold shit. F^CK! I didn't stop to pick them up because I had faith in the aid stations on the course. Got going and took the one gel I had about 15 minutes into the bike.

I pushed my pace a little because it felt so good to see speeds in the 20s because I AM NOT A WALLFLOWER. Ha! Went back and forth with a gal. She whomped me on the hills, but I'd catch her and pass on the downhills and flat parts.

The aid stations seemed to pop up just as I was starting to get hungry, so I'd grab two gels and a water.

At one point on the bike course a motorcycle pulled a U-turn RIGHT in front of me and I had to break a little or else risk going up his tailpipe. Thanks buddy. THEN he had to slow down to maneuver around a horse and buggy. Doh! He sped off and then it was my turn to go around the buggy. A young Amish (Mennonite?) girl was looking out at me. I gave her a wave and she waved back. Fun. =) The rest of the course consisted of getting passed on the hills and passing people on the flats/downhills.

About an hour and a half in my hip flexers were burning. I just wasn't used to the aero position yet. The pain went away when I'd sit up, so I sacrificed speed for comfort every 15-20 or so. Was more nervous about the pain keeping at it during the run than losing time on the bike.

Definitely wished more cyclists yelled "on the left". There were a couple times that I was on the shoulder, wanting to move over to avoid a jagged edge and someone would be RIGHT there. I heard a few say "oops, sorry!" but is that really going to help if we collide?

Well, considering my plan was to negative split the bike and I ended up just going at a hard pace through out, I don't think I'd change my approach. As always, I need to get better at hills which will be rectified when I start really strength training.

Nutrition. I had entertained the idea of taping a clif bar and gels to my bike and now this will be a no brainer. My gels were caffeinated and this is the first race where I wasn't sucking them down about every 30 minutes.

Had a short struggle getting the bike back on the rack because I insisted I wanted the handle bars to rest on the rack, but ended up doing just my brakes. My T2 was pretty speedy in comparison (84 overall, 21 female, 11 AG), so I wonder, what on earth were the rest of you doing???

Nutrition...I SAW ANOTHER CLIF BAR AND THREEEEEE GELS STARING AT ME!!! They were not shouting "SARA! SARA! GRAB US!" loud enough, so I pranced off without them...and my water belt.

Just rack the stupid bike. Don't fight the easiest way to drop the sucker off. IF THE GELS ARE THERE GRAB THEM! Whyyyyy didn't I pick them up? They are in shiny gold foil. Aren't girls supposed to be attracted to shiny things???

Got off the bike and had a short moment of panic. 2 hours to go????!!!!!

I started out BLAZING at LIGHTENING speed (well, almost, I was seeing 8:40s on the Garmin). I really felt good through the first 6 miles, but then the gnawing in my stomach was starting up. At the first aid station I grabbed a hammer gel and it was more solid than I'm used to, so I tried to swallow it too soon with threw me in a coughing fit which made the gels seem unattractive for the rest of the run. I think for the next few aid stations I was just taking wet sponges and water. With four miles to go I started closing my eyes during the run because I was tired...not fatigued or exhausted, but I felt like I just wanted to take a nap (did I get sunscreen in my eyes? were my eyes tired from the suns reflection off of some surface??). THEEEEEEEEEN, I got hungry again.

Hunger, hunger, hunger. I wasn't running to the finish line anymore. I was running to the next aid station! And the next, and then next...Pretzels, crackers, shot blocks, you name it, I was ready for a buffet!

By this time my pace had slowed down to 10:30s or so. Damn. Oh well. Kept one foot in front of the other. At this point just saying I finished would have to do.

Bring those gels with me!! Never underestimate the power of caffeine during a 13 mile run!!!!

Crossed the finish line smiling. I went to sit in one of the ice cold kiddy pools and it felt pretty good. Grabbed my stuff out of the TA and took a shower.

Then, the nausea set in. I don't know why I wanted to yak after being finished for about a half hour. I grabbed a slice of pizza and just couldn't do it (didn't I ask a volunteer at the 11 mile mark for pizza??). REALLY wanted to throw up at this point but wasn't going to do it in a port o potty, the bathrooms were soooooooo far away and there were no bushes that I could hide behind. So, I walked over to the dumpsters, got self conscious and held it in on the walk to the bathroom. I was staggering and a volunteer asked if I needed medical attention and I just told her I'd feel better if I could up chuck. By the time I got to the bathroom I was too tired to go through the process of throwing up, dry heaving, throwing up some more, and feeling drained from that on top of the race.

Ugh.

Got back and decided to get in the car and head home. Recovered by the time we got into Ithaca and waited for Moosewood to open.


I didn't eat enough before the race and during the race. Didn't get enough time in aero on the bike before hand.


This is THE race that all other races will be compared to!! PHENOMENAL organization. Jeff is a supreme race director. I loved all the emails from him from when I registered until the week of the race. Everything was so thorough...maps, directions, meetings, volunteers at the race. I highly, highly recommend the Musselman!