Was actually faster then this, they lumped T1 time into the swim and my T1 time was probably pretty close to 3 minutes since I beat Mike out of the water and waited on him, ha ha Mike even wore a speed suit over his tri shorts - he said he had to do something to keep up with me. This, however, would be the only time during the race that I would be waiting on Mike, the rest of the time he would be waiting on me - since he signed my up for this race he told me we would race it together and that we did.

I actually passed quite a few people on the swim - according to Teresa I was the 21st person to come into transition and there were a bunch of people ahead of me when we started the swim. I made one poor navigational error which probably cost me an extra 20 yards of unnescessary swimming - I really need to work on sighting more. I will say I prefer the in water wading start to the mass run from the beach - I was much more relaxed.

Lumped into swim

I felt like a bull in a china shop on this ride. It was absolutely insane, but then again, since I had been on a mountain bike on single track trails only ONCE (like two days before this race) I really can't complain. I actually had the physical stamina (Impressive to me) to push a lot harder then what I did however my bike handling skills and my desire to not break any bones superceded the desire to go faster. There were some crazy pieces of this ride and as I think back on it I am amazed that I didn't break anything or even wreck, although I could have had at least 4 Glorious Wrecks where I can specifically recall the Oh S*it warning light going off. As we twisted our way through this I would get really excited as I made it through a more technical piece of the track like tight corners with log hopping and rock climbing required and I would yell out " Oh God, Oh God,Oh Yeah" where as when I had one of those OMG I'm going to wreck moments - I would be yelling "Whaoooooo - whew" - I suppose if you were only hearing the sound effects and commentary while I was riding I could have been on a bike or perhaps in the bedroom, ha, did I really just compare bike riding to makin bacon, why yes, yes I did :) - It was a mentally grueling ride, everytime I would gain some confidence in my bike handling skills I would almost wreck again and that would put me back in my place. I think I let a bajillion people pass me - whatever, I had fun, I feel accomplished for having completed it and I didn't break anything :)

I don't know, maybe, just maybe have ridden a Mountain Bike on Trails more than once in my life for an hour...that's sarcasm folks, just in case you aren't discerning that.

Lumped into the Bike

Seriously, leave it to me to NOT wreck on the bike but to wreck on the run. Classic, yep, classic, I had just passed a nice young family who was out for a leisurely hike (they were very polite as they saw racers they would step out of the way) I was probably 15 yards past them (Mike was probably 50 yards ahead of me around a bend) and I failed to pick my foot all the way up and caught my toe on a root and went a** over applecart, thank god I was an experienced goal keeper at one point in my life so I was able to meld into a tuck and roll and protected my head, writs etc. Unfortunately I banged my elbow pretty hard (It is still sore and tender) I heard a racer behing me go uh-oh. Luckily while ungraceful in falling in the first place my tuck and roll recovery rolled me right back onto my feet and off I went with nothing more than a tender elbow and a slightly bruised ego. I caught up with Mike, and we managed to pass a couple people along the way. At one point we were coming down these steep steps (they were slippery wood railroad ties) my shoes slipped on the wood, I caught myself on the rail and plopped down on the step on my bum, Mike looked back and said "Come on girl this is a race, there is no time for sitting" -It made me laugh and off we went again. At the final river crossing which was about a mile and a half from the finish we stopped and rinsed off, we were covered in mud from the bike, I was covered head to toe on my left side from where I tumbled earlier in the run and then we splashed the heck out of each other, it was really refreshing because even being under the tree cover was hot. We finished the last mile and a half and crossed the finish line together. Teresa was there waiting with little M who she handed over the fence to me as MIke and I were running in the last 10 yards so little M crossed the finish line with me :)

I could say, not fall, but meah, it was fun.

Walked with little M over to the misting tent (mist my bum - it was a full on hose) and sprayed down with the hose.


This race was not about winning, not even so much about "racing" per se since I had only been on a Mountain Bike once, it was about a new challenge, seeing what I could do and I won, I completed it, even though at one point I thought I was going to see a DNF. I made it over obstacles on the bike that I never thought I could have. I completed this race, and if you would have told me that 14 months and 60+ pounds ago that I could do this, I would have asked you what crack you were smoking. This was an wicked cool experience, not something I would want to do every month but doing one or two a season is a definite must :)