The first run course started on the beach where the swimmers started, which was cool. Previous du's I've had separated everyone out, but I loved this to get the start-of-race feel. There were only 3 women doing the du, and about 20-25 men, so I knew I'd for sure be at the back of the pack during the run. I took my time, settled into the groove and watched everyone promptly pass me. No worries though, I totally expected it. The run continued through trails and a bit of road, around a boat launch area, back through trails, and across the beach again. Luckily we ran on hard packed sand and I came in just as most of the men were exiting from the swim, but in front of most of the women.

I'd prefer to be a faster runner, but other than that, felt pretty good for me.

Good T1 for me...very smooth.

Nothing

These trails are my home turf, but I haven't been on the technical sections too much as I haven't been a strong technical rider and tend to freak myself out. I did a course pre-ride a few weeks ago and felt pretty good, but didn't really prepare myself for being surrounded by competitive macho-men during the bike portion. I hung in with the guys fairly well (and even passed some!) during the first 5 miles of the course-which were certainly the easiest of the course. Few uphills, some singletrack, a water crossing-all really sweet. There were a few places where I really just hauled ass on the flats.

There were two huge climbs (Cardiac Climb & CPR) that I almost made it up, but both I had to hop off my bike as I started spinning out and almost tipped over...it's my most famous move. Once I got to the technical sections, I really lost some ground. There's a part called Granny's Garden that's pretty gnarly (and fun if you know what lines to pick-I don't!), I found myself hopping off the bike and moving over for people, then running instead to try to make up time. I might have exhausted myself a bit more by doing that and would like to fix that by next year. At one point I tried to hop back on my bike during a slight uphill (bad move). I clipped in, tried to peddle, and promptly tipped like a cow. My saddle caught by girl parts so bad that once I got moving again I literally had to stick my hand down my bike shorts to make sure I wasn't bleeding. Good news everyone...everything is still in perfect working order! I totally forgot about it by the end of the ride. The rest of the ride was perfect.

Practiced WAY more technical riding. Next year I'll make my goal to be able to ride every portion of the course.

My T2 was good except for the fact that I totally knocked someone else's bike off the rack. I felt so bad, but one of the volunteers came and helped out so I didn't have to fix it. Thank you, Ms. Volunteer!

As I left T2 my cheering section sang Happy Birthday...it was pretty freakin' cool 'cause the whole entire cheering section picked it up...pretty inspiring!

Not knock over someone's bike that's probably waaayyy more expensive than mine.

The first mile definitely sucked ass, if I can be totally honest. Had to run across the beach (again!), run up a few (felt like) HUGE hills, and try to catch my breath. It definitely took me a while to settle in, but it finally happened. I did feel my IT band twitching quite a bit but didn't think much of it...oops. Today it's revolting quite a bit but I'm gonna go buy a foam roller thing to see if it helps.

Anyway, the run was good overall...a bunch of my tri-club friends were volunteering, so they cheered me on whenever I'd see them. There were a bunch of log jams to run over, but it was mostly singletrack and switchbacks to run on, and the wooded trails were great to run on out of the sun. At the last mile a cheering friend decided she wanted to run a little with me, so she kept me entertained while I tried not to puke...it was a welcome distraction, for sure.

Figure out my nutrition and what exactly is making me want to puke through the entire run.

Walked for a bit, stretched for a bit, iced my knee.


Wanting to puke through the run, IT flare-up.


This race was absolutely fantastic! Organized really well, the course was well-marked without any confusion, and the volunteers rocked! I would highly, highly recommend it to anyone interested in an Xterra race.