Race Report: Beach 2 Battleship Half

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry." 

THAT is the theme of my B2B training. There wasn't anything catastrophic that impacted training, just some fun travel opportunities and life in general. B2B was to be my "A race" for 2015 and one final long race before taking some time off and enjoying some less time consuming training. In early June, Ramsy and I booked a trip to Tunisia and Paris, to visit his family that he hadn't seen in Tunis in 25 years. This two week trip was absolutely amazing, but other than renting cruisers in Paris, there was no training to be done. I also traveled for work and personal reasons almost the entire month of July, so while training was happening, it wasn't as focused as I would have liked. But I got what I needed to do done. Then after returning from Tunisia I got sick, for about 3 weeks I couldn't train at all. Then it seemed that September had suck up on us and we were just a few short weeks away from taper. I got in a few hilly but solid long rides, along with a half marathon and thought, I may not get the time or PR I wanted, but I could at least give B2B a shot and not have to worry about a long race in 2016.

Pre-Race

New friends...Joe, Candace, Tami & Maggie

Ramsy and I left Baltimore around 2pm on Thursday. It took us about 7.5hours to get to Wilmington. We unloaded, I repacked bags and we hit the hay. Friday morning I met a group of random people on the swim course and we tested the water by swimming just under a mile. THIS is what I absolutely LOVE about the multisport community and social media. I was able to read a thread on the B2B group and offer some space in my car. I met Maggie and Tami via the post, who said they'd love to share a ride to the swim start and would return me to my car after. Then as we were loading up, both Joe and Candace wandered by on the road and they ended up in my car too. So the 5 of us did a buddy check, which was good for Joe and I because were were swimming solo and everyone hit the water. The current was INCREDIBLE! And the water was nice and flat. I was super excited that the swim was going to be FAST, thus giving me a few extra minutes on the bike/run to potentially hit my goals. I got back to the hotel at 9:30am, which was just in time to have my second breakfast, thanks Marriott! 

Ramsy and I headed over to packet pick up and the expo around noon. I bought a new Zoot tri kit, that I planned to wear on race day! Yes, something new on race day, I know I know! I have the same exact suit in a different color, so I felt confident I'd be fine. Plus I bumped up the size on the top, which actually ended up causing less chafing that my original "old" kit. I dropped my T2 bag at the expo, which was also at the convention center. We then grabbed a quick but late lunch and dropped my bike off at T1. Needle was all set for the last sleepover of 2015! That night we ordered take out from Carrabba's. I had a chicken breast and a side of pasta with tomato sauce and I inhaled an entire loaf of bread! Meanwhile my mother was driving my nieces and nephew up from Myrtle Beach in her RV to watch the race the next day. Unfortunately on the way up, the RV broke down and she was forced to steer it into the grass and wait for help on the side of the road. They were still over an hour away, so luckily the kids other Gramma picked them up, I changed my Mom's reservation at the KOA and they would attempt to drive up in her van the next day. I had no idea if they would make it for the race. I was pretty tired, so I think I was in bed and sleeping by 9:45-10pm. 

Race Morning

Saturday morning, we got up early and Ramsy dropped me off at T1, which was about 5 miles from our hotel. Pretty sure he went back and took a nap after that and I don't blame him. HUGE thank you again to Marriott for opening up their breakfast at the crack of dawn for us athletes. I had packed my usual oatmeal bowl, but it was nice to see that there were some other options too.

I arrived at T1, set up my gear, pumped tires and got ready to board the shuttle to the swim start. This race is big enough that there's some real energy to the atmosphere, but small enough that all the MMTC ladies were able to meet up and ride the shuttle over together. Once at the start we hung in the parking lot for about 45 minutes, alternating between snacking, chatting, putting on body glide and waiting in line for the potty. Then it was time to go!

Swim 1.2 miles (36:41 23/41 AG)

I was soooo ready for a fast swim. I waded out into the water and realized that my piece of gum was still tucked into the strap of my tri top! Popped it into my mouth, got it stuck around my back teeth and was ready to go. The horn sounded and I thought, "Holy crap, this is INSANE!". The chop, the crowd, it seemed like I was in the water with 2000 people instead of just the women 34 and under! I assumed that the chop was due to the crowd, so I just kept swimming forward until people started to thin out. It was then I realized that the chop was NOT from people. It was pretty rough water.

Every time I went to breathe I would get a face full of salt water, so I went back to drills I learned when I first started swimming. I'd roll and open my chest really wide and get a big breath before rolling back. I'm sure this slowed me down, but it ensured I was breathing air instead of water. We finally neared the turn buoy and I remembered someone saying to sight the red triangle sign. So I did and realized that most of the crowd was way to my right. I felt like I was taking the "more direct" route, but looking at my time based on my swim the day before, I'm going to guess I took a "detour" here. All in all it was a good swim and a 6 minute PR from my other half swims, but those were all in lakes with zero current.

T1 6 miles (6:07 17/41 AG)

Ok, so it wasn't really 6 miles obviously but it felt that way. After having surgery on my foot last fall, I have a hard time running barefoot. We had to run over the docks, through a shower, down the driveway, down the road and then cross the road before hitting grass again. We also had to make sure all of your left over swim gear, including wetsuit, was put back in your T1 bag, as they would be bringing these to the finish line later in the day. So I changed, repacked the bag and headed out. My goal this race was to run and hurry through transitions, I didn't want to lose any "garbage minutes" if I could help it. So overall, I'm not too upset with this time.

Bike 56 miles (2:58:29 8/41 AG)

I really had no idea what to expect on this ride. In the past, I think the longest flat ride I'd ever done was Escape the Cape last summer and that was only 12.5 miles. So comparing my current long rides, that all had over 2500' of climbing really wasn't accurate. In my mind, my number one goal for this race was to break 3 hours on the bike. I wasn't sure if I could do it, but I thought if it were flat and the wind cooperated, I could get close. I had my watch set on multisport, which was dumb. I could only see total miles and because the accuracy in the swim is terrible, it was off. I had no idea how fast I was actually going, which may have been a good thing. My focus was on pushing hard enough that my legs weren't burning, but that I felt like I was still working. Keep the cadence high (I averaged 93 RPM based on feel!) and check in on how hard I was breathing. I felt good the first 10 miles out of town and attempted to not go out too hard. 

Then we got to the highway and "Hello Wind! Not nice to meet you.". It wasn't terrible, but it was enough to make you suffer a bit. At one point on the long out section, I was in aero with my straw up behind my ear and my head almost on my water bottle.

I just wanted to get as small as possible. My legs were actually hitting my stomach (probably because I ate too many oreos during training) at some points. But it must have worked because I went back and looked at my data and I didn't lose too much speed on that section. 

On the long lonely, windy stretch I was bored. I was all alone, staring at my shadow on the highway in front of me. And of course, I got a song stuck in my head. Welcome to my internal bike ride play list! First it was "Angel in Blue Jeans", thank you RPM class. Then I decided it was time for a new song, of course next came "Country Roads" because I SHOULD be able to sing this song anywhere. But boy singing and riding a bike in aero really makes you realize how terrible your pitch is, so much so I was laughing at my own terrible singing. Then when that got old, I started to have a hard time to coming up with new songs. One of my pre-race favorites (and the song I finished IMLP to) is "Come with me now", so I tried that out. Not so good. Next came the Spice Girls. Yeah, I have no idea why that came to mind, so it was "Wannabe". When that became to much for me to handle mentally, I went to "Take me home tonight" another college classic. Luckily for mental state, a big group of riders came up behind me and shut down my internal radio station, thank goodness!!

There were a LOT of people not following the rules. This is a royal pet peeve of mine, not only because we're all supposed to follow them, but because it's also unsafe when you don't. One guy was drafting so closely behind a tandem bike that I actually said, "Hey man, give them some space. You're not supposed to draft & it's not safe. I'd hate to see all of us go down if someone hits a bump". People were riding 4 wide and chatting, at one point a woman behind me yelled at them. She said something about "make the pass or not, but you're blocking the road". I was in front of her at that point, so everyone looked back at me! I laughed and said, "that was her! But it's not safe to cross the yellow, so thanks for moving over guys". This woman in the red jersey (with the big mouth) was moving at a pretty solid pace, so we went back and forth for awhile swapping the lead spot, but actually never drafting, just following each other. It was nice to have a "rabbit" to chase for a bit.

Prior to this I was constantly swapping places with a couple on a tandem bike. They were from NC and doing the relay. The man joked that his wife was the only one allowed to draft him. I said, "If my husband were on that bike, he'd be on the back, feet up with a sandwich", which was kind of funny because they did eventually meet Ramsy. They were super nice and we rode probably about 35 miles together.

Then with something like 8-9 miles left to go a Team RWB guy passed me on the bike and I decided I was going to let him drag me in. So I dropped an extra gear or two and attempted to keep up with him. Once my legs got used to the new gear, it was perfect. As we hopped off the bikes at T2, I said to him, "Thanks man! I followed you all the way in and I'm pretty sure I just hit my goal time on the bike! & I could possibly PR!" He said, "Awesome! Now go get that PR!" and off we went.

T2 (4:27 17/41 AG)

T2 was interesting. You ran into the convention center, handed off your bike to a volunteer and then ran through the racks to find your bag. They were calling out numbers to volunteers, but I knew where my bag was so I just ran to it and headed to the changing area. I rushed through a change, grabbed my running sunglasses, put them on my head (mistake #1). I then glided up my arms and pits, because that's where I usually have chafing issues. I then realized that I didn't have any chapstick and my lips were super dry so I put some glide on them, only to realize as soon as I did it, that I had just put that glide on my arm pits. OMG GROSS! But it's a triathlon and it happens, it could have been worse, we all know! Then I hit the restroom. Indoor plumbing in T2, SCORE! As I handed off my bag, I pulled my glasses down and thought, "What the??". I hadn't checked my lenses and I still had the clear ones in from when we rode in the rain a few weeks ago. I ran back and tried to find my bag, but it was buried, so I just went without them. At least I had a visor on.

Run 13.1 miles (2:20:23 22/41 AG)I looked down at my watch and thought, "OK, if I can run one of my best HIM runs I can not only PR, but I could MAYBE break 6 hours, MAYBE". So I headed out of T2, heard Ramsy call my name, gave him a half wave and didn't look back. I apologized to him later, but I explained, throughout the day I kept telling myself, "This is IT! It's not your last race, but it's the last long one for awhile. End the season knowing you left EVERYTHING out there. Don't doubt, don't question, just PUSH.

Still happy here.

And just fucking GO!" (Sorry I cuss at myself in my head a lot during races, but it's honest.) My first mile was just under a 9min pace, WAY too fast for me! Mile 2 I started to struggle and mile 3 I honestly thought I was going to die. I couldn't get my heart rate down, even on a slight decline, I could barely breathe and I felt like I wasn't moving at all. So I decided to use my Ironman run technique. Run to every aid station and then you can walk if you need it. So that's what I did for the rest of the race. I knew my original goal time was probably out the window, but I knew that I could still PR if I kept pushing and didn't totally fall apart on the rest of this run.

Around mile 2.5-3 there were some Base Salt folks on the course. My stomach was feeling sloshy and gross, so she convinced me to just take a tube with me. I took it and thought, well........why not? It seemed to help and I continued to use the salts every mile. I was surprised that I liked them, but then again I tend to use a lot of sweet sugary stuff, so it was a nice switch. After about mile 5, I fell into a groove. Run as hard as I could maintain to each aid station. The aid stations were awesome, a young kid (probably high school age) in a cow costume, ran along beside me at one aid station and said, "I'm proud of you, you're awesome!". Adorable and while I could barely squeak out a "thank you" I really appreciated it. Their aid station got my vote for the best support.

At about mile 10.5 my left knee started to have a really sharp pain in the front, totally new to me. As I came down a hill and was hobbling a bit,

No extra energy
for a smile.

I ran into Beth. She gave me a big sweaty hug & said, "just walk it out, you're almost done". It was just enough encouragement to get me moving again. Thanks Beth! :) Ran the last few miles through town, although I will say......with all the folks sitting around outside watching football or eating at cafes there was very little crowd support. More like, a few people turned and stared as you ran down the street. Once you arrived back at the finish, it was a totally different story. The finish chute was packed with people! It was GREAT! Heard Ramsy yell my name, gave 2 little boys high fives and it was done, my 2015 race season and potentially my long distance triathlon "career", we will see.

Total Time 6:06:04 14/41 AG

Overall I am so glad I did this race. It's the first time I've ever done a half distance tri with goals of more than "just finish" or "training race". I wanted to push and see what I could do. I will say, I'm not a fan of the go hard AND long at the same time. For me, an athlete that was always a sprinter, it's just unnatural and uncomfortable. But that's what long distance triathlons are about, getting out of your own doubts and getting out of your comfort zone. Going into each race I always have "goals" in my head that I typically don't share until after the race. It's not that I don't want anyone else to know, it's just that triathlon, for me, is about competing against myself and I need to hold myself accountable. So here were my goals....

The Goals

1 - Break 3 hours on the bike - 2:58!!!
2 - 35min swim (this was totally a random number based on wanting to give myself some cushion on the run) - 36:41 Almost but still a 6min swim PR
3 - Hustle through transitions (I typically walk & take my time) - YES!
4 - Go sub 6 (this was a goal made in early 2015 based on being able to fully focus on training & was kind of my "pie in the sky" goal) - Nope, but that's ok. There was nothing I could have done differently on race day to get there.
5 - PR this race (previous PR 6:14:40) - 8.5 min PR! & a 53 min improvement from my other half in May of this year. YES!

Post Race

OMG the pajama pants finisher gift, AMAZING! LOVE them! As I was walking out of the end of the finish line, I hear, "Hey! Maryland, right?!". It was my tandem bike friends. I completely forget their names now, but I introduced them to Ramsy and we chatted for a few minutes then headed over to get some post race food. What I love is that spectators are allowed to join  you in the post race area, so Ramsy and I headed over to get some snacks. To the volunteer who literally stuffed about 10 packs of vanilla Oreo's into my bag, THANK YOU! I think I have one pack left to eat! :) Ramsy bought me an awesome orange B2B trucker hat and then I spied the Chik Fil-A tent. Really what I would have killed for was a big plate of their pickles, but a fried chicken sandwich would be delicious too. There were a few food vendors, so I walked over to ask how much. The girl said, "We put our cash box away, so it's free! Congrats!". Boy do I LOVE NC! I then went and grabbed my free post-race beer and we grabbed a seat to eat and relax. About 2 sips of beer, an entire Dr Pepper and half my chicken sandwich later, I was ready to get a shower. On the way out, I ran into my girlfriend in the red bike jersey. I said hi and thanked her for "yelling" at people and for letting me tail her for a bit. Again, another awesome athlete met along the way. We grabbed all of my gear bags and bike and headed back to the hotel.

The adventure begins!

Now it was time to shower, head to the KOA to pick up my nieces and nephew for their promised EC & Uncle Ramsy adventure! Aniya is 9, Christian turned 6 the next day and Jaylen is 2 and I had promised them an overnight adventure after the race. So for Christian's birthday we took them all to Hooters for some wings and a fun birthday song which included Christian dancing like a chicken. He absolutely loved it! Then the kids and I went for a quick swim in the hotel pool before getting everyone baths and into bed before 9:30, including EC and Uncle Ramsy. The next morning I couldn't sleep so while everyone else was still out, I went downstairs, packed my bags into the car, grabbed some breakfast and then went back to the room. The baby was the first one up, so I gave her a bath and took her down for breakfast. Then when we came back up the rest of the crew was getting up and moving, so we went downstairs for breakfast #3 (for me).

It was Christians birthday so we had pancakes at the hotel before heading to Chuckie Cheese for the rest of the afternoon. At 3pm Nana picked them up and we headed back to Baltimore. Wheeeww.......exhausted to say the least! But such an awesome weekend.

Happy Birthday Christian!

My Boot Gang!

That time I went on a road trip with "Flat Mary".....

VA-TN Adventure

The History
Anyone who knows Mary Podbielski knows she's the most amazing, supportive woman you'll ever meet. So when she told me she was going to be an Ironman in Chattanooga, TN in 2016, there was no option, I would be there. So I booked a campsite (partially because I enjoy camping and partially because hotels were just crazy expensive) & started to plan my "sherpa/cheerleader" duties. About 2 months before IMCHOO I received an email from colleagues about a 3 day cycling trip, organized by a VP from a division of Thermo Fisher located in Middletown, VA the week before IMCHOO. Of course, I could not pass up a chance to not only cycle on company time (ok not really I did take PTO), but to also network with some really incredible people within Thermo Fisher. Not to mention, these guys are incredible cyclists! And so the plan was hatched. I would schedule some work meetings to/from the events, cycle, attempt to hike solo for the first time, cheer Mary on to her IM finish and try to make it home in one piece. 

Flat Mary is ready for her road trip.

Introducing "Flat Mary"
This is "Flat Mary". I saw this photo of Mary almost a year ago at her annual Halloween party. With the help of her daughter Summer, I obtained a scan of the original photo taken around 1980 and had a good friend blow it up and mount it on foam board. And thus......"Flat Mary" was born & we were ready for our road trip! Mary rode the entire way to Chattanooga strapped into the front seat as you see in the photo. I'm sure some of the truckers were entertained! It was kind of fun to take photos of Flat Mary in different locations and then explain why on earth I was toting around this picture. It definitely made this trip just a bit more fun.

Day 1 - Tuesday 9/22
"Flat Mary" and I packed up the car and headed to Virginia to do some work for the day. I had customer meetings in Winchester and Middletown before the fun began. We were staying at the Wayside Inn, a bed and breakfast that was built in the 1700's. It was incredibly neat and the owners were so attentive. They made some delicious breakfasts for us before our big rides and the history in the building was really interesting to see.

Day 2 - Wednesday 9/23
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/9609669
Today we start our ride. As part of our ride, the team exceeded our $10K fundraising goal. Part of my fundraising efforts included carrying the initials of those who we've lost to cancer and also those who've beat it. The picture below is a powerful image of all the work we still have to do. Today we have 7 riders Marc, Andrew, Peter, Alex, Tom, Kevin, and myself. We headed out for a 60 mile rolling ride starting about 30 minutes from our bed and breakfast. We stopped for coffee or (hot almond milk cocoa) at Haymarket Bike shop, which was really neat, a coffee shop and a bike shop in one. Genius! Then we rode another 10 miles or so before stopping in Middleburg for lunch. I had a delicious roast beef sandwich and chips before we headed for home. Note to self: Try to eat something a bit lighter or with less aftertaste when you still have another 20 rolling miles to go.

Thank you! For those of you who donated & allowed me
to take your loved ones on these rides! We have LOTS
more work to be done to fill that left leg!

The group was really great, we mostly rode together but the boys sometimes wanted to "play" with Strava segments and we would then regroup at the next turn. I am going to blame Andrew, Peter and Marc for introducing me to what Strava really does. It was fun to look at comparisons of my ride versus others. And let's all be honest, who doesn't want to be Queen of the Mountain even if for just a day before someone else comes and steals it away! One day, one day I'll get there. For dinner we visited friends of Marc's at Glen Gordon Manor. We enjoyed a 5 course meal, and there are no words to describe how incredible each and every course was.

Day 3 - Thursday 9/24 
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/9911637

After only a slight discussion, Suzanne and I decided to forgo our original plan to split this ride in half. We were going to push through and make it up Blue Mountain one way or the other. Blue Mountain is a 5.5 mile climb that averages about 5% grade, however according to other riders computers it varied from 5% to 14%, not to mention about 2.5 miles of it was gravel road. This was probably one of the toughest climbs I've done to date. First, because my mileage hasn't been super high recently, I'd never done a solid climb on the new gearing on my bike and gravel is just tough! But I made it & I finished it about 10 minutes "faster" than I anticipated. Let me tell you, I've never been more excited to see a paved road in my whole life! We enjoyed an amazing descent with only one small crash along the way. One rider thought he saw loose gravel on a very sharp u-turn. He was able to slow down, but drifted a bit too far right and caught the guide rail.

He and his bike went over the side, but luckily at a rather slow pace and everyone was ok to continue. We had lunch (and some AWESOME donuts) at the bottom of the mountain and then headed home. I was simply amazed at how great my legs felt on day 2 (after the mountain). I wasn't moving super fast, but still had something left to kick up a few little hills and felt like I could've ridden further if I needed or wanted to. After 125 miles in 2 days, I was so tempted to stay and finish out the 85 mile skyline ride with them on Friday, but I decided to stick to the plan. So after a quick shower, I headed south on I81 to Staunton, VA where I camped for the night and would begin my hiking adventure in the morning.

Day 4 - Friday 9/25 Crabtree Falls & Apple Orchard Falls

I woke at 6am to break camp, make oatmeal and get on the road. My first hike was about a 30 minute drive away according to GPS. It's a good thing I actually printed my entire trips directions out before I left because for most of the rest of my trip I had no cell phone signal to use my maps. Hike #1 for the day was Crabtree Falls. It was 1.7 miles up and out to the top of the falls and then back. It was raining the entire way. The hike ended at the top of the falls. It was a bit foggy, so it was hard to see much beyond the falls. I met a man on the trail who was out hunting bears with his dogs. While everyone knows I love dogs, I'm not sure how I would have felt meeting 7 hunting dogs on the trail chasing a bear up a tree. However when I got back to my car 3 dogs came out of the woods, they must have gotten separated from their pack. They were super friendly and sweet. I gave them quick pets before they trotted off to find their pack. I allotted myself 30 minutes per mile while hiking. I figured I would need to take it a bit slower than usual, because I was hiking alone and had no idea if there would be anyone else out on these trails. And other than the hunter, there was only one other couple out there. 

Next I drove just over an hour to hike #2, Apple Orchard Falls.

This hike was longer and encompassed both a connector trail and a second trail to complete the loop for a total of 5.5 miles. The first half of the trail was really cool. It followed the waterfall all the way to the top. There were some stairs on the steepest parts of the trail and a few cool overlooks built as well. This was a really well maintained and easy to follow trail. I saw absolutely no one on this trail while I was out there for about 2.5 hours. After getting back to the car and following my printed out directions, I was on the road again for a 3.5 hour trip to the next campsite in Bristol, TN. It was still sprinkling and was supposed to rain again that evening, so I grabbed a cabin instead of a tent. I made dinner on the camp stove, sat by my fire for about an hour before heading to bed early. Good move with the cabin as it POURED that night.

Day 5 - Saturday 9/26

I was really slow to get moving this morning. I was a bit sore and really tired. I considered for a moment bailing on the last hike, but knew I would regret it. This one was supposed to be really cool. Plus, it wasn't very long or steep so I decided to go for it. Hike #3 was The Devils Bathtub. This trail could either be a 4 mile out and back or a 7 mile loop. I opted for the shorter option, knowing I still had a 3.5 hour drive to Chattanooga that afternoon. This trail was really neat, with 10 stream crossing on the way out to the swimming hole & bathtub. There were 2 folks heading out right before me from the parking lot, but on the way out, I didn't see anyone else until I reached the swimming hole. When I arrived a man was swimming in his red underwear. I chuckled a bit, as he apologized and his son looked embarrassed. The swimming hole and waterfall were incredible.

The Devils Bathtub

Crystal clear water and gorgeous rock formations. If you continue up the trail a few hundred feet you reach The Devils Bathtub. It's a pool in the oval shape of a bathtub that's deep and clear and super cold! I stuck my feet in, but completely forgot to pack my swimming stuff. But probably a better idea to not swim alone in the middle of the woods anyway. As I was heading back down the trail I ran into 3-4 more families as they were heading up. I enjoyed a crunchy peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the car and continued south to Chattanooga. I'm not sure why but PBJ's just taste so much better after a hike! I arrived at the campsite around 3pm, got set up in the rain, got a shower and then headed to dinner with Mary, Lisa, Jackie & their significant others before their big day. I'm glad I put up the 10x10 canopy over my small tent, because it rained ALL NIGHT LONG. But better to let it rain Saturday, instead of Sunday when everyone was racing.

Day 6 - Sunday 9/27

Ready to cheer!

I was up EARLY to get into Chattanooga for race morning! "Flat Mary" and I arrived at 6:30am and had no problems getting into town, finding parking and walking down to the swim exit. We staked out a spot on the hill heading up to transition and waited for Mary and our MMTC athletes to emerge from the Tennessee river! The current was pretty great and everyone had super fast swim times, which gave them a bit more cushion for the bike which is 116 miles instead of 112 AND because they also started at 7:30! Once we saw everyone off on the bike, "Flat Mary" went to nap in the car while Dave, Jayde's daughter and I went for brunch! 

By the time we ate, it was time to report to our volunteer duty in the T2 tent at noon. T2 is an interesting place. People are so happy to be off the bike, but now the exhaustion is really setting in. Some folks are happy and excited, others are tired and defeated. As volunteers we try to encourage, assist and just get people out the door if we can.

Heading into T2

I spotted Mary's helmet from across the transition area! I was so excited to see a smile on her face! I KNEW at that moment she was going to crush it, although I'll be honest, I never really had any doubts. She headed out onto the run, looking strong and ready for a marathon! After our shift ended, Dave and I grabbed some food I had pizza in the tent, he got a sandwich box. We decided we wanted to go for a run, but I didn't have a clean sports bra, so over to the IM gear tent I went to buy one. But first, we both needed to recharge, both our bodies and our phones so we headed to our cars for an hour to relax. I think I fell asleep for about 30 minutes and it was glorious! I got up, put on my running shoes, packed my hiking pack and met Dave for our run. We decided to run the course backwards and look for his friend Jayde who was having a rough day. We found her around mile 11 and knew she was EXTREMELY close to the half cut off. So Dave, Jayde's daughter and myself tried to will her to get to the mid-point before the cut off. Unfortunately she did not make it, but after a trip to the med tent and 2 units of fluids, it was probably a blessing in disguise.

Mary You Are An IRONMAN

I checked the tracker and knew Mary was moving right along, so I looked at the maps (by the way the IMCHOO run course is really confusing in the dark) and realized I could cut Mary off at mile 21 on the Veterans Memorial Bridge. So I ran up the on ramp the wrong way (it was closed) and waited for her, in the pitch dark in the middle of the bridge. When she arrived she looked AWESOME again! I ran with her to the bottom of the bridge around mile 22 and then cut off to head to the finish. "I'll see you again when you're an Ironman!!!" Then I caught up with Pat and George MacNabb. Pat had just raced Augusta 70.3 that morning, won her age group, crushed a 29 minute PR and qualified for Worlds in Australia. Now she and George had arrived in Chattanooga to cheer on Mary. Those are some pretty incredible friends, I'd say! Pat went out to find Mary in the last mile and George and I parked on the fence right before the finish. Second only to your own Ironman finish, there is nothing like watching your friends cross that line for the first time. Mary danced her way to being an Ironman and it was incredible!

Day 7, 8, 9 - September 28-30
I'm combining these days because they're not that exciting. I broke camp, packed everything up and met Mary and her hubby for lunch. Then I made the drive to Asheville, NC for a work meeting and spent the night. Next day work meetings in Radford, VA and Christiansburg, VA then an overnight another meeting and a drive home, which included a quick pit stop ride on Skyline Drive. My plan was to ride 30 miles, but the fog was really thick and my front light battery died, so I cut it short at 15 right as it started to pour. It took me almost six hours to drive home after getting lost coming off Skyline drive, but I was happy to be home.

Continue scrolling for all the photos!

Race Report: Escape the Cape

Billy & Aniya NJ bound!

Last year after IMLP I vowed to not sign up for anything "crazy". However, I think my definition of crazy at that point in time, consisted of requiring a lot of training. I didn't think about crazy meaning, jumping out of a perfectly sound and stable ferry! A member of our club grew up in Cape May, NJ and posted a very inspirational race report. She chronicled not only the massive amounts of fun she had, but also a very personal journey of her own. So the buzz started and several other MMTC folks decided to sign up for 2015! Delmo Sports must have a sick sense of humor (for several reasons I'll outline throughout) because they opened registration at midnight on  November 1st. Anyone who knows me or triathletes in general understands that's a solid 2 hours, if not more, past bed time. Anyway, myself and a few crazy friends stayed awake and signed up. An expensive race, but I decided a sprint would be FUN! Fast forward 8 months and here we are!

Seeing as I had raced a half distance in May and had started with my coach a few weeks prior, I wasn't worried about the race distances or the course. I was however, TERRIFIED of jumping off the boat! I was the kid that stood at the top of the high dive all damn day long before finally jumping off, ONCE in her entire life. I LOVE heights, but if I get in my head, I'm done for. So for a few weeks leading up to the race I was trying to come up with a mental game plan for when my feet hit the edge of that boat.

Also, my niece Aniya decided she wanted to come to Baltimore a week earlier than her scheduled trip. So this meant she'd be able to come see me race! I was super excited, but I also had to figure out logistics of bringing an 8 year old to a race. For someone without kids, it's much more work than you think! The last triathlon Aniya attended was actually my VERY first triathlon in Myrtle Beach in 2011. 

Pre-Race:

Aniya and I arrived in Cape May on Saturday around 1pm. It took us about 3 hours and we didn't hit very much traffic at all. We stopped at our campsite, got the tent set up along with the rest of our gear and then headed over to the race site. This race is more logistically challenging than most because you are not allowed to park at the actual terminal. 

Our campsite

However, I was carrying the "golden ticket" aka the MMTC tent! So I was able to drive up, drop the tent, my bike and Aniya with Lisa and Rebecca and then head out of the terminal to park. I was lucky that I found a parking spot near the beach, instead of having to go to the shuttle parking lot about a mile away. I walked back to the ferry terminal and then went to packet pick up. Pick up was super quick and there was no line at all. Then I went to rack my bike, here comes another "I don't have kids and didn't know" moment! :) I needed to rack my bike, but Aniya was not allowed in transition, no big deal except I was completely alone at that point. The volunteers looked at me, looked at each other (2 guys in their 20's) and said, "She can sit on our cart & wait until you come back". Lucky for me Aniya fine with that & hung out while I racked, I also think the Kona ice she had in hand helped. Packet picked up, bike racked now back to the campsite.

Bodymarking by Aniya

Our campsite was only about 2 miles from the race, which was super convenient. We headed back and went straight to the pool so Aniya could swim. I sat in the shade and tried to not get burnt to a crisp the day before the race. It was HOT already and if that was any indication, tomorrow was going to be a scorcher!

Campfire dinner of hot dogs and chicken flavored 90 second rice and dessert of s'mores was done by 8:30pm. I was taking a bit of a gamble with the pre-race nutrition, but decided it was a sprint and I wasn't going to stress about it. Susan stopped by to say hello and we chatted with our neighbor, Dave a member of the DC Tri Club, for awhile before turning in.

Delmo stated that they wouldn't have body marking, so Aniya was super excited to write on me with a marker. She needs some practice with her body marking skills, but it's ok. It made me laugh whenever I looked at my arms. 

4am wake up and I'm in the bathrooms getting dressed and I hear the rain, a torrential downpour. 

Aniya waiting out the
rain at 4:15am

It NEVER fails to rain when I'm camping before a race. I waited a few moments for it to ease up and then headed back to the tent. Our water was boiling on our camp stove for oatmeal so I turned it off to let the pot cool so I could pour it and woke Aniya up. Surprising she was up & ready to get dressed in no time, then the rain started again. It was hard and then the thunder and lightening started. Good thing I packed 2 ponchos in the tent, we waited for a lull then made a run for it. Unfortunately our oatmeal water got rained on so I ate cold soupy oatmeal and Aniya ended up eating uncrustables for breakfast! Headed the 0.4miles to the shuttle parking lot and looked like complete goobers in our ponchos but we were dry!


We hung out at the MMTC tent until it was time to board the ferry. We're all standing around chatting and listening to the thunder and rain and checking our weather apps. It looked like it was going to pass, so we waited. They called for us to start boarding and we headed on to the ferry. We ended up starting an hour late, but the weather was breaking. We all waved to everyone at the tent, someone sang the national anthem, then they played the jaws song & we were off!

Ready to Race!

Jump/Swim: 11:32 AG 12/39 (photo coming soon!!!)
The atmosphere on the ferry was so much fun! It was great to hang and chat with everyone and then huddle together as everyone pushed forward and off the front of the ferry. I was nervous, I couldn't stop moving my feet. I was thinking of all the crazy poses I wanted to do off the front of the boat so that I could find my photo later. I even put my swim cap on sideways, with the Escape the Cape logo on the front, just in case. Before I knew it I was next in line and all of those pose thoughts went straight off the boat with me. Steve (RD) was on my side of the boat, tapped my arm and said it's your time. I stepped up to the yellow paint, they started counting 1, 2...pretty sure there was a 3 in there, but as soon as my toes hit that yellow paint I was off the boat. I have NO idea how it happened, it was certainly not a conscious decision to "jump", it was pure reaction. As soon as my feet left that boat, my heart soared, the shot of adrenaline as you're falling was unlike anything else. I didn't even think to plug my nose, grab my goggles or anything until the very last moment. I was able to get both hands on my goggles before I hit the water and just blew out my nose and hoped for the best. I was surprised (maybe just oblivious) that I didn't go as deep as I thought I would. Popped up to the top of the water, thought, "oh yeah it's salt water" & then got the heck out of the way!

The sun was strong at this point and to my left, so between that and my racing heart I could only breathe to the right. The current was strong, but it was hard to tell, until you looked at your swim times! I got a pretty good line going based on the left hand buoys and just pushed it. My goggles were filling with about a half inch of water ,but after 3 failed attempts to fix them I just ignored it. Once I got closer to the shore, my angle changed so I switched to breathing on the left and gave my other arm a break. I swam until my fingers hit sand, which meant I was swimming by several people walking but that's alright I was still moving faster!

T1/aka The Picnic: 5:06
Ok, it wasn't really a picnic, it was a REALLY long way from the beach, through 2 parking lots, across the grass field and then into transition. The fastest transition (also by the 1st place overall female) was 3:22, so I'm sure I could have hustled a little more but it's not as bad as it looks!

Bike: 38:16 AG 4/39
The course was FLAT! You just had to go over & back across one bridge which wasn't so bad. I'd say it's "fast" but I put that in quotes for a reason. There were quite a few sharp turns on this course, coupled with two way bike traffic on 2 lane roads made for a congested bike course. There were also so many riders not following the rules of the road; riding in the middle of the lane, riding 2 across and chatting along. I try my hardest to signal a pass and be very nice about it, but there were a few times I had to yell a bit because people just pulled out in front of me as I was making a pass. I was constantly riding the brakes and eyeballing everyone else on the course. But when I could get an open stretch I pushed as hard as I could, it was 12.5 miles after all, better leave it all out there. LOVED being able to see so many MMTC'ers out on the course. Saw Lisa first & gave her a big yell. Then Keely who I yelled, "You've got a wicked sand mustache girl!" I hoped she heard me, but later she told me for some reason she thought I meant sand on her back? I'm not sure what kind of mustache is on your back?! LOL Dan passed me when I was about 2 miles from my finish & I saw poor Beth changing what I'm assuming was her first flat about a mile from the ferry terminal.

T2: 1:45
Now that's a bit better. Not much to say here. Got my stuff on and headed out. Thanks to Ben (I think) for helping show Aniya where to stand to see me head off on the run! I saw her right as I came out of transition and gave her a big sweaty hug! She said later, "wow you were super sweaty".

Run: 29:44 AG 15/39
Uuuugghh...so two things here. One Delmo has a sick sense of humor here. They make you climb out on the the beach over the sand dunes then run down the beach twice in this 5K. Second, I clearly need to work on my run. It was flat and HOT with no shade. The sand runs felt like you were running in an oven. So I ran half the sand sections and you were forced to walk up the dunes, then got back to the road and just pushed with whatever my legs had left. As I was heading out onto the run Lisa came by on the bike & then Keely! Got a nice moving high five from Keely & she was looking good. I'm hoping this was prior to her puking, as I'm not sure how clean that hand really was?! Kidding!  Apparently all the fast ladies in my AG must have started at the front of the boat because I didn't see any of them, a few fast 40+ women blew buy & several guys, but overall I was passing a few people on the run, which doesn't happen often & may have contributed to my false sense of feeling like I was running "fast".

Overall: 1:26:21 AG 8/39 (top 2 in my AG placed overall so I guess that means 8th?)
My goal was just to go "hard". I didn't wear a watch, and I had no idea what my paces were until I was done, so it was a good "test" based on my effort level and the heat. LOVED the adrenaline and the atmosphere of this race. HATED the heat, but weather isn't something you can control. Logistics are a bit challenging as you have to ride your bike to the terminal and then ride back to your car after the race because you can't take it on the shuttle. Aniya said she wants to jump off the boat, wants to do a triathlon, but doesn't want to swim..........classic! 

Beer & a medal!

& we're DONE! 

FINISHED!