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| Billy & Aniya NJ bound! |
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:
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| Our campsite |
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| 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.
4am wake up and I'm in the bathrooms getting dressed and I hear the rain, a torrential downpour.
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| Aniya waiting out the rain at 4:15am |
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!
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| Ready to Race! |
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!
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| Beer & a medal! |
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| & we're DONE! |
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| FINISHED! |
