A few days before the race, the RD announced that the swim was cancelled because the Delaware River was still at flood stage. I was pretty upset... until I actually saw it for myself. It was flowing so fast there was no way I could have swam against the current. I convinced myself a 69.1 was going to be just as much fun as a 70.3.
 |
| I didn't want to swim here. |
The Bike
This was a two transition race and T1 (now the race start) was in a small park with little parking and the only access being the closed roads of the bike course. Because of that, they bused athletes to T1 and didn't allow any spectators. That meant that lucky Jimmy got to drop me off at the bus and go back to the hotel to sleep for a few hours. I'm used to having my sherpa with me so I felt a little lost until I made friends with the cool kids on the bus.
Because there was no swim, we had a time trial bike start. They sent athletes off at 3 second intervals in order of number... and since I was number 1361, I had quite a while to wait. At one point I realized that I was the last chick in line to start (the only downside of being Annie Z). That meant that I was already behind all of the women on the course at the start! To make it worse, I had 700 men behind me and I think they were all 25-35 AGers, so they would be passing me for sure. If you haven't figured out, I'm still slow (but getting faster...) and I HATE being last. Fortunately, it didn't last long.
I had driven this course several months ago and I knew it would be tough. There are no really long climbs, but a ton of short steep ones that add up to ~3900 ft of climbing. And when I say steep, I mean STEEEEEEEP. There was a hill in the first 10 miles that more than half of the people walked up. I was able to make it up (thanks to stronglikebulltraining.com) and passed at least 20 people on that hill alone. There were 3 or 4 hills that people walked. I ended up having to walk one, not because I didn't have the strength but because my tires had no traction on the wet, leaf-covered pavement. With every pedal stroke, my rear wheel would spin and I wouldn't move forward at all. Even off the bike, my feet were sliding backwards when I was trying to walk up. I just laughed at myself.
Overall, the bike went well. I felt strong, had fun, and finished only 10 minutes slower than Rev3 Portland which was completely flat. Definitely a sign that I'm getting better on the bike. All of those long Sunday rides with Jimmy to Green Lane are really paying off.
Bike time: 03:46:09
 |
| Thrilled to be waiting. It was c-c-c-c-cold. |
 |
| Shut up legs. |
 |
| Oh, look at that. Another hill. |
By the time I rolled into T2, I was ready to be off my bike. My legs were shot but running felt surprisingly good. Quick bathroom stop and I was off on the run.
T2 time: 04:24
The Run
As I was leaving transition, a volunteer yelled "Hey, there's a party 13 miles that way! You should check it out!" That's exactly what I needed to beer (uh, I mean hear). The finish line party was combined with the local Octoberfest so to say I was looking forward to it was an understatement. I saw Jimmy in the first mile, blew him kisses, then headed off happy as hell to be racing.
The course profile they posted made the run look relatively flat, but that wasn't the case... hills, hills, hilly hills. Other than a few minutes of a sketchy stomach, I felt great. I made a deal with myself that I could walk the aid stations if I needed to, but I wasn't allowed to walk a single step other than that, even on the steepest hills.
As I came back into town, I could hear the finish line party. Then I saw all of the people... hundreds, maybe even thousands of them lining the streets for the last mile. In Portland, it had been deserted, but this time I was surrounded by spectators, there were other athletes running with me, and I wasn't even close to being last. I had goosebumps, I couldn't stop smiling and I think I even teared up for a second. It was awesome. I am so addicted to this crazy sport.
Even with the hills and destroyed legs from the bike, I ran this half marathon over 3 minutes faster than Portland.
Run time: 02:27:54
Total time: 06:18:27
 |
| Wrapped in foil, as happy as can be. |
No comments:
Post a Comment