Legs felt heavy right away, "oh crap" I thought, this is going to be a LOOOOONG day. I decided to hammer regardless and told my legs to "SHUT-UP!" a-la Jens Voigt. The course was fast at points, but numerous turnarounds, some deceptive false flats and small rollers and a dropped bag full of Pit Stop and a $100 tubular slowed my pace a bit. I expected more from myself on this bike course, but felt like I gave it all I could on the day. At least the legs finally came around at the 2hr mark. I came in off the bike in 4th with some strong runners right behind me, two of which were in my age group.
Breaking the run up into 30 min segments helped me to keep focused for most of the run. There were two out and backs (hills might I add) that we had to do twice - brutal. Each time though I would see the only other woman wearing a Betty Designs kit and we would each yell out, "good job Betty!". I also got a compliment on my hat from the woman running in first place. My fashion choices seemed to be making up for the lack of ANYTHING in my legs. I felt pretty good during the run, the legs weren't too bad, just a bit heavy. I tried to pick up the pace a few times, but my brain said no and my legs listened. I decided to just gut it out and not let any other women in my age group pass me. I kept my eye on the one that was 100m ahead and never let her get any further. I had no idea where I was in the placing, but figured if I learned anything from this race it should be how to fight to the bitter end. I waited until the last 2km that was on a trail around the lake. I reeled the chick in and as Jeff has told me numerous times, I waited for a section where she was slowing and I could hammer by; on a downhill is where she slowed for some reason, so I went! S*&#! I thought, too early! There is still 1.5km to go, but I told my brain to STFU and let my legs go and just ran as fast as I could for the final km. I looked behind a few times and there was no one there, but I couldn't let up just in case. I crossed the line in a pathetic time of 5:25 (yes time is relative to each person, it's a good time, but not for me at this point in the season) and had no idea what my placing was and didn't care - just get me a beer people!
After a quick dunk in the lake to refresh it was off to the beer and food tent. One thing is for sure, AA Sports does this event RIGHT! Each competitor got two free beers, a huge plate of food (salad, fruits, rice, pulled pork and even strawberry shortcake with whip cream!), a giant medal and a nice finisher shirt. As I crammed the shortcake down my gullet and enjoyed the beer Jeff milled around the results table waiting to find out his placing. Turns out he biked and ran his way into 5th overall and 2nd in his age group with a 4:48!! While my time wasn't as stellar, our placings were pretty much the same so we collected our hardware and headed home all the while already planning to come back next year :)
