Dudes. This was probably one of the most fun races I have done. Ever. No seriously, I had a total blast and followed it up with a great day. It was one of those days I didn’t want to end. Sadly, this post is gonna be long as shit because of that. Fair warning.
The night before the race (Friday) I left a key under the mat for Spike and Red. I was so excited they were coming to visit but I knew I needed to get some sleep as they’d be getting in after my bed time. Yeah, so that could have been any time after 7 PM. Heh.
Anyway, I woke up at O’dark thirty and headed to the race start. Once we arrived we met up with Aloha Kris, Navy Steve, Little J, Cay-See, Miss Mandy, Tiny Tish, Glen, and lo and behold, Chris-Brian who was racing! He had signed up secretly and had been training. He had his game face on.
Before you knew it we were all heading to the water and Red snapped some great photos!
Me and Red with our pre-race grins.
Me and Jessica from the Cuban Running Crisis. It was her first tri and she did GREAT! She swears she’ll have a new blog up soon…..
Before I begin the breakdown, the back story here (and the reason this post took so long) is that when they finally posted the results the times are all jacked up. They left a note saying “The timing device operating on one side of the transition exit failed hence there many missing transition times==we combined the time from the swim finish to the bike finish for the bike segment and the bike finish to the finish line for run time” and that they may be able to fix it but I don’t have time for all that. (I’ve only checked back 956 times.)
At first, I was cheesed off at this, but you know technology just doesn’t work sometimes. It stinks that I can’t get a real accurate time for my splits but I’ll work with what I’ve got.
THE SWIM (440 Yards)
That’s my new favorite spot to line up. Front row, inside.
Before I knew it we were off and swimming. I felt good. No, I felt great. I was cruising and only got slowed up when I ran into the pack of yellow-capped dudes from the wave in front of mine. I was frustrated because I was having a hard time getting around them and didn’t want to swim too far off course, so I just kept it moving.
As I got out of the water I looked at my watch and saw 7:52. Hot damn! I ran/jogged toward transition and what did I see? My amazing friends wearing the KOM shirts! For those of you on Facebook, you’ll know that I’ve been obsessed with the polka jersey worn by the King of the Mountain during the Tour de France. It’s really all I was talking about and I kept saying I wanted one.
It was so awesome. Red put hers on later and it was like a dress on her, tiny thing that she is.
Final Swim time: 8:12 (6th in AG)
THE BIKE (10 miles)
What can I say here? I biked. I didn’t love it and tried my best. Some super fast people blew my doors off while I in turn passed a few on beach cruisers and mountain bikes. I tried my best to keep the pace up and not bust my butt as I unclipped slowly at transition. I’m still awkward. Heh.
Final Bike time (with T1 ): 35:28 (26th in AG)
THE RUN (5K)
Yay! The Run! Have I mentioned that I’m always so happy to see the run? Well, I am. Of course it’s always hot as balls but I feel much less goofy running than I do on the bike. I was also SO happy that it was a 5K left to go and then I was DONE!
Spike, Red, and the rest of the cheer squad was yelling their fool heads off and I was cracking up when Spike jumped in with me for a bit and ran alongside me in their polka dots totally like those crazies in Le Tour. It ruled.
(You can see their polka dots and sort of see my ankle as I’m right in front of the guy in the black shorts.)
This is my final sprint to the finish. I was hot but coming in strong and really had such a fun race day!
Final Run Time (with T2): 27:15 (no ranking listed, ugh.)
Overall Finish Time: 1:10:55 (13th out of 67 AG)
Post finish smile!
I’m super happy that I exceeded my goal time of 1:15 AND had a twelve minute PR. You really can’t beat that! Plus I had so much support from friends and got to see two first time triathletes kick butt! CONGRATS GUYS!
I was so sad to see Spike and Red leave. I seriously LOVE these two people and can’t imagine my life without them. THANK YOU both so much for coming out and filling me in your jam packed weekend. I finished out my Saturday with some home-made chicken and dumplings and went to sleep smiling.
Shout out to Punk Rock Tri Guy! Best transition bag ever!
Me with my very own KOM shirt and GO BoB sign made by Red. Oh and of course, Lloyd with his typical photo bomb.
Happy Tuesday!
Great job!
As a spectator, it just amazes me how crazy fast some of these people are on the bike.
YOu are so awesome! I mean that. Over the years you have truly blossomed as an athlete. My only regret is that I never get to see you do this in person!
THAT IS AWESOME! Love the polka dot shirts they made to cheer you on… the best cheeerleaders ever I would say 🙂
Karen @ working it out…
Excellent race report and hot damn, a 12 minute PR!!! That is sweet! LOVE those polka dot KOM T's. I think that you should now change your blog background to polka dots. What do you think? Is it Friday yet??
I'm with KC, time to switch up the background because clearly you are the KOM! 🙂 Love you Boo and so happy I got to be there to cheer you on!
it looks like Lloyd was taking a pee in the picture. Great job Beth!! (stange – I can all of a sudden make a comment from work!)
Congrats on an awesome race and a PR! If I had Spike and all his craziness cheering me on, I would have a smoking fast race if not only to disassociated myself with him. haha!
Congrats on a great race. Great PR and seriously next time SWIM RIGHT OVER THOSE GUYS. Tap on the feet and if they don't move then move them by going over the top of them…..c'mon BOB get aggressive….LOL!!!!!
Congrats on a great race and new PR. Cheers!
congrats!
Great job!!!! Seriously you are my tri hero….I just don't know I could do it!
ok, if i can't convince you to do an IM with me, how about a sprint? come visit, bring the polka dot peeps. and I NEED one of those bags!!
Maybe I missed this but where did you get your outfit, tops and bottoms. Looks cute and functional and perfect.
Great race!! You will learn to love the bike! Just keep repeating that over and over, and go ride with a group… How awesome you had your very own cheer squad!
Did you smile the entire weekend??? Great job KOM…….. HA
Congrats on a huge PR! Awesome job all-around.
CONGRATS on such a great race!! I'm so happy for you–that PR is amazing! And time with good friends can't be beat. 🙂
Congrats! Sounds like a great race, made even better by awesome spectators. 🙂
CONGRATS! What a great PR and cheering section to boot.
Congrats on a great race and PR! Those KOM shirts ROCK!!
lloyd looks like he's either taking a dump or doing that butt-wipe-drag-thing…
congrats on the pr! i'm surprised you were able to fall asleep knowing red was on her way 🙂 glad you had a fun weekend and got you kom shirt!
WOW a 12 min PR Chile you is keepin it 100! Nice race and Congrats on your placement as well as an outstanding PR!
Congrats Speedy! Wow, I didn't realize you shaved 12mins. off last year's time, that's fantastic! I think you are going to kick some serious butt for your teammates in Augusta next month. Wait, next month?! Holy shit. I better hit the treadmill. HARD! Hi Lloyd! He is SO cute. What a little cuddle monster.
OUTSTANDING JOB! You can see what happens when you train and keep progressing. My prediction? You podium next year at this time.
Awesome job, as usual! Wish I'd been there!
Congrats again lady you did sooo amazing! And I promise to have a post up very soon maybe even today. 🙂
Great job, dearie! Way to rock that PR! I think polka dots are your new good luck charm.