Short distance- 1.64 mile run, 14.44 mile bike, 3.79 mile run.
And long distance- 5.12 mile run, 28.88 mile bike, and a 3.79 mile run.
I didn't think the short distance was a big deal and I wanted to challenge myself so I chose the long distance. Joining me was my awesome support team of friends and family as relay teams. Cousin and husband were a team. (She ran, he cycled) And VK Sista' and cousin's brother were a team. (He ran, she cycled) This way I had two people to run with and two people to cycle with. And they also had each other to hang out with during the waits.
I was really nervous since I was the only one out of our group that was doing the whole thing solo. VK Sista' and I even drove the routes the evening before. Husband and I were sitting in the car people-watching before the race. There were a lot of really athletic professional-looking badass people there with super expensive tri bikes. Seeing all of these people made me even more nervous. There were very few people that I would consider in my league. I was there in my bike pants and compression sleeves, these people had real Tri kits. The last time I did one of these racing series (BuDu Racing) was the Bonney Lake Triathlon and there were people of all sorts of shapes, sizes, and bikes. I chose the short distance at that event and came in 4th in my age group.
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| It was chilly when we started. Here's me, cousin's brother, and cousin at the start line |
The long distance run started at 8:00am and the short distance started at 8:05am. We started out at the back of the pack... and stayed there. We never passed anyone and even though we were keeping a pretty good pace (10 and 11 minute miles), the rest of the group were getting further and further ahead. After a couple miles, we couldn't see anyone ahead of us anymore. I was thinking that I'm sure that most of the short distance runners finished their 1.64 run long ago, and we're last in the long run so I bet husband and VK Sista' were the only ones still standing there in the transition area with their bikes. We hit some hills and walked a little bit, and I ate some energy blocks, and I felt pretty good. As we rounded the last corner, we saw runners coming back out. We were like, OMG. They finished the run, already did the bike, and they're heading out for run #2 already!? I passed a guy looking like he was about to die and I said, "Please tell me you did the short course!" He smiled but didn't answer me. Oh man, I am in way over my head here.
We came into the finish line and I said, "Last of the pack here!" to the guy who puts on the race. And he said, "That's ok! Make up for it on the bike!" I said, "That's my plan!" I was telling Cousin and her brother that this is what happened at the triathlon. I wasn't a great swimmer but I passed a ton of people and made up for it on the bike.
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| Here we are finishing run #1 |
Back in the transition area, I put my helmet and gloves on and unwrapped a fres bar while the relay teams swapped out their timing chips. Then we were off on the bikes! A bee flew into husband's helmet and stung him on the forehead less than a mile down the street. I thought, "Better him than me!" I was still out of breath from the run and I was trying to eat on my bike to make sure I kept myself fueled. My legs were burning. It really is amazing that you use completely different muscles to run and cycle. We were keeping a pretty good pace when I finished my fres bar, right around 20mph. ….Then we basically climbed a mountain. Mud Mountain Road was a never-ending hill. VK Sista' and Husband kept getting further and further ahead of me while I just peddled and peddled slowly up the hill while the guys on their expensive tri bikes and their weird space-age looking helmets kept zooming by on their second laps. I kept thinking, "Why did I choose the long distance? I bit off so much more than I can chew! I can't be a Vanderkitten VIP and come in dead last. This isn't fun. I thought I'd at least pass one slow cyclist by now. I don't want to cycle or run ever again." Lots of negative thoughts going up that hill alone. I wanted to just stop, sit down in the grass, and cry.
I heard music up ahead and when I turned the next corner I saw some race photographers there cheering people on, taking photos, and blasting their music from their car. He said, "You're almost there! You're doing great!" I said, "Now is not the time for pictures. I'm not almost there. I still have to do this all over again. I'm still on my first lap. I'm pretty sure I'm in last place." He said, "You're out here, and you're doing better than everyone who hasn't even gotten out of bed yet!" And he gave me a high-five as I passed him. That gave me a tiny bit of hope.
VK Sista' and Husband were still nowhere to be seen. I figured they would have stopped for me somewhere by now. It's not like if they zoomed off and finished before me, that cousin and her brother would head out on the last run without me. I was getting angry and frustrated being alone. The half marathons I've done with cousin and her brother, they're amazing and it doesn't matter how slow I was, they waited for me, and vice versa. This hill was the worst thing ever. I decided then and there that I was going to quit. That I didn't care if I finished. I was going to head back to the finish area, throw my stupid bike on the ground, put my jacket on (I was freezing), and lay in the grass. That was my plan.
Another elite guy cycled passed me and was zooming slightly slower than the rest of them and said, "You're doing a great job!" I said, "Thanks. I take it this is your second lap? I still have another one to go!" And he said, "But you're doing it!" I was in a slightly better mood when I came up to the top of the hill and I finally saw VK Sista' and Husband stopped waiting for me near some race volunteers. I called them assholes for not waiting for me. I said that runners always wait, and cycling sucks. I said I was quitting. I was cold, miserable, my tri top kept riding up and driving me crazy, I was tired, last place, and completely discouraged. And even though I just made it to the top, and I knew it was all down hill from here...that didn't make it any better in my mind. It scares me to go downhill… especially when I knew we'd be going on busy Hwy 410.
We rode a couple miles together and when we started the decent, they zoomed off again. It terrifies me to go that fast downhill. A few other elite athletes zoomed by me too. VK Sista' and Husband waited at the bottom of mud mountain and the route flattened out again. The shoulder was really narrow and bumpy, and cars seemed really close to me. There was a giant opossum we had to go around. Eww. I did not want to do this ride all over again. I wanted to get the whole ride done in less than 2 hours and it had already been an hour and 10 minutes. I was thinking about cousin and her brother standing around getting really tight and cold.
We approached the turn off for the transition area and there were race volunteers yelling, "Finish left, second lap straight ahead!" I wanted to turn left. I can't tell you how much I wanted to turn left. But I looked at my husband and he said, "It's up to you." Ugh. So I kept going straight and the race volunteers cheered for us. I must be out of my mind.
As we were heading down the flat part of the route again, there was a motorcycle that came up behind us and got over into the oncoming lane to pass us (so we thought) but they just stayed there for a long time pacing us. We slowed down and started talking to each other, "What are they doing over there? Why don't they go around?" VK Sista' kept trying to wave them on. Then we saw the woman on the back had a clipboard wrote something down, and they zoomed off. Were they race officials? What was that all about? Turns out we were penalized 2 minutes for drafting. HA! Me? Drafting? I haven't drafted since husband broke his thumb over a year ago. I pull myself where ever I go. I pulled myself 204 miles to Portland. I do not draft. That's just ridiculous. Yeah, let's dock 2 minutes from the girl in last place because we were "too close" to each other, going super slow trying to get your dumb race officials out of the wrong lane of traffic. USAT can bite me.
A little further down the road, two big dogs came booking out of someone's yard and chased me. I ended up running my bike into the gravel and had to stop and yell at them to "GO HOME!" I was shaking and feeling like I should have quit again.
We stopped and had a rehydrate gel a couple miles from the hill. Oh man, here we go again. I asked my husband to stay with me. I told him that it's really discouraging watching them peddle away and I can't catch up and I just feel like stopping. He said he'd stick with me. Going up the hill the second time was a little easier. I'm not sure if it's because I had someone to chat with, or because I knew I didn't have to do it again. The photographers were gone but when we got to the top, the same volunteers were still there. They cheered and said, "Yay! We knew you'd be back!" We stopped to drink some water and catch our breath and I asked if this race had a time limit. They said no. I knew they were going to start giving away prizes at 11am according to their website "when most of the racers have completed". It was 11am. 3 hours into the race now.
I stopped on the side of the road a little way down and found a spot behind some bushes to pee. For the amount of money we paid for this stupid race, there should have been a porta-potty at the top of that hill. Then we started the descent again, it flattened out, and we passed the road kill for the second time. When we got back, there was no volunteers there to tell us to turn left to finish. There was some runners coming in but we were definitely the last to come in on a bike. The announcers were giving out raffle prizes and everyone had medals. I found cousin and her brother and she said that the route closes at noon. She said they told her that since we wouldn't make it back by then, we didn't have to finish the last run, and that we'd still get our medals. My heart sank. They weren't going to let me finish? She said they said we could do it on our own if we wanted, but the course would close before we got back. Hmm. She said, "It's up to you." And there was my second chance to quit for the day. I said, "Let's go." I told my husband to collect medals for us if we didn't make it back before they cleaned up.
We passed some runners coming in as we were running out. One guy said, "Great job! The last run goes by really fast!" My first mile off the bike was an 11 minute mile. Then we slowed down a bit. I had a couple energy blocks but I was running out of fuel. Also, running in my bike pants was not a good idea. I really should have bought tri pants. The last 2 miles or so was spent running/walking from electrical pole to electrical pole with cousin cheering and jumping around. She has way too much energy. :) All of the race volunteers were gone from the water stops but the tables were still there with cups of water. Hooray. We turned the last corner and ran to the finish line… which was surprisingly still there! Everything else was torn down and there was only a handful of people there. I'm so grateful that they left the finish line arch and even the photographer waited for us to cross. We got a lot of cheers, a medal, and they took some food back out so we could have a bagel. We finished at 12:19pm. So it took me 4 hours and 19 minutes to complete the whole thing.
When I saw the race results online there were two men listed as DNF (Did Not Finish) and one woman listed as DQ (Disqualified) So, I'm last on the list of finishers, and I have a 2 minute penalty (still laughing about that) but I toughed it out and I finished. I still wonder what would have happened if I chose the short distance. I bet I would have at least finished in the middle of the pack somewhere. When racing in last place, it would have been so, so easy to quit. Especially when they said we'd get a medal whether we did the last run or not. But I didn't. I think this was my hardest race to get through mentally. I was just so negative and very hard on myself. I'm still not in the "Go me! I'm awesome! I did that!" mindset at all. I keep trying to think positive and be proud of the miles that I finished. Almost 9 miles on foot, and 29 miles on my bike in 4 hours and 19 minutes. That's an accomplishment. And I'm barely sore! I'm looking forward to next weekend. Saturday is the Fiesta 5K Ole where we'll be "Runnin' for 'Ritas" and Sunday is the Bike 'N Brew. Fun races that include margaritas and beer all weekend will be a much needed break after this race. And then the weekend after that is my Disney Half Marathon! Hopefully running and cycling will seem fun again soon.
Here's some finish line photos:
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| I love this photo. I made it my Facebook cover. "Kim's Support Team"- Cousin and Husband, Me, and "Team M&M"- Cousin's bro and VK Sista' |
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| VK Sista's!!! |
