The more I race the less & less ingest those panic butterflies & anxiety pre race. Especially in this case when I'm training for a much longer race. I was nervous about not knowing the course at all. I have to admit the swim course looked SO LONG! I kept reminding myself I had just swam a mile 2 days prior. I did not like not knowing the bike course & had heard there was some hills so I wanted to hurry up & get going. My wave was 11 I think the day prior to the race I had made a switch. Instead of racing in my age group I opted to move up 2 waves & race the Athena division. It's for women 160+ (although it may have been 150+ actually) either way I was at 161 so I qualified. I knew that it was a smaller division (4 actually) & my odds were good I could place.
I took off on the swim & while I knew I was at the back of the pack I was in the wave with men, women & military & I felt good that I kept a pretty straight line & constant pace.
Once out of the water I was ready to tackle the unknown bike course. I just followed the person in front of me! The first part of the course went right by my Sportfishing docks! Then we turned and went UP the hill to point loma. It was a slow grade & I was able to easily get up the hill (surprised myself) once at the top & on the base where Cabrillo monument was that where I discovered the rolling hills I had heard about. It was a loop at the top of point loma you had to go through twice. The first loop it was dread for the second time having to do the rolling hills & the second time it was joy knowing I'd soon be headed down hill! Knowing there was a chance to place in the race kept me pushing myself the whole time on the bike. I got back to transition & wasted probably a whole minute staring at the racks not able to find my spot!!!! Such a bummer! I got changed into my run stuff & decided to run with my fuel belt that I will be using at Vineman. This was good cause it's race specific but definitely weighed me down. I knew I had passed a fell Athena on the bike & as i slowly ran I knew she would be gaining on me. I was sure staying ahead of her meant my 3rd place finish. After some run/walk run/walk moments she passed me! I thought oh no! & made my way in front of her & stayed there with all my strength. I wanted to walk so bad I was so hot & tired! I kept about a 30 foot gap between us. I was dumping water on me constantly trying to stay cool. I was sure I would get my usual burst of strength in order to power through the last mile & sprint that last .2. I was wrong! I'm not sure if it is my change in nutrition & eating less carbs but I was completely out of steam when I hit the 6 mile mark! With .2 to go I had to stop :( the chick passed me with lots of steam & I thought girl you can have it! I managed to walk a short time & run SLOWLY into the finish. I got my medal walked over to a shady spot by the TNT booth & collapsed. I was so done. No way you could say I didn't give my all. I was so pooped. I saw vineman coach & said you should start worrying!
I laid there until I regained some strength & began to hunt for FOOD. Everywhere I looked was food I could not have! Chips, pretzels, red vines, smoothies, bars. I said I just need an orange! I was told there might be some at the finisher tent. I walked up all i saw was bagels, bananas, cornbread etc. I just want an orange!!!! Then there they were did I eat like 10 slices at least!!!!
I was waiting around for the awards just in case...when they announced the awards for Athena masters (age 40+) I realized the chick I was trying to beat was in that division NOT MINE! They only announced one finisher in the Athena division?! I went over to the timing people and asked if they had more results for my division. They did & my name was listed 2nd out of 3! I did it! I was 2nd place! After the results were posted online I saw there was 4 women in my division. Being 2 of 2 was fine & 2 of 3 ok but legitimately making the podium by going faster then 2 people.
It was an awesome feeling wearing 2 medals. I was very proud & honestly now I want THAT feeling again now.
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