Probably flat out, the most difficult race Ive ever done, in terms of I havent run in 7 weeks and the winds were blowing wicked style. The skies were typical March moodiness, sun breaking thru then seconds later absolute downpour, whipped up to a frenzy by S/SW winds. The winds were no joke, blowing the corral racks across the road and blowing Jeff 5 feet sideways on the bike up on Marine Drive, not for the faint of heart. Unless the winds are a tailwind, they are evil, today was no exception. My first 5k was fair, I was running 7:30-7:45 until the last 1/2 mile when those winds really whipped into form, as a side wind, trapped my hat off my head, put my head down and chugged to the finish. Hand off to Jeff Tedder on his Time Trial machine, he had to run 100 meters to the mount up zone, tricky in cycling shoes with slippery cleats as you most likely know. Off he went, I checked the time, 10:25, I figured I had 35-40 minutes to go change to a dry shirt and shoes and get back to transition. The winds kept blowing. The rains held off. My calves started to scream at me, and my hamstrings were playing a bit of trickery of their own, I was a little concerned I may go into full muscle seizure when I started the second 5K. I just kept moving and ignoring them and keeping my eyes open for Freight Train Tedder. In came the overall solo dude, mens team dude, a few other solo men and then Hammer Velo Cycling Team Kris Celtnieks, respect, they flew! The first overall woman, Janet, rolled in too, she is a silent beast!! I see Jeff make his stealthy and smooth turn to the transition, fire up my GPS watch and high 5 him to start my 2nd 5K of the morning. Im the first woman out of transition for the second 5K!! People are giving some great cheers, but Im on a team and humble as I know Janet will be reeling me (I do pick up my pace a bit to make her work for it for a couple hundred meters) in within the first mile, and she does. No worries we arent racing each other today. The second 5K flat out sucked, the winds were nuts and blowing me toward the river, nooooooooo!!!! ;-) but I just focus on who I see on the return run, all guys & Janet, less than 10 of them, yes I do feel good about being up there with them. I hit the turn around, thank the young ladies that are manning the water table and face the hoards coming up, vying for their best placing. I see one other woman that could possibly give me grief if I dont stay focused and steady with my pace, I glance at my distance, less than a mile. I just want to stop, my calves are not happy, the wind sucks, but it is a race. Ive only stopped twice in races over 20+ years, and I was wise to do so then, I was just suffering today and so ready to be done. I see the finish chute and dig deep, at least it is a little decline down to the chip mats and I. AM.DONE. A kiss from Jeff is the best prize at the finish line ever. And we claimed 1st place Mixed Team over 91, that is what we do as our ages increase, we race and we win. :-) Race Results arent posted online yet, but we should be right around 1hr 32 minutes... plus/minus a couple minutes.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 22:12:13 +0000
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