3:50am- Woke up and started the long day of hard work and determination. I am pretty routine race morning… Coffee, poop, breakfast, read and meditate on quote of the day, poop, get dressed, get last minute shit together (with this race not having day before gear check, that was kind of frightening), and head to race site with whatever music is fitting blaring.
Side Note- It was fitting that when we cut the car on Thunder by Imagine Dragons was playing. Little did we know how accurate that was going to be as our day played out.
5:05am- At race site preparing our transition and special needs drop off bags. Mom always wants an end spot on the rack, so we ALWAYS have to be there at the crack ass of dawn, luckily I secured her and I a spot on the end of a rack where we could take up as much room as we needed together and share things if we needed to.
By 5:45am, we were merely piddling around talking to people, looking at the water, and doing a lot of praying. From the time I woke up, I had already set in my mind that it was going to be a great day for me. I wasn’t fond of the forecasted winds, but everything else about the forecast predicted my PERFECT race day! There was rain forecasted for 1pm and late afternoon to evening, and I love to ride/run in the rain so I was excited to say the least. I knew that when I needed a boost the most, I was probably going to get rained on and that would boost my morale (I know, weirdo!). After looking at the water, I had convinced myself that the swim would be fast and fun and that the current/wind wasn’t as bad as it looked, I mean, it was supposed to be a “slack tide”.
6:30am- I find my Rev3 friends and that makes my whole morning even brighter! There is nothing like my Blue Family to boost my morale and make my confidence shoot through the roof!
6:50am- We are at the morning’s athlete briefing, excited, scared, and completely stoked for what the day was to hold! Key words I took away from the athlete’s meeting- “Keep all buoys on your left shoulder, the wind is going to push you away on the way out, and in on the way back, so swim left on the way out, and right on the way in.” SImple enough, with supposed very little current, that should be easy enough to follow.
6:57ish am- We are getting in the water, of course, I do a cannon ball because there is nothing more proper to do during a 140.6 dock jump! As we are all waiting for the literal cannon on a pirate ship to be set off by a man dressed as a literal captain, we all notice we are being pushed backwards at a pretty rapid rate…. This slack tide, isn’t so slack. There is no time to worry about it, we did get warned it would be a “little” bit a current out and a push back….
7:00am- Let this day begin! The cannon fires and all 140.6 athletes, 33 of us plus the full aquabikers, take off…. Very slowly… against peanut butter…. Being blown hard to the right. I evaluate my progress and don’t realize how slow it is but have already tapped into this will be my best day ever, so I’m not worried. The swim felt like an eternity… I never panicked or wanted to quit, it just felt like we were in the water forever. It was NOT an easy swim. I used a lot of energy to efficiently navigate the course and the occasional pockets of whirlpool I would get stuck in with no forward motion whatsoever, but I stayed content and consistent. This was my day and I was going to give every discipline my 110% despite the uncontrollables. Rounding the last turn buoy on the back side of the swim, I caught a terrible calf cramp and thought, :Oh shit, this could be BAD!” Thankfully, I literally shook it off and continued on my way cramp free. The last boat on the course was a fishing boat full of volunteers, when breathing I noticed she was filming, so I flipped over and gave her the thumbs up and a thank you, and went on the finish up the last bit of my swim.
8:41am- I rounded the last buoy and headed to the dock, I patiently, who am I kidding IMPATIENTLY, waited my turn to climb up and thought I might kiss the ground I was so happy to be land based again. As I come into T1 everyone is talking about the swim. As I just gather my bearings, I talk to everyone around me and we all agree the swim was shit (not the race directors fault, all mother nature based) and we are ready to crush this bike or at least just damn glad to be out of the water!
Swim time- 1 hour and 41 minutes - Average 2:10 per 100 yards….. 11 minutes slower than my goal, but I gave it my 110% and that’s all I could ask for.
T1- 5 minutes + the 300 yard walk to the mount line
8:47am- I mount Beastie and we head out to start our journey together. The wind predictions were consistent 15-20mph winds coming from the south west so I knew there would be some headwinds on the course. I had already mentally prepared myself to just take every road as it came, and do what I had to do to make it happen one little piece at a time. The first 2 miles were bridges, of course they were because why the hell wouldn’t they be?!, and according to my family, other than two guys, I was the speediest person up the bridge, though I felt as if I was moving like a snail because the bridges headed straight into the south west winds. After the first 5 miles, I started to settle in. I was happy to be on my bike, I was happy to have the day that I was presented with, and I was content that 112 miles was a long time and I was just going to listen to my body 1 mile at a time. I took the tailwinds as they came, fought the crosswinds as needed, and used every morsel of tailwind opportunity.
About 35 miles in it began to rain, unlike most people, I was ecstatic and immediately began to sing! I thought to myself, most people’s days are probably falling apart and here I am falling into my favorite element! Until a few minutes later I saw the sharp streak of lightning in front of me, which was a little unsettling, a few moments later the first of three of the thunderstorms I went through on the bike began. It was bad.... I probably should have took cover.... I rode on even with the incredible sting of the humongous rain drops!
I stopped at mile 58 for my bike special needs. While other’s stayed on their bikes and quickly made their stops (damn aquabikers) I racked my bike and leisurely took my time refueling and resting. No need to rush, my day is still just beginning. My dad, step mom, and brother were there and that made for a nice distraction as I had been pretty lonely most of my day. I got what I needed and took off with my kettle cooked dill pickle potato chips in my hand.
It was still raining… yes I said STILL and continued to, with one thunderstorm included for about another hour. The long stretch on 101 was a little nerve racking. I got buzzed by a LOT of cars, but it was the only stretch that was scary was it was doable, not to mention it was definitely the fastest part of the course with me averaging over 18mph while on it all three times.
At mile 90 I stopped again and laid down on the ground o stretch. On really windy days, I suck a lot of wind, which gives me diaphragm cramps, I know, weird, but true! The only way to make them stop is to lay down and stretch and with a marathon still to go a five minute pit stop to stop the intense pain was worth it to me. As I laid down to stretch, I saw the lightning and heard the thunder of what would be thunderstorm number three; it seemed as though every time I hit 101 it was a trigger to send the rain.
The last 7-10 miles were pretty brutal…. Full on strong cross or head wind as another system was moving through, but I was all together really happy with my ride!
Bike Time- 6 hours and 37 minutes….. Average pave 17.0mph with stops included…. 7 minutes slower than I wanted, but again, I gave it my 110% and was happy with that speed on that day!
3:30 something-ish pm- I come in to T2 and here is where I don’t do so hot. I want a break. I want to spend my sweet ass time getting my life back together as I have a long evening ahead of me! I come into transition and rack my bike. I had placed my run stuff in a chair in the changing tent so my brain didn’t have to work and everything would be ready for me… SURPRISE! Big storm flipped all the chairs and rained inside the tent so my shit was everywhere and I poured water out of my shoes. Okay, no big deal, hell my feet have been wet for hours, what did it matter my shoes were a little wet. As I start getting myself together, another lady comes into the tent. She is moving faster than me but we are talking and I help her get her pack on and untwisted and she leaves to go on her way as I still leisurely take my time getting myself together. Another lady comes into the tent when I am finally beginning to meander my way out. Lisa and I talked briefly and I left T2 to head out and to the porta potty.
T2- 13 minutes…. LOL! Three minutes longer than I had planned, three minutes that made the biggest difference in my whole evening.
3:44ish pm- I cross the timing mat and hit the porta potty immediately. When I get done I get up to adjust my tri suit and rip my bib off of the race belt…. F@$#! I quickly adjust it to be cattywampus and roll with it… because at this point… who gives a shit! I come out of the porta potty and thank God for Lisa because I needed assistance getting redressed. Once the suit is back on I take off to start the 26.2 mile trek to get me to my long awaited finish line.
I had done the pre-ride and run in March so I was aware of the first 7 miles of the run and I knew my mind would be occupied, it would be pretty, and I just needed to find my rhythm. The first four miles were tough, I couldn't figure out my rhythm at all. I had my intervals but I just couldn’t get my groove at all. I came up on rest stop #4 and the volunteer tells me, “The number one overall female is right in front of you.” I say, “I’m sure! On her second lap!” She says, “No, I mean right in front of you!” I think she is lying. I can’t be catching anyone, and I certainly cannot be second overall female. I discredit her and keep running. All hell break loose as thunderstorm number 4 rolls through with a vengeance! The wind literally almost took me off my feet! It was pouring rain like no other, and just like earlier in the day, I couldn’t have been happier! I dodged the puddles and giggled as I finally, found my rhythm and ran after the lady in front of me who supposedly was the first female. When I got to her, I realized it was the lady I helped dress in T2 and I spoke to her kindly and went on my way. After that exchange for the next 9 miles I was told by every aid station you are the first full female to come to our rest stop. I am in shock! WTF! Me… I am not overall winner material… I am not what people think “fast” “overall winners” are. I am a middle of the pack with the happiest attituder, not an overall winner…. I loved going on the 2.5 out and back in a little neighborhood because I could check in on everyone on the course and see how they were doing. Rest stop #7 was my aunt and sister so I was counting the miles down to get to see them! They informed me that almost half the pack had pulled out of the race or had gotten pulled, and in one breath I was sad for them, and in the next, I thought, damn we are like incredible badasses! I started sharing our badassery with everyone! They needed to know that WE ROCKED!
At mile 16 I began to fatigue and slow down a little bit, I was getting tired… I had to start talking to myself really hard about digging deep. I never thought about quitting, but I did think about walking and I knew I didn’t need to so the tough love talk kind of began.
At mile 18 I hit the wall HARD, I wanted to talk, I was tired of running and I was just tired period. I knew I had plenty of time to finish, but walking meant losing all of my progress and possibly the accidental lead I now I had. I had to push through, I had it in me, this is what I had trained for. This is what all the hard shit that had accumulated over the last 12 months that was suppose to break me, trained me to push through… so I did. At mile 23 I made the executive decision that the socks were going in the trash and any blisters acquired after that didn’t even matter!
Mile 23-26 were pretty uneventful, I followed my intervals to a tee and just kept moving forward to the best of my ability. I had hit the wall earlier, but had successfully climbed over it to keep myself moving at a respectable pace for this late in the day.
The finish line was a beautiful site…. It wasn’t even 9pm and I was headed home to celebrate the toughness of the day, the resilience of the mind, and the badassery of the body!
Run Time- 5 hours and 14 minutes…. 16 minutes faster than my goal… and much stronger than I could have ever imagined!
Total 140.6 time- 13 hours and 52 minutes
I can’t explain the gratitude I have for so many things. Yesterday I was given the perfect race day for exactly what I wanted. I wanted to leave a lot of emotional baggage on the course. I wanted to take a brillo pad to my slate so I could wake up this morning and start fresh with new adventures, expectations, and journeys! Yesterday I only hit 2 of my 5 physical goals, but mentally and emotionally I far exceeded any expectations I could have ever had for myself! Beaufort you were good to me, God you and I had a lot of time together to sort a lot of stuff out, and body you rocked out, I’m still in shock of how much you had in you I didn’t even know you were capable of. My second 140.6 is now complete… now to decide if I come back in 2020 to defend my title of first female finisher overall…
Thank you for the positive vibes. Thank you for being my venting area. Thank you for being you!
Our Story ;sn't Over
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