Because something happened this weekend that I didn't think was possible. I took third in my age group in a race!!! Yep, that's right, ME. Completely average, middle-of-the-pack, some might say slow ME. I placed third in the Female 30-34 age group at the Highlands Ranch Splash-Mash-Dash sprint triathlon. First off, I have to say thank you to Sonja, because I won entry to the race through a contest on her blog. So, without her, it never would have happened!
To be honest, I wasn't overly thrilled about doing this race. I spent most of Friday trying to muster up some enthusiasm, without much success. I just didn't feel ready for it, just two weeks after my half-ironman, and knowing that I also needed to do a long run on Sunday for marathon training. But, it was free, after all, and I'm certainly not going to pass up something free in a sport as expensive as triathlon!
The Splash-Mash-Dash has both an Olympic distance and a sprint distance. I was doing the sprint, which was scheduled to start after the Oly. My scheduled start time was really late (8:57), so I woke up at 6:15, which was just weird. Knowing that the Oly started at 6 and that people were going to be on the bike course before I was even out of bed was bizarre! I got to the race site and found my assigned rack, and I was the first one there. Also weird, but cool because I got the prime end spot. I got my stuff laid out, chatted a bit with some fellow racers, etc. I just felt really scattered, like I was missing something. Hmm. I decided to walk down to the pool with a couple of other people in case they could get us started early. Sure enough, there was no line, and you could go as soon as you had some people of similar pace to swim with, so I got started about 30 minutes early.
The swim format for this race is odd, but it turned out to be pretty fun. It was a 500 yd swim, so 20 lengths, and you swim 11 lengths in the indoor pool, get out and run to the outdoor pool, jump in and swim 9 lengths. I figured for the short distance, I really had nothing to lose, so I tried to actually "race" instead of my normal take my time and survive philosophy. It worked great except for the part where my goggles were not adjusted right and I had to stop at least three times to fix them because they were leaking. I felt pretty good. I did get passed once, but we knew she was faster when we decided to swim together. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't counting and didn't get tapped on the head (your cue from the counters that you have one more length) when she was supposed to get out, so she swam 4 extra lengths. Yikes!
T1 was uneventful, other than finding out that my lane buddy had stayed in the pool too long! Out on the bike...
I knew this course was going to be hilly. I've done another race in this series twice before, so I thought I was prepared, but this was at a different rec center on the other side of town. Where the bike course at the other race was hilly but up and down, this one was pretty much straight up for the first half of the race. I kept waiting for downhills, but they didn't happen! And then we hit the top and I was excited to finally get some downhill, and I got hit with a killer headwind. Pedaling hard against resistance just to go 19 mph DOWNHILL. Oh well. The last part of the course was totally downhill and fast and FUN. I didn't do my research very well for this race (should have driven the course!) and I thought the bike was 12 miles. Turned out it was only 10. Oops. Into transition, where the race photographer got what is probably a stellar shot of me pedaling in while trying to get my feet out of my shoes.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that at some point on the bike it occurred to me that, um, I forgot to put my bike number ON my bike. And not only did I forget to do that, but I forgot to put my race number on my racebelt and lay it out in transition. So, yeah, T2 was pretty slow as I dug through my transition bag for my race belt and wrestled my number on it (dropping it twice in the process ). As I was doing that, a guy at the end of my rack started asking me tons of questions (where does this number go, do I need this number, should I put these shorts on, etc.)...first tri, LOL.
To the run. Once again, I knew it would be hilly, but had NO idea what was in store for me. I always mentally block out the hills in Highlands Ranch because if I didn't, I would probably never sign up for another race there again! I felt pretty good, and I wanted to push the pace and hopefully run sub-10s. I was doing alright and enjoying the nice trail through the park when I rounded a curve to see a mountain in front of me. Ok, maybe it wasn't a mountain, but it was a pretty darn big hill! I thought I could manage to run it, but that didn't last very long, so hiking it was. There were three of those rotten suckers on the course and they were miserable! All I could think was that I was so glad to be doing the sprint and not the oly because the oly turned around at mile 3 and ran the whole length of the course back to the finish whereas we got to peel off and make it a loop. There's no way I wanted to run that course twice! At the mile 3 aid station, I saw a friendly face...a guy from the Beginner Triathlete forums whom I had met at the Boulder 70.3. With some encouraging words and a cup of water, he sent me down the hill to the finish line. The last half mile was great and I felt like I had a pretty good kick to the finish.
I drank some water, packed up my stuff in transition but left it there, and headed over to check the results as they posted them. I could not believe my eyes. I was in THIRD for my age group. I thought that surely the faster racers must have still been out on the course, and once the updated results were posted, I would drop, but I decided to hang around, just in case. So they started the awards ceremony and did the awards for the oly first. The whole time, I'm watching the finish line to see if I see any fast-looking people coming across, but there really weren't. They started up the awards for the sprint, and get to F30-34, and sure enough, they called my name for third place!
I'm still in shock, I think. I've said often that the only way I would ever place in my AG was for there only to be 3 people in it, and I figured that wasn't going to happen until I was in my 60's! I'm really excited, although I don't have any proof yet because someone forgot to bring the sprint medals to the awards ceremony, so I have to wait for them to send it to me!
The funny thing is that I was only a minute out of second place, too, which could have easily been made up by my goggle adjustments, my crappy T2 while putting my number on, and running up the hills instead of walking! But, for a race that I really wasn't very thrilled about doing, this is awesome! Screw those big, uber-competitive Boulder races, I'm sticking to the small races from now on!
Speaking of big, uber-competitive Boulder races, Boulder 70.3 race report coming up later this week, as well as an update on what we've been up to this summer. Just in time for me to start school again on Monday and resume blog silence until Christmas break! :-D