Friday night, my oldest daughter and I packed up and left for my sister's house. My daughter was doing the kidz race on Saturday morning. She was nervous because unlike the pervious races, this race had numerous girls in her age group doing the duathlon. I told her I wasn't worried about what place she came in. To help her get past that, we looked at pervious times and set a time goal instead. Her last two races were both around 32 minutes. I told her to try to beat 30 minutes.
She went out slow on the run to pace herself and encouraged her to pedal faster on her bike.
My sister and I ran from spot to spot to see her race. We watched her bike past and jogged to the finish area thinking we had time. She had a 1/2 mile run at the end. Her 1/4 run at the beginning took her 2:12, so I figured around 4 minutes. In past races, she's been so tired, her time is usually 6 minutes for the run. My sister and I stood at the finish line watching other kids run in. I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw...
WE MISSED HER! Her 1/2 mile time was 2:57. Holy cow! She said she ran as fast as she could and felt great. Her time for the whole race: 26 minutes!!! She did finish 6th in her age group, but I really could care less. I was SO proud of her!
After her race we cleaned up and went geocaching around town, had lunch, and rested a bit. I went out on my bike with my brother-in-law to scope out the bike course and decided that the hill was still a hill and still big!
That night I went to bed knowing that a storm was moving in. UGH!
The next morning my alarm went off and I heard the sound of rain coming down. The whole race would be in the pouring rain. I got to transition and racked my bike and waited out the time for the start. At least it wasn't cold!
Sorry....I have very few pictures because I didn't want to ruin my phone and my sister didn't bring her camera for the very same reason! My sister WAS a trooper...she brought her 14 year old son and may daughter out to watch me in the pouring rain.
The race started and the waves were a bit unnerving. I consider myself a strong swimmer, so I KNOW others were freaking out. My sister said they saw the lifeguards bringing a lot of people in out of the water. They delayed the start of each wave because the lifeguards were too busy helping people to help watch the next wave. I, thankfully, settled into a groove after about 150 yards. It wasn't my fastest swim, but I was glad to get it over with.
Transition was a MESS! Transition was in a grassy area and the rain just made it a mud pit. These are NOT my feet, but here is what transition looked like as we were heading out.
I went out on the bike wondering to myself how fast I could go....I have NEVER ridden my bike in the rain. I probably should have done some rain riding before. There is always a first for everything. I'd just rather it not be in a race!!!
I would have like to have gone a bit faster, but I have to say that once I gained some confidence, I did pick it up a bit. I was "comfortable" with my speed and the ride. The rain picked up just as I hit the large down hill and then the 90 degree right turn into the large up hill. SIGH....
I managed to make it back to transition within 4 minutes of my goal time and without crashing. I didn't see any crashes, but I did see a few people with flats on one of the roads that needs resurfacing (badly!)
Out for my run and I felt just ok. At least I wasn't hot right?
I finished with a slower time than I wanted, but given the conditions, I felt ok with my race. Had I gotten the same time I had there last year, I would have ended up 3rd in my AG. Oh well.
While my time wasn't great, I'm really glad I did this race for several reasons... I need more practice in water with waves. Cedar Point is likely to have waves and chop and I certainly don't want to freak out there. I need to be prepared. I also needed to gain more confidence on my bike. I didn't ride as fast as I would like, but I got some rain riding in. It was worth the time there because I wouldn't have ever chosen to go out in the rain!
All in all, it was a great weekend. And besides...who can deny spending time with a child who WANTS to do what I do?!?!
No comments:
Post a Comment