(no subject)
Third time to do this race!
The Rock.
Our plan was to do the same as we did last year, and get up obscenely early to drive to Enchanted Rock on the morning of the race. It would appear that they REALLY REALLY didn't want you to do that, though, since they announced, two weeks before the race, that it would cost $10 each to do race morning packet pickup (though they ended up rescinding that rule 2 days before the race). Then one week before the race, they further announced that if you did morning-of packet pickup, you couldn't drop your bike off at transition and then go park, but rather you had to go park and then carry your stuff AND your bike the halfish mile to transition, in the dark, on a trail, across a water crossing. Okayokay, we get the message loud and clear. It would have been NICE if they'd announced these things ahead of time, so you could factor them into whether you wanted to do the race, but .. they didn't.
So we decided to just shell out the money to board the dogs and get a hotel in Fredericksburg for Saturday night, which resulted in the race being a lot more expensive, but a lot less stressful logistically, and we got to have dinner with folks. And when we left dinner, it was in the 80s.
Pam pretending she needed that jacket she'd brought, even though it was in the 80s. Ha ha, how ridiculous that one might need a jacket this weekend! Ha.. ha.
Race morning
We woke up shortly before our 5am alarm. That's possibly the latest I've ever woken up for a race that didn't start some time in the afternoon. It was rather delightful.
Remember how it was in the 80s the night before? Now it was in the upper 30s. With gusty wind, 20-25mph. My plan to just wear my tri singlet was abandoned, and fortunately I'd thrown in some colder weather gear right at the last minute, just in case. I wore my singlet and a long-sleeved shirt, shorts and gloves, figuring I'd ditch the long-sleeve and the gloves as I warmed up during the race. And over the top of all that, I wore a hoodie, because standing around in the wind and cold was just miserable.
Betsy and Lynn, spectators extraordinaire, did their best to keep me warm.
Photo by Ed Sparks
But we got all our stuff set up, reluctantly ditched the over layers, and lined up at the start line. It was somewhat confusing, as the webpage said there would be 2 waves at 7:30 and 7:32, but never clarified what those waves were, and nobody ever talked about it, it was never mentioned during the pre-race speech, and in fact during the speech, they said it would be a time-trial start. Except then they just said, "Go!" and we all went at once. Baffling. But we were off!
Moments before the start, Pam and I were reluctant to shed our top layers. Also we were adorable.
Run 4.78 miles around the base of Enchanted Rock
Pam and I started out together, and despite shivering and huddling at the start line, about a minute in, I said, "Hey, I think I'm starting to warm up!" And then a gust of wind hit me, and I was still freezing.
Still with my Pam! Still cold!
Photo by Ed Sparks
There was no water in the water crossing, so very little congestion or back-up through the first section, and then things opened up completely when we got to the parking lot. I felt pretty good, though I'd misplaced Pam. I grabbed a cup of water from the aid station less than a mile into the race, because I was inexplicably parched, and then settled in for the uphill section.
The first run felt pretty good, overall. Despite having started trying to acquire satellites about 45 minutes before the race started, my watch never did find them, and so I didn't end up starting my watch until a bit into the first run, when finally it beeped that it had gps. But the miles I did get were 9:14, 8:49 and 8:34 for the middle section, so a nice build and a good pace.
I was passing folks on the uphills pretty consistently, but then these two folks were continually barreling down past me on the downhills (one was cheating by having legs as long as I am tall), so I decided to do some downhill practice. This first run is 90% kind jeep trail, so it's perfect for descent practice, and I just leaned forward and let gravity take over and fell down the hills (in a controlled fashion that didn't involve actual falling). It felt good, and I finally passed those two folks and never saw them again.
I also practiced running the tangents, which I pretty much NEVER do in trail running, because I'm so busy just trying to pick the safest, most runnable line.
Overall... just a good run. I had warmed up (though was still wearing the long sleeved shirt and gloves), my legs felt good, I got through all the water crossings without getting my feet wet, and I was happy! As I stared at the top of the rock in the distance, I was excited about running up it! I wanted to do it right now!
Almost to transition!
Photo by Redemption Racing
But then my attention was taken up by running through the technical section at the end, passing a few guys as I came in to the cheering crowds (this is not a spectator-friendly race, so there's really maybe 2-3 places where there's anyone cheering at all, so you gotta enjoy it) (also the 'crowds' are like maybe 10 people, max), and trotting up those horrible stairs into transition.
T1
I was warm at this point, and considered shedding some clothing before going out on the bike, but then realized the bike was going to be windy, and I wouldn't be working as hard so would get colder, so decided to leave everything on.
Wrenched off my double-knotted trail running shoes without untying them, put on my helmet and sunglasses, and grabbed my bike to run it out.
Slowly. Gingerly. Those rocks in the transition parking lot are so painful. I always think maybe it's not as bad as I remembered, and it always is that bad. And I look ridiculous wincing my way so slowly, making faces, but as I mentioned, the crowds are nonexistent, so it doesn't really matter.
Winced my way across the timing mat.
Ride 16 miles
Despite not a whole lot of practice this year, managed to mount without falling over (and the one person watching cheered for me), and began the bike. Before settling into my aero bars, I took a gu and swigged some water, and then dropped down into my aero bars.
It felt pretty effortless, which was a nice way to start the bike, but then I realized that meant that we had a tailwind at the beginning, which meant we'd end with a headwind. Ugh. But I tried not to think about the future, and just pedaled.
The bike was uneventful. It was cold. There were cattleguards. There were mile markers every 2 miles, but most of them had blown over because it was so windy. There were hills. I passed a few people, a few passed me. I just tried to stay strong as much as I could, stay aero as much as I could, and not blow over.
And I kept singing Won't Back Down this whole time. It helped.
Had a headwind the last mile or so before the turnaround, then saw Pam just after turning around. Cheered for her, then decided to see how long I could hold her off. I figured seeing me just ahead of her was going to be a good rabbit for her, to catch me, so I could use her as a reverse rabbit, to try not to let her catch me.
I have exactly no pictures of the bike, so here's a great picture Ed took of Matt during his run! Matt was running while I was cycling anyway, probably, so it works.
Photo by Ed Sparks
That worked for a while, but by the time we hit the headwind again, and combined with the hills, my last few miles were very, very slow. Tom passed me like I was riding backward. I cursed myself for not thinking of wearing shoe- or toe-covers, because my tri shoes are very vented and minimalist, which means my feet were FREEZING. I kept trying to move them around in my shoes to keep the blood flowing, but it wasn't doing anything. This promised to make the second run very interesting.
With 2 miles to go, I took another gu and tried to go aero again to avoid the wind. But the wind was a cross-headwind, and I kept almost being swept over sideways, so I just stayed upright, kinda hunching down, just trying to live through the last bit.
As I came over a hill, I saw folks up ahead, figured it was the dismount line, and started trying to take off my shoes right as a HUGE gust of wind hit me and almost stopped me completely. That was exciting. But I got my shoes off and rolled up to the line and hopped off my bike.
T2
Okay, I'm saying it here, and hopefully I'll remember it for next time. I'm not doing the shoeless mount/dismount at this race anymore. It's just too painful, and any time I gain from not having to deal with shoes in transition, I lose because I have to walk so slowly across those rocks. You would FIGURE, with my feet being so numb, this wouldn't be an issue, but it just made it worse. It was frustratingly painful.
But after what seemed like 5 minutes, I got to my rack, racked my bike, helmet off, running shoes with Yankz! on, and out of transition.
Run 1.25 miles up to the top of Enchanted Rock
My goal for this second run was to not let any females pass me. I didn't know how realistic this was, but it gave me a goal. Also to catch Tom if I could, since he's stronger than me on the bike, but I'm stronger than him on the run. He'd passed me with a good distance left on the bike, and the second run was short, so I didn't know how realistic this was, either.
I hobbled down the stairs, cheered at Betsy and Lynn who were staring up at the tiny runners running up the rock from transition until they cheered for me, then hit the main trail for my final run.
Some people spring like gazelles when running on trails. I do.. this awkward thing.
Photo by Ed Sparks
It.. was pretty funny. My feet were frozen, and I felt like I was running on stumps. I just tried to keep my turnover high and watch for obstacles, because I felt completely uncoordinated and awkward. I commiserated with the couple guys I passed on this section, and said as uncomfortable as running without being able to feel your feet was, I was more scared of how painful it might be when feeling started returning.
Ed cheered for me as he took my picture, and I smiled and said, "I can't feel my feet!"
Photo by Ed Sparks
Across the weird stone block bridge again, this time taking a right toward the Rock. As I passed the volunteers, I grabbed a bottle of water, since I hadn't brought my own (and they require that you take water up to the top). As I got to the bottom of the Rock, I thought, "That's weird, there was no timing mat. Maybe they aren't doing the King of the Hill competition this year." And then I got distracted because there was a big group of Texas Iron people coming down, and they all cheered for me. I couldn't tell who all was in the group, other than Jamie, and didn't know if Matt was in there. He'd told me he'd cheer me up the Rock again this year, unless he got too cold waiting up top. Those 25mph winds at the bottom turn into 40mph winds when you get up to the top, and Matt had stripped down to just a tri singlet during the race. I didn't figure he'd have waited up there.
Here's his naked self running back down the rock to look for me!
Photo by Ed Sparks
My goal for this year was to run the whole way up. That's my goal for every year. And then partway up, suddenly I find myself walking, even though I never meant to. It just happens. So I anticipated that it would happen again, but didn't plan for it. And hey, if they're not even doing King of the Hill, there's no point in pushing.
The guy in front of me asked a volunteer where to go, and the volunteer said to take any route you wanted up. I passed that guy, and he started following me. Meanwhile I had NO idea what the best route up was. And I'm sure he regretted his decision to follow me when I ended up going up this rocky, ledgy horrible way instead of the nice, relatively tame way over to the left, that I hadn't noticed until too late.
But I was committed, and mountain goated my way up through the rocky section, cheered on by finishers who were coming down, cheered on by spectators and people who'd just come to Enchanted Rock for the day, not realizing what they were going to witness, and passing other racers, including Tom.
I feel like someone, at some point, told me that Matt was waiting up top for me, but I don't remember who. Maybe Jeff? I definitely went by Jeff at some point. But as I got closer to the top, I looked up (uuuuupppppp) and saw Matt up there. He saw me, cheered for me, and ran down to meet me. (Did I mention he already finished his race, having completely kicked my ass, time-wise, and had already run up once?) He asked if it was okay if he ran with me, and I kinda grunted in a non-negative way, so he fell in beside me.
He said various encouraging things, pointed me in the best direction to head, and then said, "I'll block the wind for you!" and ran in front of me, proceeding to run 10x faster than I was running and outpacing me immediately. I just sorted stared sadly at his back for a few seconds as he went away, until he noticed that he'd dropped me and came back and just ran beside me.
Me and my guy running in the sky. I love this picture.
Photo by Redemption Racing
He said all sorts of encouraging things that I didn't retain, but that didn't particularly make me want to kill him, and some of which I pulled in to use as a mantra. And low and behold, I was still running, even if "running" is a generous term for what I was doing. And I was almost at the top! I could see the top of the white flag that they hold up to indicate the finish line. And even though I desperately wanted to walk, I kept, as Matt said, going "tap tap tap tap", moving my short little legs as quickly as possible, moving up that mountain.
Finally flattening out so I can sorta actually run!
Photo by Redemption Racing
And then finally, FINALLY, it started to flatten out a bit, and I lengthened my stride (such as it is) and picked it up as much as I was able at that point (not much), and ran past the.. finish.. flag.. thing!
In case you had the impression it was a big impressive finish line.. it was this person with this flag, at the top of the rock. A very welcome sight.
Photo by Ed Sparks
After
Whew. I ran up the whole way! I was pretty proud. And exhausted. We walked around a little at the top, then headed down to find Jeff and wait for Pam. I picked a spot not too far down, but with some hill still to go, and waited there until Pam appeared. Knowing how much of a difference it made to have Matt run me up, I went and ran Pam up for her finish, which was fun!
And then we all headed down for the final untimed slog, back down the rock (cheering for the people still coming up) and down the now-seemingly-interminable trail back to transition.
Me and Pam and Jeff on top of the windy, cold rock, ready to head down.
Photo by Ed Sparks
As we came back to the pavilion, a few people told me congratulations, and I said, "Thanks! For what?" and they told me I'd won my age group! Yaaaaaaaay! I'm usually more of a 3rd placer, if a placer at all, and this may be the first thing I've actually won my age group? I'm not sure, really. But it was a nice feeling! Even though I was almost 10 minutes slower than last year. Verrrry different conditions this year.
Results
Total time: 02:05:14
First run: 44:33 (9:19 min/m)
T1: 00:36
Bike: 01:05:01 (14.8 MPH)
T2: 01:07
KOH time: 07:29 (14:59 min/m)
Second run: 13:55 (27:50 min/m) (again not sure where they got that pace)
2nd in my age group for first run, 1st in my AG for t1 (pretty proud of that one, especially with the painful mincing), 4th for the bike, and not at all pleased with that time/pace, but pretty happy with my effort (bike computer gives 5 mile splits, and I averaged 17.3, 15.2, 13.7, and 11.1mph for the last 1.06, which is pretty funny, and exactly what it felt like), 3rd for my painful, slow t2, and 1st for the 2nd run. And that final run alone is probably what got me 1st in my age group. Half of it was on frozen stumps and half of it was barely running, but I guess comparatively, I did pretty well!
1st in my age group!
Also, yeah, there totally was a King of the Hill competition, it was just a funky RFID scanner instead of a traditional timing mat, so I'm glad I kept it strong! I ended up 5th woman in the King of the Hill competition, ahead of many people who beat me overall, so that's a nice feeling. Especially since my next event is up and down a few mountains.
Then we all hung out and got awards and ate post-race food and enjoyed each other's company, before heading back to Austin! I'm not sure what it is about this race.. on paper it sounds sort of miserable, but it always ends up being so much fun. I'm sure we'll be back! Hopefully with better weather.
The Rock.
Our plan was to do the same as we did last year, and get up obscenely early to drive to Enchanted Rock on the morning of the race. It would appear that they REALLY REALLY didn't want you to do that, though, since they announced, two weeks before the race, that it would cost $10 each to do race morning packet pickup (though they ended up rescinding that rule 2 days before the race). Then one week before the race, they further announced that if you did morning-of packet pickup, you couldn't drop your bike off at transition and then go park, but rather you had to go park and then carry your stuff AND your bike the halfish mile to transition, in the dark, on a trail, across a water crossing. Okayokay, we get the message loud and clear. It would have been NICE if they'd announced these things ahead of time, so you could factor them into whether you wanted to do the race, but .. they didn't.
So we decided to just shell out the money to board the dogs and get a hotel in Fredericksburg for Saturday night, which resulted in the race being a lot more expensive, but a lot less stressful logistically, and we got to have dinner with folks. And when we left dinner, it was in the 80s.
Pam pretending she needed that jacket she'd brought, even though it was in the 80s. Ha ha, how ridiculous that one might need a jacket this weekend! Ha.. ha.
Race morning
We woke up shortly before our 5am alarm. That's possibly the latest I've ever woken up for a race that didn't start some time in the afternoon. It was rather delightful.
Remember how it was in the 80s the night before? Now it was in the upper 30s. With gusty wind, 20-25mph. My plan to just wear my tri singlet was abandoned, and fortunately I'd thrown in some colder weather gear right at the last minute, just in case. I wore my singlet and a long-sleeved shirt, shorts and gloves, figuring I'd ditch the long-sleeve and the gloves as I warmed up during the race. And over the top of all that, I wore a hoodie, because standing around in the wind and cold was just miserable.
Betsy and Lynn, spectators extraordinaire, did their best to keep me warm.
Photo by Ed Sparks
But we got all our stuff set up, reluctantly ditched the over layers, and lined up at the start line. It was somewhat confusing, as the webpage said there would be 2 waves at 7:30 and 7:32, but never clarified what those waves were, and nobody ever talked about it, it was never mentioned during the pre-race speech, and in fact during the speech, they said it would be a time-trial start. Except then they just said, "Go!" and we all went at once. Baffling. But we were off!
Moments before the start, Pam and I were reluctant to shed our top layers. Also we were adorable.
Run 4.78 miles around the base of Enchanted Rock
Pam and I started out together, and despite shivering and huddling at the start line, about a minute in, I said, "Hey, I think I'm starting to warm up!" And then a gust of wind hit me, and I was still freezing.
Still with my Pam! Still cold!
Photo by Ed Sparks
There was no water in the water crossing, so very little congestion or back-up through the first section, and then things opened up completely when we got to the parking lot. I felt pretty good, though I'd misplaced Pam. I grabbed a cup of water from the aid station less than a mile into the race, because I was inexplicably parched, and then settled in for the uphill section.
The first run felt pretty good, overall. Despite having started trying to acquire satellites about 45 minutes before the race started, my watch never did find them, and so I didn't end up starting my watch until a bit into the first run, when finally it beeped that it had gps. But the miles I did get were 9:14, 8:49 and 8:34 for the middle section, so a nice build and a good pace.
I was passing folks on the uphills pretty consistently, but then these two folks were continually barreling down past me on the downhills (one was cheating by having legs as long as I am tall), so I decided to do some downhill practice. This first run is 90% kind jeep trail, so it's perfect for descent practice, and I just leaned forward and let gravity take over and fell down the hills (in a controlled fashion that didn't involve actual falling). It felt good, and I finally passed those two folks and never saw them again.
I also practiced running the tangents, which I pretty much NEVER do in trail running, because I'm so busy just trying to pick the safest, most runnable line.
Overall... just a good run. I had warmed up (though was still wearing the long sleeved shirt and gloves), my legs felt good, I got through all the water crossings without getting my feet wet, and I was happy! As I stared at the top of the rock in the distance, I was excited about running up it! I wanted to do it right now!
Almost to transition!
Photo by Redemption Racing
But then my attention was taken up by running through the technical section at the end, passing a few guys as I came in to the cheering crowds (this is not a spectator-friendly race, so there's really maybe 2-3 places where there's anyone cheering at all, so you gotta enjoy it) (also the 'crowds' are like maybe 10 people, max), and trotting up those horrible stairs into transition.
T1
I was warm at this point, and considered shedding some clothing before going out on the bike, but then realized the bike was going to be windy, and I wouldn't be working as hard so would get colder, so decided to leave everything on.
Wrenched off my double-knotted trail running shoes without untying them, put on my helmet and sunglasses, and grabbed my bike to run it out.
Slowly. Gingerly. Those rocks in the transition parking lot are so painful. I always think maybe it's not as bad as I remembered, and it always is that bad. And I look ridiculous wincing my way so slowly, making faces, but as I mentioned, the crowds are nonexistent, so it doesn't really matter.
Winced my way across the timing mat.
Ride 16 miles
Despite not a whole lot of practice this year, managed to mount without falling over (and the one person watching cheered for me), and began the bike. Before settling into my aero bars, I took a gu and swigged some water, and then dropped down into my aero bars.
It felt pretty effortless, which was a nice way to start the bike, but then I realized that meant that we had a tailwind at the beginning, which meant we'd end with a headwind. Ugh. But I tried not to think about the future, and just pedaled.
The bike was uneventful. It was cold. There were cattleguards. There were mile markers every 2 miles, but most of them had blown over because it was so windy. There were hills. I passed a few people, a few passed me. I just tried to stay strong as much as I could, stay aero as much as I could, and not blow over.
And I kept singing Won't Back Down this whole time. It helped.
Had a headwind the last mile or so before the turnaround, then saw Pam just after turning around. Cheered for her, then decided to see how long I could hold her off. I figured seeing me just ahead of her was going to be a good rabbit for her, to catch me, so I could use her as a reverse rabbit, to try not to let her catch me.
I have exactly no pictures of the bike, so here's a great picture Ed took of Matt during his run! Matt was running while I was cycling anyway, probably, so it works.
Photo by Ed Sparks
That worked for a while, but by the time we hit the headwind again, and combined with the hills, my last few miles were very, very slow. Tom passed me like I was riding backward. I cursed myself for not thinking of wearing shoe- or toe-covers, because my tri shoes are very vented and minimalist, which means my feet were FREEZING. I kept trying to move them around in my shoes to keep the blood flowing, but it wasn't doing anything. This promised to make the second run very interesting.
With 2 miles to go, I took another gu and tried to go aero again to avoid the wind. But the wind was a cross-headwind, and I kept almost being swept over sideways, so I just stayed upright, kinda hunching down, just trying to live through the last bit.
As I came over a hill, I saw folks up ahead, figured it was the dismount line, and started trying to take off my shoes right as a HUGE gust of wind hit me and almost stopped me completely. That was exciting. But I got my shoes off and rolled up to the line and hopped off my bike.
T2
Okay, I'm saying it here, and hopefully I'll remember it for next time. I'm not doing the shoeless mount/dismount at this race anymore. It's just too painful, and any time I gain from not having to deal with shoes in transition, I lose because I have to walk so slowly across those rocks. You would FIGURE, with my feet being so numb, this wouldn't be an issue, but it just made it worse. It was frustratingly painful.
But after what seemed like 5 minutes, I got to my rack, racked my bike, helmet off, running shoes with Yankz! on, and out of transition.
Run 1.25 miles up to the top of Enchanted Rock
My goal for this second run was to not let any females pass me. I didn't know how realistic this was, but it gave me a goal. Also to catch Tom if I could, since he's stronger than me on the bike, but I'm stronger than him on the run. He'd passed me with a good distance left on the bike, and the second run was short, so I didn't know how realistic this was, either.
I hobbled down the stairs, cheered at Betsy and Lynn who were staring up at the tiny runners running up the rock from transition until they cheered for me, then hit the main trail for my final run.
Some people spring like gazelles when running on trails. I do.. this awkward thing.
Photo by Ed Sparks
It.. was pretty funny. My feet were frozen, and I felt like I was running on stumps. I just tried to keep my turnover high and watch for obstacles, because I felt completely uncoordinated and awkward. I commiserated with the couple guys I passed on this section, and said as uncomfortable as running without being able to feel your feet was, I was more scared of how painful it might be when feeling started returning.
Ed cheered for me as he took my picture, and I smiled and said, "I can't feel my feet!"
Photo by Ed Sparks
Across the weird stone block bridge again, this time taking a right toward the Rock. As I passed the volunteers, I grabbed a bottle of water, since I hadn't brought my own (and they require that you take water up to the top). As I got to the bottom of the Rock, I thought, "That's weird, there was no timing mat. Maybe they aren't doing the King of the Hill competition this year." And then I got distracted because there was a big group of Texas Iron people coming down, and they all cheered for me. I couldn't tell who all was in the group, other than Jamie, and didn't know if Matt was in there. He'd told me he'd cheer me up the Rock again this year, unless he got too cold waiting up top. Those 25mph winds at the bottom turn into 40mph winds when you get up to the top, and Matt had stripped down to just a tri singlet during the race. I didn't figure he'd have waited up there.
Here's his naked self running back down the rock to look for me!
Photo by Ed Sparks
My goal for this year was to run the whole way up. That's my goal for every year. And then partway up, suddenly I find myself walking, even though I never meant to. It just happens. So I anticipated that it would happen again, but didn't plan for it. And hey, if they're not even doing King of the Hill, there's no point in pushing.
The guy in front of me asked a volunteer where to go, and the volunteer said to take any route you wanted up. I passed that guy, and he started following me. Meanwhile I had NO idea what the best route up was. And I'm sure he regretted his decision to follow me when I ended up going up this rocky, ledgy horrible way instead of the nice, relatively tame way over to the left, that I hadn't noticed until too late.
But I was committed, and mountain goated my way up through the rocky section, cheered on by finishers who were coming down, cheered on by spectators and people who'd just come to Enchanted Rock for the day, not realizing what they were going to witness, and passing other racers, including Tom.
I feel like someone, at some point, told me that Matt was waiting up top for me, but I don't remember who. Maybe Jeff? I definitely went by Jeff at some point. But as I got closer to the top, I looked up (uuuuupppppp) and saw Matt up there. He saw me, cheered for me, and ran down to meet me. (Did I mention he already finished his race, having completely kicked my ass, time-wise, and had already run up once?) He asked if it was okay if he ran with me, and I kinda grunted in a non-negative way, so he fell in beside me.
He said various encouraging things, pointed me in the best direction to head, and then said, "I'll block the wind for you!" and ran in front of me, proceeding to run 10x faster than I was running and outpacing me immediately. I just sorted stared sadly at his back for a few seconds as he went away, until he noticed that he'd dropped me and came back and just ran beside me.
Me and my guy running in the sky. I love this picture.
Photo by Redemption Racing
He said all sorts of encouraging things that I didn't retain, but that didn't particularly make me want to kill him, and some of which I pulled in to use as a mantra. And low and behold, I was still running, even if "running" is a generous term for what I was doing. And I was almost at the top! I could see the top of the white flag that they hold up to indicate the finish line. And even though I desperately wanted to walk, I kept, as Matt said, going "tap tap tap tap", moving my short little legs as quickly as possible, moving up that mountain.
Finally flattening out so I can sorta actually run!
Photo by Redemption Racing
And then finally, FINALLY, it started to flatten out a bit, and I lengthened my stride (such as it is) and picked it up as much as I was able at that point (not much), and ran past the.. finish.. flag.. thing!
In case you had the impression it was a big impressive finish line.. it was this person with this flag, at the top of the rock. A very welcome sight.
Photo by Ed Sparks
After
Whew. I ran up the whole way! I was pretty proud. And exhausted. We walked around a little at the top, then headed down to find Jeff and wait for Pam. I picked a spot not too far down, but with some hill still to go, and waited there until Pam appeared. Knowing how much of a difference it made to have Matt run me up, I went and ran Pam up for her finish, which was fun!
And then we all headed down for the final untimed slog, back down the rock (cheering for the people still coming up) and down the now-seemingly-interminable trail back to transition.
Me and Pam and Jeff on top of the windy, cold rock, ready to head down.
Photo by Ed Sparks
As we came back to the pavilion, a few people told me congratulations, and I said, "Thanks! For what?" and they told me I'd won my age group! Yaaaaaaaay! I'm usually more of a 3rd placer, if a placer at all, and this may be the first thing I've actually won my age group? I'm not sure, really. But it was a nice feeling! Even though I was almost 10 minutes slower than last year. Verrrry different conditions this year.
Results
Total time: 02:05:14
First run: 44:33 (9:19 min/m)
T1: 00:36
Bike: 01:05:01 (14.8 MPH)
T2: 01:07
KOH time: 07:29 (14:59 min/m)
Second run: 13:55 (27:50 min/m) (again not sure where they got that pace)
2nd in my age group for first run, 1st in my AG for t1 (pretty proud of that one, especially with the painful mincing), 4th for the bike, and not at all pleased with that time/pace, but pretty happy with my effort (bike computer gives 5 mile splits, and I averaged 17.3, 15.2, 13.7, and 11.1mph for the last 1.06, which is pretty funny, and exactly what it felt like), 3rd for my painful, slow t2, and 1st for the 2nd run. And that final run alone is probably what got me 1st in my age group. Half of it was on frozen stumps and half of it was barely running, but I guess comparatively, I did pretty well!
1st in my age group!
Also, yeah, there totally was a King of the Hill competition, it was just a funky RFID scanner instead of a traditional timing mat, so I'm glad I kept it strong! I ended up 5th woman in the King of the Hill competition, ahead of many people who beat me overall, so that's a nice feeling. Especially since my next event is up and down a few mountains.
Then we all hung out and got awards and ate post-race food and enjoyed each other's company, before heading back to Austin! I'm not sure what it is about this race.. on paper it sounds sort of miserable, but it always ends up being so much fun. I'm sure we'll be back! Hopefully with better weather.