Alrighty.. Wildflower. Here we go- realllllly long, watch out.
So I wasn't feeling so hot Thursday but felt better Friday. Worked a half day, stopped by SportsBasement for some last minute super caffinated Gu and some quick draw laces, came home and made cookies and did last minute packing until Trent got home. We then threw everything (and we had a TON of stuff) into the Subi and headed off, with a quick stop at kinko's for some illegal camping pass copying. Got stuck in some fairly bad traffic but managed to get to King City around 7:30. Got last minute gas and water at a station then headed in to the park. Snuck through the front gates and finally found Trent's homies after cruising through a bizillion campsites. SO many people there. Unloaded and set up the tent and fretted about the illegal camping pass until T decided just to move the car outside the campgrounds for the evening. He rode back and we ate some cold pesto pasta and chatted with his friends, then benedryl and off to bed. Love that stuff.
Trent got up insane-o early Saturday morning and finally kicked me out of bed around 6. I grabbed some of his gear and caught the shuttle down the outragous hill (that I would have to battle several times the next day) while he rode down. Got him registered and drawn all over with Sharpie, and found his numbered transition area (I do like that they assigned you one..). I realized I was completely not ready to be down there for the day, so hopped on the shuttle back up and grabbed some food and clothes, and then headed back down. Helped set up the transition area and apply lots of bodyglide and Pam (nothing says I love you like greasing up your man). The pro's doing the longcourse started first and we watched with awe as they tore up the swim. Trent was the first heat of the mountain bike race, a very short swim that was filled with a lot of folks who didn't know what they were doing.. but Trent put in a very respectable time and was the quickest one out of T-1 and off on the bike. I had a hard time running around to be at the right place when he came by, he was going so fast!! Managed to get to a good location to watch him come zipping back in on the bike 30 minutes later and off he went on the run. I scrambled up the hill to see him come in 7th (!!!) in his wave, behind some ridiculously fast young'ns. Went and cleaned up his transition area, and I ran into my dear friend Nate Hamm. Good to see him. Quickly walked through the venues, and met with the Louis Garnou reps, before staggering over the hill (actually poor bubby had to push the bike with all our crap on it, cuz i needed to "save my strength".. I am such a lucky girl) back to camp.
They closed the road in and out of the park to cars because of people doing the long course (a 56 mile bike ride!) so we just chilled at the camp site and watched folks go by and cheered on the Lombardi team. Changed my back tire and T gave a little seminar on changing flat tires to all us girls who usually have someone else around to do that for us. Finally around 2:30 we snuck the Subi out, thanks to its awesome off road capabilities.. and headed to SLO. Surprised the parents at their house and hung out and admired the new windows and paint before taking the dog to the park and then stopping by the fish store for some awesome sea bass. Trent did a wonderful job preparing it (my dad was going on and on!!) and it was especially good with the artichokes and clam chowder. Had a lovely time, but needed to get back before it got too late, so we headed back to the campground. Got in, packed a bit, another benedryl (a must for crowded campsites and pre-race jitters) and crashed.
I got up around 6:30 but tried to get back to bed until about 7 when I just decided to get up. Trent warmed up some of my mom's famous turkey barley soup that will get your ready for anything and I made sure I had all my necessary equipment. I hate the time before races.. all nervous anticipation. And my wave wasn't until 10:10!! I got my first ride down Lynch hill while Trent rode the shuttle down. Set up my transition and got body marked. Then realized we still had a ton of time. So we watched the collegiate championship waves start and I got my first look at how freaking long the swim is. Ran into some old Davis folks and some friends from the city. Trent got me all body-glided up, and after a quick kiss goodbye, I was off to the start. As soon as I could, I got in the water and tried to acclimate. We had about 5 minutes to warm up. So I am out 50 meters or so, and realize that EVERY other girl in my heat was already standing out of the water ready to go. Kinda panicked, but then just realized they were weenies and I was probably better off staying out a bit longer. Finally got peer pressured in to go start, but got stuck in the front cuz due to my late arrival. Not my most favorite place to be on a swim start. The buzzer went off and it was absolute mayhem, legs, arms everywhere. I tried to run in as far as possible and then swim to the outside. But still got pretty hammered. The swim went pretty well, it is hard for me to push myself because I have no idea how long 1.5km should take me, or how fast I am going at any given time. But I didn't do any breaststroke, and I managed to stay relatively on course, and before I knew it we were rounding the top buoy to head in. The last 100 meters seemed the longest as I tried to kick my legs awake, but it was great to get out and start running towards the bike. I felt good, until I got to the bike and got REALLY dizzy. Had a bit of trouble getting the wetsuit off (it was borrowed from Jill and fit great, but it is stil an adjustment to use a new one). Finally just sat down and pulled the darn thing off and put my cycling shoes on. Trent was still in transition (a big no no, sneaky monkey) and cheered me on as I grabbed the bike and headed out.
Got on the bike no problem and immediately faced Lynch Hill. I tried to stay in my middle chain ring for as long as possible, but it finally became to steep and I switched to the small ring. And immediately started passing people left and right. I felt really good, my legs weren't tired or numb and I was excited to get the hill over with and off on to the main course. A deer ran across my path at about km 2, but no problem. Finally got out on to the main road, and .. oh no. The tell tale loud rattling, the bumpy ride.. I had a flat tire. My first flat tire in a race. I tried to ignore it for about 200 meters, until this girl rode past me (cuz i was only going about 15mph on the flats) and asked if something was wrong with my bike. I admited defeat and pulled over to the side. But instead of waiting for assistance, I immediately turned my bike upside down, grabbed that wheel, and started changing the tire like a pro. Good thing T gave the seminar the day before, and especially good thing he had strapped a pump to my bike! It wasn't record breaking tire changing, but I was really proud of myself for getting it done and motivated to pass everyone who was riding by. Got back on the bike a few minutes later, and had a very excellent rest of the ride. I passed a ton of people, set my personal high speed obtained record, and tried to be supportive to people dying on the big climbs. Glad we did our few Marin rides, I whooped booty on the climbs!!
Sped down Lynch Hill into T-2. Quick transition and I was off on the run, with bubs there cheering me on. The run is my favorite part because I actually have some advantage over all the tired people. I passed a ton of folks on the first 3 km, and then got pretty beat up by the big hill climbs but didn't get passed, and then got my momentum back around the 6th km. The 7-10km were awesome, tons of people cheering and yelling Go Aggie! (I was rocking my old UCD Tri jersey). We got to run down Lynch Hill and I just opened up and let gravity take me down (my knees are not so happy about this today). The last km is one long finishing chute, lined with folks cheering and ringing cowbells and all the sudden all the hard work and all the times you didn't want to go swimming but did any ways, and all the nervous jitters before the race started.. were worth it. Having the announcer yell out your name, crossing the finish line, and knowing you did it, you accomplished that huge race and still having a smile on your face, it was awesome. Trent was right there as well as lots of friends congratulating each other.
We quickly packed up my transition area and skadadled out of the course, poor Trent had to push the bike over the hill again (not my most favorite part of an otherwise very well run and supported race) cuz I was so exhausted. Got to the car and threw the last bits in and snuck the Subi out through the off roading once more. I pretty much blacked out as soon as we got out of the park and woke to Trent taking us to Carls Jr. in Soledad. Ohhh, the glory of getting to eat as much as you freaking can with not a smidge of guilt. It was about then that I realized that my yummy smelling sunblock was no match to the three hours spend in the hot sun after being in the water for half an hour. I am toasted!! So we stopped by Target to get some super aloe spray with lidocaine, and some blond highlight shampoo to try to get the lake water off my nice hightlights, and headed home. Trent managed to find a nearby parking spot and we unloaded all the crap from the car and realized we kinda smelled like really really gross stuff.. so into the shower. All clean, I wrapped myself up in a comforter with the Oprah magazine our upstairs neighbor gives us, and had half a beer and konked out. Woke up and Trent was working away on his latest bike, I called my parents and assured them I was safe and sound, had some turkey soup, and then back to bed.
Today, I am mostly hurting from the sunburn, but I realize that every part of my body is sore. Things that are usually commonplace are a challenge and I can hardly make it up the 24 stairs to my second floor lab. But I am so happy to have completed the race and so lucky to have a bubs like mine who keeps me training and working hard so I can enjoy them, and who is so proud of me even though I didn't win the darn thing. And happiest of all?? I just happened to beat my least favorite triathlete EVER.. by nearly 2 minutes. Even though he started about a half hour ahead of me. And that.. that makes it ALLLLLL worth it.
pictures to come soon, I need Emily's assistance getting the frantic camera phone pictures of trent off of my phone and online.
