Race Day - Z Race Report

Here's the race report I sent out to my Team Z teammates. I'll write a more detailed one, with pictures, later.

Coach Ed said there’s no crying in triathlon. I beg to differ.

Transition opened pretty early – 5am. I haven’t been sleeping much for the past 3 weeks and the night before the race was no exception. I was up around 1am and slept off and on until the alarm went off at 4. We headed to transition and I got set up. Just a few slots down was a woman from DC Tri named Toby. It was good to see someone else from the area (especially since I never ran into Alden).

Once I was done setting up transition, I pulled on my wetsuit and started the walk down to the beach. It was about half a mile, so we needed to give ourselves some time to get down there. I didn’t get in to do a warm-up swim since they were asking people to get out of the water shortly after we got there. They played the National Anthem and got the race started with the guys.

Four waves later, it was my turn to get in the water. Head in the water, cold shock to the face, repeat. Eventually, my face got used to the water and I was able to settle in. This was probably the easiest swim course I’ve ever done – a huge rectangle. Sighting was easy. The only thing that was a bit freaky was when the ocean went from light reflecting off the bottom to darkness under you. I mean, who in their right mind swims that far out?! Oh wait, we’re triathletes… there is no “right mind”.  The swim back in was fast (yay current!), and before I knew it, I was back on shore.

The hike back to transition was long – just under half a mile. I got myself ready for the bike and headed out. The first half of the course trended uphill and I was really glad we drove it 2 days before hand. The bottle handoffs were new to me and I’m kind of deficient at pouring water into my Profile Design without stopping, so I stopped and did what I needed to at each aid station. At the mile 20 check-point, I noticed that the timing mat didn’t beep when I went over it. I made a mental note of it and kept going. At some point on the ride, I saw the Toby (DC Tri) on the side of the road with the bike mechanics. When I went over the mile 38 check-point, I realized I didn’t beep again, so I knew something was up with my timing chip. Miles 40-45 held some really rough road. I was so glad to be through that. Mentally, I knew it was smoother sailing “home” after that. I heard a “GO TEAM Z” come from a side road, and it was Toby, putting on a shirt and calling her race. Turns out her tire had shredded. I felt bad for her. I got over I-95 and knew it was downhill from there back to the beach.

Transition went pretty smoothly, though I made the mistake of sitting to put on my socks since I was tipping over while trying to do it standing. I got up, put on a smile, and headed out for the run. There was a kid standing on the balcony screaming “Keep running, you’re awesome, we support you, the entire town supports you” over and over. It was great! Around .6 miles, both knees started bothering me to the point that it hurt to run, but it was ok to walk. So, I ran what I could and walked what I needed to. The Eastern Trail was nice and flat (think W&OD with crushed gravel and fewer overpasses). The volunteers along the route were amazing. I managed to catch up to a lady from Long Island and walked/ran most of the last half of the run with her. It was nice to have company. As I approached the finish line, I could knew I had to run in what I could (my knees were feeling ok at this point). The clock read ‘0’, apparently they were having some technical issues at the line.

As I came up the shoot, I started thinking of all of the times that so many people encouraged me; pushed me to do swims, rides, and runs; and supported me through the journey to get to THIS finish line – even when I doubted myself. But this day, I had no doubt at all on the course. It was a beautiful day for a swim, bike, and walk/run; I couldn’t have asked for better. I started to choke up. As I crossed the line, the volunteers were fantastic as I let the tears come out. Talia, the “first lady of Z” introduced herself. I was so happy to have a fellow Z connection there to share the moment with me.

Rev3 Maine was awesome – it was everything I NEEDED it to be. Yes, my timing chip battery died and no, I don’t have an official time because of that, but you know… if that’s the worst thing that happened all day, I’m happy with it. I can’t wait for Williamsburg next year… and who knows, maybe I’ll make the trip back to Maine next year.