Leaving for Chicago, I was excited.
Arriving in Chicago and driving where I'd be racing, I was nervous.
Going to the expo, I was SUPER EXCITED.
Leaving my last meal on Saturday night, I was SUPER NERVOUS.
That's pretty much how it went all weekend long. Back and forth between nervous and excited. I got really sick in the middle of the night Friday night. I can't be sure, but I'm pretty sure that was nerves.
Brian and I drove to Chicago with my bike, gear and his large luggage in tow (We're going for 2 nights?!) Had a reunion dinner with two of my friends from college that I haven't seen since '02. It was a trip to look at old pictures Rosa brought. Saturday was glorious sleeping in for the first time since, well, I can't even remember.
Going to the Expo was like racer's crack. There were so many awesome vendors to talk to and browse. We got our packets and there was a check-list of things to do before you left. I've never been to an Expo like that. You had to go to a different area to do everything: get your cap, shirt, beer bracelet, check your chip, weigh in, get marked; everything! Brian was such a trooper as I dragged him around the huge expo space for an hour.
Saturday we hooked up with my Chicago-based race cheerteam, Marci. We met the Brinker family for a fabulous dinner at Harry Caray's. We walked off our dinner at Buckingham Fountain and Millennium park. Then back to the hotel to try to sleep. Besides waking up to Brian sitting in a chair with the light on in the middle of night, I slept pretty well.
4 a.m. rolled around and it was time to meet my Chicago race partner, Patrick. He and I got set up in the HUGE transition area after fumbling in the dark being half awake. We made our way back to the hotel to take an hour pre-race nap. It wasn't really a nap, more like resting my eyes.
I got back to the start line just in time to check my shirt and shoes, put my cap on and get in line. They are serious about the start times. It says 8:14 and the horn goes off at 8:14. The day was WINDY and quite cool for the end of August.
So this was the first swim where I started in a wave. The races I've done before people start at 2 second intervals. My wave was about 100 people and we jumped in the water and were treading water for almost two minutes waiting for the horn. People were pushing and shoving in the water, although there was no where to go. The horn blew and we were off!
I FLEW for the first 1/2 mile. My time was the fastest I've ever done. Open water swims with wave starts are fight or flight. There's no "sorry" when you smack someone with your hand. You don't worry about kicking someone in the face. You're on a path and it doesn't matter who's in it, you keep moving forward. I was lucky to not get seriously belted too many times. Although it's still a weird sensation for me to swim with people touching me and me running into people's arms and legs.
Then the last 500 meters is where I really felt the waves and choppy water. It literally felt like I was making zero forward progress. I happened to spot Brian so that was nice to see him walking along the edge as I swam. I saw tons of people hanging at the life boats and a few guys pulling themselves forward along the course using the pier, which I'm pretty sure is a penalty! Although the last 500 meters was terrible and almost took me longer than the first 1/2 mile, I never stopped and made it. I got terrible charlie horse cramps in my calf muscles that I never did fully stretch out. As a result, my calf muscles still feel a tad bit like jello as of today!
There was a .25 mile run from the water to T1. I was a bit pissed to find out at the end of the race that that is added to your swim time. WTF, it's a transition. Oh well. I made the transition in a few minutes which was good considering the area was HUGE. It helped having my auto zone bucket because I could easily find my stuff among the sea of bikes, helmets and racks. I pulled out and hopped on my bike. I flew up the entrance ramp to Lakeshore drive and took off. The wind was INSANE! I have a hybrid bike, so I sit pretty upright, which makes me feel like a sail to stop the wind. I had three women make comments about they couldn't do this race on my type of bike.
I wore a camelback for the first time and took hammergel out in a flask. SO MUCH easier to use the flask than to fiddle with opening a pack. It was the first bike ride I had hydration, makes such a difference. (My arms are too short to comfortably reach a water bottle on my bike..I even have two different cages.) I picked out three women I was going to beat on the bike. And I picked them off, one by one.
You think Lakshore Drive is flat as a pancake when you're driving it. When you're biking it, you realize it's a lot of rolling hills. I realize I'm a pretty decent hill rider. As I made the final turn in the 2nd loop I realized I was on schedule to finish the bike in about 1:20. Which was SOO Fast! I was budgeting 1:30 or so. At this time, I also realized that my charlie horse cramps were coming back and I was getting a cramp in both thighs I'd never had before. It was just above the knee, but toward the inner thigh part. Straightening my leg made the cramp worse, a bent knee position really was the only way to stretch it.
Between mile 21 and 22 I thought I heard something pop in my front tire, but I look down and it's fine. A few pedals later I realize my back tire is flat. EFFFF me. Tears started forming in my eyes as I was pissed I came all this way and was afraid I wasn't going to finish. I didn't know what the rules were on this. Just as this happens, Patrick comes up the other side of the road about 1/2 a loop behind me. Double EFFF me, I so wanted to finish this race with him :( An assistance truck sees me and pulls over. No room, they'll have to come back. I sit by my bike for about 15 minutes and then I look at the traffic crawling in the remaining open lanes on Lakeshore, there's no way they'll be back before Christmas. So I get up and start jogging my bike to the loop return where some volunteers had been. I finally get there, they have tubes but no tools and don't know how to change tires. I'm thinking what am I going to do when a lady says, run it in, you're only about 2 miles out. So I run/walk my bike in. It's difficult with clip shoes on to run that long of a distance while trying to control your bike and hug the guard rail as close as possible so you don't block other bikers. (Which one by one I saw all my targets pass me!)
I finally make it back to the transition area feeling SO defeated but SO determined to finish what I had started. I took out jogging slowing on the run course. It always takes about a mile to get my running legs back, but this time I'm cramping everywhere in my legs. I've had plenty of the nutrients to avoid this, but something went wrong. I see Brian and Marci and I scream "I need a hug" so Brian hugs me. As soon as he does I start bawling and tell the story of my bike between sobs and snot. I try to stretch my quads using his shoulder to balance on and my charlie horse cramps get worse. No matter which way I stretch, something else cramps up worse. So I say eff it and continue on the course. Patrick passes me, encouraging me to run it out.
The run took me longer than expected. The pros start last. The male and female pro winners lapped me on the run. That was effing demoralizing. They took pictures of the two lead males duking out the lead and there I am in the background of the pictures.
However, I finished the 32.13 mile race strong. I watched my finish video and I'm running strong and smooth (ha for me anyway). I got my finisher medal. I hate my results. I hate that I had a 1h 15m extra tacked onto my time (at least) because I didn't know how to change a tire. I hate that this mistake probably cost me 1st place in my division; that I would have finished below my goal time. But I'm so proud that I had the determination to finish. I'm so thankful for every one's support! My mobile race team is full of rockstars! Thank you
