Xterra Muleshoe 04/18/2010
What a GREAT weekend! I started off the weekend with a little pre-ride and run of the Xterra course for Sunday’s race. We had gotten a lot of rain and were expecting a lot more over the course of the weekend. This course was mostly sand and small pebbles, so it drained VERY well. The rocks were a little slick on the ride, but mostly everything was pretty tacky and fast. Mike Carter led us out on the Mellow Johnny’s pre-ride on Friday which gave us all a great preview of what was in store for the weekend. After the ride I headed out for a run on the 4 mile course. Wow. This was going to be tough! There were a lot of really loose rocks on the slope of the lake as well as some tromping through the high grass until we finally came out on the trail. I was already starting to get a little nervous! I decided against a swim on Friday due to the weather (and the fact that the water was REALLY cold). It had started raining again and the wind had picked up… swimming alone in a lake that has whitecaps just didn’t sound like a very good idea to me. So I packed up and headed back to Austin. I had plans to go out with some of my new mountain bike friends later that evening for a bike pub crawl around Austin. Sure sounded like fun!!!!! Maybe not my best training idea, but we’ve all got to have some fun, right? We definitely had some good times! And riding through Austin at night in the rain was a blast! I was very glad that we decided to sleep in the next day and not head out to Muleshoe for the trail runs, and instead just head out to cheer on everyone in the Duathlon that didn’t start until 1:00. We got out to Muleshoe on Saturday around noon and were put to work at the “mixmaster” section of the trail during the Du. What a great spot! We were able to see all the athletes come through 6 times during the race and hand up water to the runners and cyclists. It also gave us a good idea about what our finish times would be the next day during our race. After our volunteer work was done, we headed into Bee Caves for a little dinner and groceries for the next day. While we were eating a storm came through that dumped a lot of rain along with some lightening and thunder. It was looking like it was going to be a muddy mess after all. The rain had held off during the Du earlier that day so we were hoping that the weather would hold off till after our race the next day, but no such luck! When we arrived back at our camp we discovered that somehow the rain had totally missed Muleshoe. Not exactly sure how that was possible, but somehow it was. I got all of my stuff together for the next day and hit the sack early with a bad headache. I was hoping that I could sleep it off. Guess I was paying for that pub crawl on Friday night. Oopsie.
Race morning started at 6:00am with breakfast and coffee. My nerves had already kicked in and I was running around trying to make sure that I had everything together. After breakfast we headed down to set up Transition. My coach had given me a killer warm up to do so I headed out an hour before the race for my ride and run. I got back to the TA to drop off my stuff and get in my wetsuit and realized that I had not brought down my goggles. Seriously? So I had to run back to the campsite with my wetsuit half on. I was definitely warm after that!!!!!! I got back just in time for the pre-race meeting and to get on the line to go. It was 9:00am and time for the games to begin. And we’re OFF! Mass start open water swims always freak me out a bit. I’ve gotten some elbows to the face as well as getting kicked and basically swam over in the past… so I really have to work on calming myself down for the swim. If it’s too crowded sometimes I’ll try to get on the outside line just so I have some breathing room. I must have gotten into a good pocket this time though because I didn’t run into too many people. After about 5 minutes into the swim I finally calmed down and found my rhythm. Stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe and repeat. I felt like I was going SOOOOO slow and my goggles were fogging up so I had a hard time sighting the buoys. After the second buoy I started to panic a bit. My wet suit is a little tight around my neck so it takes a lot to keep my mind calm, I took several deep breaths and slowed my stoke up a little and pushed through the panic. I turned the corner on the last buoy and headed for shore. I was almost done! I had no idea where I was in the pack… so I just took off running for the TA. Wetsuit came off pretty fast, grabbed my helmet, put my shoes on, grabbed my bike and took off. I didn’t even look at my watch. But I did notice that there were still a lot of bikes in the TA. I heard Laurie yelling for me… and then Vicki so I knew I had come out of the water with one other girl. I got out of transition and hopped on my bike, put on my gloves and took off. I felt that I was keeping up a pretty good pace and only had a few really fast boys pass me. Still no sign of any girls at all. I glanced down at my watch and I was only 17 minutes into the race. Wow… really????? Hm. Ok, so maybe my swim was not as slow as it felt. I came around to the first water aid station about a mile in and I was feeling pretty strong. The trail was in perfect shape. It was tacky… not slick at all like it was on Friday. I was having fun on the bike and chatted for a minute with a guy that I ran with at the Austin Xterra last August. I finally made it to the start of lap two and I looked down at my watch and I was at 59 minutes. Wow.. that means that I did a 42 minute first lap. I was expecting more like 50. SWEET. My legs were feeling a bit tired at this point, but I knew that I needed to keep up my speed. My run is my weakness, so I needed as much time as I could get on the bike. My second lap felt pretty good and it was time to finish up that lap and head out for my run. I hauled to my spot in TA and shed my bike gear and grabbed my visor, number and sprinted out. I was tired, but still felt I had some GO for the run. I look down and my heart rate is 184.. ouch… ok, just breathe. As I’m heading out for my run I hear everyone cheering me on. Come on legs… let’s go. The first part of the run was pretty sketchy with all the loose rocks, but it seemed to be at least in better shape than it was on Friday. The trail runners must have gotten it ready for us! Thanks! As I’m going out on my run I see Shae finishing up her run, then I see Suzanne, and then one other girl. I didn’t see any other girls on the trail! I come to the aid station and head up into the second part of the run which was not a two way trail. I come back out and down into the last mile of the trail. I see several girls I know on my way back so I knew I was in a pretty good position. As I’m coming over the hill and I can see the finish.. I look back and see a girl on my heels. I recognized her and knew that she was probably in my class. Can’t stop now! Almost done! My legs had just enough to get me into the finish line ahead of her. WHEW!!!!! Done. It took me about 2 hours and 24 minutes. I had a goal of trying to finish in under 2.5 hours and I did it. I still didn’t know what place I had come in, but getting into some dry warm clothes was priority number 1. When I got back over to the race area I found out that I was first!!!! What???? Really????? HUGE smile. I did it!!! Shew. All this training work is paying off. Thanks to my crew Amy, Dax, and to all the people at Race Revolutions that made this a GREAT race! See you guys at Waco in a MONTH!
