My Road to Xterra

Xterra South Eastern Championship- Pelham, AL 5-22-2011

I do love Alabama! I was feeling pretty good heading into this race this year. I drove in on Friday evening. Tim Heard from Birmingham Bicycle Company and his wife Karen welcomed me into their home to stay for the weekend. They were amazing hosts! I headed out to the race course Saturday to check in, and do a little pre-riding. The energy is so great there! The weather was perfect! I was ready to go. Sunday morning rolled around and I headed out to Oak Mountain to see if I was going to make it to Maui again this year. I knew it was going to be tough, considering how my season had been going so far. One race cancelled due to injury, and one due to bad weather. So this was my first Xterra of the season. After the prior days pre-ride, I was feeling pretty good. I arrived to the race site early so I could get everything set up in transition and get a good spot. I was able to find a spot just down from where the Pros set up, so I was feeling pretty good about that! Transition was set up. I was ready to rock and roll. The water temp was 76 degrees, which means no wetsuits. I was a little bummed, especially since I just bought my new Orca Alpha and was hoping I was going be able to wear it! Oh well, I threw on my skin suit and headed down to the start. The water felt a bit on the chilly side, but felt fine after a quick warm up. And GO! We were off. The first 300 meters of an open water race is always tough with all of the people, but I finally got into my rhythm after I turned the first buoy. I felt strong, and fast. It was a two lap swim, so we had to get out and do a quick beach run, then head back out. I was still feeling pretty good on lap two. I came out of the water after my second lap and glanced at my watch, 29:00… WHAT? That seems a bit longer than my usual time…. hm… Not sure what that was about, but I took off running to transition so I could get out on the bike. There were still a lot of bikes left in transition, which is always good for me to see. I raced over to my bike, took off my skinsuit, grabbed my helmet and shoes, and took off. This was my first Xterra also on my new Alma 29er. I was praying she would make me super fast on this course! The first part of the bike is twisty and fun! It is a bit hard though when you have so many guys coming up to pass. They were all very nice though. After a few miles of twisty fun, we hit the fire road climbing section. Blech. I was almost wishing for an extra granny gear in some sections! But I never had to get off the bike, so that ‘s a good sign. I made it to the top and now it was time to come down! Whoooooooohhooooooo! Talk about a fun decent! We crossed over the road and came into the last section of the trail. It was about 6 more miles to go at this point and somehow I got off trail. I was praying to see those little blue arrows, but I saw none. Then I crossed an area that looked like it had been groomed, and there were only one other set of tire tracks….. that is when I knew… I was off track. Time to back track back up to the split. I must have missed the turn somewhere!!!! I would guess it was about a 5 minute detour… maybe a bit longer. But it must have thrown my body for a loop. When I finally got back on track, my stomach started to cramp up. Oh no! No bueno for sure. I knew I was getting close to the finish of the bike. I just pushed it as hard as I could. The last sections are fast and twisty also.. so that made it easy to push because they were fun! I came in to transition, dropped my bike off, and my helmet, threw on my running shoes, grabbed my visor and headed out. I took some water coming out of transition, but my stomach was not liking it at all. The next 6 miles were going to be tough. I jogged when I could, and walked when I had to. There were lots of aid stations on the run, which helped, but I still could not get my stomach to cooperate. Waves of nausea kept hitting and I would have to slow down. My heart rate was through the roof. I just had to keep moving forward. One foot in front of the other.. .as fast as possible. After being out on the course for 4:29, my day was finally done on the race course. I finished. I headed straight for the misting tent and sat down with some water. I felt very defeated. It had not been my day. I walked over to pick up my card and I see that I still came in 2nd in my age category. Which means that I still qualify for Worlds!!!! Yippeeee! I then got to pack it all up and drive six and a half hours back to Little Rock. Ouch! I want to say a big thanks to Tim and Karen for letting me stay with them! And also to Spokes Little Rock for being such a great team sponsor! Now on to my next race in Austin next weekend. Cap Tex here I come!