race report: where's that boat?

first race of the year was last weekend.. well first TRI anyway. a local event. but here in carolina when you toe the line (or in this case stand on the beach) you are surrouned by talent. so many great athletes. perhaps i should move to wyoming...

i was nervous going into this. but was looking forward (despite above comment!) to seeing alot of familiar faces. the weather had been awesome all week and FB had even quoted lake temps in the 70s... BUT thursday nite brought a huge storm and all of a sudden it was COLD. forecasters said it would be 43 heading out on the bike. WOW. add soaking wet to that number and you get popsicle...trust me when i say there was a barrage of emails the day before about who was wearing what and just how cold cold was going to be.....

anyway. we got to the race site - i think i had on 4 layers, not kidding, and as i was setting up transition "save the day" Bri comes by with her bag o'donations for me. toe warmers, jacket, gloves.. tons of stuff to add to the already million bike clothing options i was considering. note - i did feel bad that she let me borrow her stuff and some other friends (and fellow VS team mates were in need...but that is the beauty of a desk job and being on email and getting to her first!!) there was much debate among racers as to what would be put on. most said it would be a "game time decision" but i try my best to avoid any extra thinking in transition so i had a plan and knew i had to stick to it. i would either be fine or spend the hour on the bike cursing and shivering...OK so the cursing would probably happen either way...

i warmed up pretty well and even felt good in the water swimming out to the last buoy. guess a full suit will do that for you. i had some shoulder issues that week and was a bit worried that my gimpy arm would not work well...but it was feeling ok. it was so great to be able to hang with alysia and brooke before the start. get in some nervous giggles and plan the evening gorging.. ha. race, what race???

cue the start. (all women started together after 2 waves of men.) i did a few high knees and dove in and started swimming. i got no more than say 50 yards when i had a full on panic attack. could NOT breathe. HR was about 300 and i was scared out of my mind. i tried a few times to get back to swimming but just could not even do it. could not put my head down and even above water could not get in any air. i was desperatly looking around for marty who was going to be on his board during the 5280 swim. i side stroked a few times and then had to even stop that. for the first time that i can remember seriously considered calling for the boat and quitting. it was awful and i cant remember being so scared. ever. i dont even know how much time i floundered around. i finally was able to relax and continue and after a bit was having a good swim. i actually felt smooth and strong! i dont know what happened at the start (happened last year too)...so its definately something i need to figure out asap. i tried to work hard in the rest of the swim and pass as many people as possible. though i still ended up about 6-7 minutes back from the good swimmers. UGH.

i was pretty mad since like i said after that crazy panic i swam pretty good. i ran into T1 and had a heck of a time getting the suit off. UGH! i also put on a jacket and my race number (why i dont know..) and socks and then tried to put a beanie on but then my helmet wouldnt fit and after fooling with it i said forgt it, threw it on the ground (sorry BG!) and finally got going. so i get out on the bike and i rode hard. very hard. i ended up with a great ride and put myself back up in the top 10. i got a bit squirrely on some of the down hill portions and one road that was really poorly paved..- and a slight near tip over- but over all good. i was proud of myself for pushing the hills up and down, something i have in the past had a disadvantage in (the downs...) that felt great. it was a super hilly course with a head wind for 90%. how is that possible you ask. i dont know. but thats how it felt. at one point there was a tail wind and i literally said a thank you to jesus. at one point about 20 miles in a girl passed me and i said out loud "oh no you di'nt" and charged back by her.

the run -t2 was kind of interesting. i saw alysia and amie in there and asked them what was going on- .. one is nursing an injury and the other has asthma... so perhaps not the best to be wasting time "catching up"... ha... also could not beleive i was ready to go with just shoes and a visor on. i was convinced that i needed something else. i was racking my brain to figure out what. (i had my number already on..) so stupid me...

it took me a long time to get my legs back. my feet were completely frozen and in my flats i could feel every crack in the pavement. ugh. i was trying to concentrate on turnover an djust moving forward. i hit the 5 k turn around and thought OK one more lap. the run was pretty hilly. ok REALLY hilly-- the first lap i was having trouble on the ups and knew i had to push those on the second lap in order to make better time. at one point i told myself.. gee kari all you are doing is breathing hard.is that really considered suffering? it was at that time that i knew it was time to get going. it was so GREAT to see people on the run and cheer for each other. i ended up with a respectable time and 6th OA.

best part of the day was the post race bash. good times akl!