kure beach

there was much discussion as to the pronunciation of our destination. it was one of those weird NC places (i swear this state has more exceptions to every rule..)
for example:

Kerr lake. think it rhymes with fur? nope its CAR lake. wtf.
Corolla. think its pronounced like the car? nope its cor-ALL-a
and now KURE beach. one would think it to be like the indian spice, curry, but NO. its CURE.

whatever.

so a bunch of us went down for the long weekend, marty and his three wives, bobby and jimmy for the fun and carniage.

first weekend stop was brek-essert at this place:

i HIGHLY recommend the banana bread french toast. wow. bobby got it and i ate as much as possible.

afternoon spent at the beach. we "practiced" some beach starts, and i promptly realized i am not cut out for wave dodging. while kern was aptly dolphin diving i thought the crouch and let it pass approach best suited me. after swallowing a gallon of salty mess, i determined that sunday's race would be less fun than originally thought.

we went out for a good old italian dinner that night and while our waiter was young and hot, he was lacking in the brains category. more than a few times we found our selves saying "awwww, he's not so smart".

***here is the conversation*** note this was pilfered from another blog.. GASP!

Bobby: "Do you have any microbrews?"
Waiter: "Micro whats?"
Bobby: "Microbrews."
Waiter: "Uhhhhh. I've never heard of that."
Marty: "Small commerically made beer from the US..."
Waiter: "Huh! I don't know what that is and I'm a bartender!"
Me: "Craft beer?"
Waiter: "Draft beer! Yeah! We have draft beer!"


the boys hit the bar for some wings and beer and us girls went direclty to the squiggles ice cream shop.

sunday morning came early. but our hotel was right near the race start and we rode over in a few seconds. it was a bit weird for me, yea kinda confusing since this was the first time i did this race. here is the low down:

swim 400m in the ocean, run up the beach to T1, get your shoes (leave your goggles and cap), run 1.5 miles to T2, get on your bike and ride 12 miles, go back to T2, get your shoes and run 1.5 miles back to T1, get your goggles and cap and RUN DOWN THE BEACH (yes we had to run more down the beach to the swim start) and then swim 400m back to the finish.

there was some confusion. do i need to wear my race belt on the run? do i leave my shoes in the sugar sand or up on the road. how much time do i spend getting sand off my feet before putting on running shoes. all of these questions remained un answered for me and unfortunately i had to solicit advice MID RACE. ha. oh well.

here are some pics from the race.

swim start. this actually went some what smooth for me. i was of course trying to run as far as i could and the field got away from me. and my water exit was nothing out of bay watch. its freakin hard to high knee out of the ocean especially when you keep falling down.... i was for sure schooled by some steller exits.




this is how i felt after the swim.. very pouty!

off on the run. with sandy feet, and i swear i put my shoes on the wrong feet...stuck with the boys around me.



and went off on the bike. only passed by 2 AG guys so that is a win for me. second best bike split too. those IOS rides are starting to work. the best part of the bike (as least specator wise) was the 180 degree U turn at transition to go back out on the second loop. it was TIGHT, one lane to preform this balancing act. and so much pressure from the fans to NOT take a foot out to "tap, tap, tappy tap" on the ground. i came up here, slowed and took a foot out, BUT DID NOT TOUCH THE GROUND. HA. i could hear everyone (ok mainly bobby, bri and jimmy) saying OHHHHHHHHHHHHH watch that foot.. and i rode away in triumph with my fist pumping saying 'oh yea!'




second run was uneventful. we went thru a neighborhood and one guy and his daughter had turned on their hose and were spraying the competitors. oh man. that was likely the best feeling of the race.




i caught kern in T1 (or is it T3?) and we ran down the beach together. i totally hammed it up telling the crowd that i was going to take her in the water. that I GOT THIS. little did they know that we both knew she would of course out swim me.

it was a good day for the IOS team. us girls managed the top three spots. and we had some guys on the men's podium as well. marty took the masters win.



fun weeekend at the beach.