2009-The Experiment

About 10 months ago I decided it was time to get back pursuing a dream I started pursuing 10 years ago. It dawned on me that I wasn’t getting any younger and my life wasn’t getting any easier so if I was going to do it, now was my time to do it! Marathons weren’t right for my body, as evidence of the 2 year sciatic nerve battle, but triathlon is where I belong-grueling enough to keep me happy and exhausted but 3 disciplines to keep me fresh and engaged. When I looked at race schedules and my life schedule I immediately knew that the 70.3 World Championships would be my final destination, and winning my ae group would be my seasons goal. I took a multi step approach to my first and only qualifying race-starting with Duathlon Nationals which I won after a freight train and 96 degree temps tried to stop me, then 2 parts to the Tupper Lake Tinman where I flatted, crashed, and then rode really hard, and finally Rhode Island 70.3 where everything worked out and I was able to narrowly finish as the top amateur woman and 5th overall. I didn’t even consider the Kona slot for this year-this is the test year to see whether or not I’m really going to fully re-commit to triathlon so an Ironman was definitely out of the question! I did one more big half about 6 weeks after Rhode Island and turned in another solid effort at Timberman finishing as the top amateur again and 6th overall. I did a series of running races right after Timberman to try and get back into my running groove and find some of my sciatic compromised speed. Quibbie and I also turned in some good long runs through the fall and suddenly 2 hours on a trail feels like 20 minutes-I love that dog! Coming back to triathlon training as a single mom with teaching and coaching responsibilities has been interesting. The last time I was doing this I was a single 25 year old without a real care in the world. Logging 15-25 hours of training in a week was totally doable. This time I’ve had to accept that I need to take advantage of every minute of my day, plan like crazy, and not stress if I don’t get the workouts in! My closest friends and family will attest that this has not been easy for me and I’ve been prone to bouts of madness if I don’t spend enough time on my bike-these poor people should be sainted for all that they have put up with over the last few months!

In the 2 weeks leading up to the race Ruby had a touch of a cold or the flu and we had to spend some days at home drinking elderberry juice and crazy doses of vitamin c! I still managed to get some solid training in the week before we left so my head was only a little wonky and only a few people were blessed with the crazed she wolf! Travel was fairly uneventful to the race, a few delays and Ruby being Ruby, but it was her first trip on a plane and she’s awesome so she gets away with it! My mother Janet, sister Tammy, and niece Hillary came along with us so traveling was full of laughs.

Day 1 in Clearwater was cool, windy and overcast so when I headed out on my run hoping to sweat it totally didn’t happen and all I could think of was my friend John warning me all fall that I needed to wear more layers to acclimate to the heat and how that wasn’t happening at all! We took full advantage of the location of our hotel that night by finding an awesome pre race restaurant (The Gondolier or Geronimos as Ta kept calling it), that we visited at least once a day and hitting Walgreens for the first of 15 or 20 times in 4 days.

Day 2 was even cooler, windier, and more overcast. I woke up with a sore throat and stuffy nose-awesome- and there was a high surf warning so the planned swim did not happen! Tammy and I opted to run in the park that I had discovered the day before which seemed to be perfect stomping grounds for a serial killer with lots of brush and bushes to hide dead runner bodies in. I think our abs were a lot stronger after that run because we couldn’t help but cracking jokes all the way through the park. I got my bike all back together and out for a windy and frightening ride-I hate wind and it freaked me out a lot! Later we set out to race registration and was found it so bizarre to see everyone bundled up and shivering-it’s hard to put your badass face on when your teeth are chattering. Ruby and the girls and I still managed to take hilarious pics and laugh our asses off. We hit Walgreens at least 3 times. Later that evening Tammy accompanied me to the pre race dinner where we learned about the “contingency plan” for the swim if the surf didn’t go down. Everytime the swim director said “contingency plan” I fell more in love with the phrase and the idea of swimming in the harbor without giant Ruby’s Mom eating waves. I am a living, breathing, running, cycling, swimming contingency plan☺

Day 3 we woke up on to sunshine! Yay, but my cold seemed worse-yuck☹ I headed out on the bike again and despite slightly warmer temps and sunshine the wind was still there. I decided that the Serotta Rainbow Ghostbike was stable and would charge through it even I was a nervous wreck. We had a day complete with a swim in the gulf, nerves, playing in the sand, a wild tour of the bike course, more Walgreens, pizza from Geronimos, and nerves.

Race day! Woke up with a clear head, clear sinuses, and perfect coffee from Jenny in Missoula! After I got the pony tails and my RUBY’S MOM top just right Ta dropped me off at the transition area so I could take care of some last minute details and get to the swim start with plenty of time to check things out. I squeezed into my wetsuit and decided I might need 1 more potty break when I realized that the porties potties were back by the transition area! It turned out to be okay and found the sprint to and from the bathroom to be a great warm up. Part of the “contingency plan” was that all the racers get in a line and 1 at a time we would jump off a dock and start swimming. It was so much less nerve wracking than the usually mass start so when I saw Ruby and her posse before my jump she was much more nervous than I was-poor kid! The swim was me swimming-sort of terrible, but oh well I just kept reminding myself that I was a cyclist and a runner and that’s where I would make my move! The bike ride was crazy-the first part was pretty clear of giant packs of a$%^les drafting and I worked my ass off to stay at the front of the pack. For most of the time I was felt like I was riding so hard that I wouldn’t have any legs for running but it felt awesome so I couldn’t help myself. Around 10 miles a woman rode up and shouted “you should all be ashamed of yourselves if you end up on the podium!’ I responded with, “f#^k you lady,” to which she replied, “not you honey you’re doing all the work here.” The truth was I didn’t feel like I could afford to draft, it wasn’t easy for me to get here and I desperately needed to do well and do it fair! So the entire 56 miles was spent trying to get the hell away from people. By the last 5 miles I was shouting at the packs to spread out and move over so people could actually ride! I ended up riding the fastest 56 miles of my life and feeling awesome about the future of Rainbow Ghostbike☺ As soon as they took my bike all I could think was “here we go!” and wondered how trashed my legs were gonna feel after that ride! I felt surprisingly great on the run and spent almost the entire 13.1 miles thinking about Ruby and my family and my friends who had gotten me to this point. My thoughts went to some of my athletes who were also racing that day, my dad at home anxiously awaiting results, and my sweet dog who had endured all the miles over the last 10 years & seeing Ruby 4 times during the run made it a million times better! I got to give my mom a high 5 on my way to the finish line and was bawling and mumbling “it worked, it all worked” over and over by the time I found my smiling family!

Based on this I’ve decided that the experiment was appositive one and now the game is really on-lets hope Ruby will put up with it, I have a feeling that as long as my jersey reads “RUBY’S MOM” and we get to continue fun trips she will☺