Birthday TRI Race Report

Ground Force IT Power Sprint

300m Swim, 20k bike, 5k run

We have rules on Team GBA. 

First rule of running… don’t run in JUST a sports bra unless you are 100% sure you can pull it off.  2^nd rule, don’t get run over. 

First rule in swimming – be sure to shave before heading to the pool. 

SO, of course, the first rule in TRIATHLON?  “Don’t Drown”.  (because biking and running are easier if you have a pulse.)

2^nd rule in Triathlon – HAVE FREAKING MORE FUN THAN EVERYONE ELSE ON THE COURSE. 

Word.

DeNiece and I arrived at Transition at 5:12.  Thanks to a super tip regarding parking, we were literally ON TOP of the Transition area.  It felt a little decadent really.

Remember that freaking AWESOME coach from mile 22 of the Richmond marathon?  She did her first Tri today!  We met up before the race and hung out all morning.  She needs a blog name... I might have to work on that... Perky... Cute... there are so many good WORDS for her, but none that seem right.  Karasmatic.... (edited because SpeeDee is a genius)

As we got set up on the bike racks, I heard the race official reprimand a guy for bringing his puppy into transition.  So I said to the guy, “hey, can I rub your puppy for some prerace MOJO?”  

A key to successful multisport eventing - get puppy mojo when available.

Another key ingredient is freaking make friends with EVERYONE.  GBA Mer, who also kicked a** and raced gave me that super Tri-shirt I mentioned last week. 

Well thanks to Mer everyone who walked by me, near me, or, hell, even saw me in line waiting to swim came to wish me Happy Birthday.  One woman, Cheryl wished me Happy Birthday, and then told me I would have THE PERFECT DAY.  I said, I will, because I believe that is true.  

I chatted with the girl ahead of me, the girl behind me, and within minutes we were all buddies.

Before I knew it, it was time to swim.  I hopped in the pool, watched the clock count down, and launched myself.

Have you ever had one of those days where you were born to swim?  Strong arms, easy breathing…  I was one with the water.  Almost immediately in the swim I realized I was catching the girl ahead of me.  I had planned on just not passing anyone on the swim, even if I was having an OK swim, because then you have someone LITERALLY in your wash chasing you, but I had really caught her by 200m into the swim, and I could see that there was no one else in the pool at this point.  So at almost 225m I touched her toe.  At the end of the pool she held and waited for me to pass her, and as I pushed off I heard her say, “Yea!  It’s your birthday SWIM!”

How cute is THAT?

I can hear my friends cheering as I come out of the pool and into the light…  I threw my hands up in a “yea for cheering, yea I didn’t drown, yea I’m on my way!”

T1 went fine. I didn’t land on my a**, or fall, or anything.  I was out and mounted my bike.  And COULDN’T GET MY SHOE CLIPPED INTO MY PEDAL.  

Uhg.  I was flustered.

Southern Comfort – one of my favorite SNOTTY MTT COACHES was there and I could hear her screaming “you’ve got this!!!” – it was GREAT to have a personal cheering squad.

Southern C was cheering me and I looked at her and said, “UHG!  I am all messed up!” and I lifted my eyes and see Q.  Right there.  Huh. This sucks.  I’m sucking in front of someone who SO doesn’t suck.

But Q always seems to know just what to say to me at just the right moment, and he only gave me one word.  It was the one I needed to hear, said in a nice easy tone:  “relax”. 

I internally brought myself in check and reminded myself that it was MY RACE and MY TIME and suddenly, “clip”… I was in and rolling up the hill and out of the parking lot.  I got straightened out in the clothing department, got myself squared away, and got ready to ride.

“Yea!  It’s your birthday ride!” #164 ~Melanie~ says as she passes me.  I kept her in my sights for a while.  I just wanted to keep up with her and her happy energy.  I was doing really well with that actually, and then, suddenly, a calf cramp like you wouldn’t believe shut down my left leg.  As soon as I felt it I dropped all the resistance from my gears and upped my cadence.  

I was slower, without a doubt, but I was able to spin out the cramp for the most part.  Melanie left me, I could see a red shirt ahead of me (passed the red shirt without incidence).  I got passed by a quite few people, but not too many.  It wasn’t the bloodbath that last year’s bike leg of the Tri was, that’s for sure.

T2 was fine.  Not brilliant, but acceptable. Said “HI” to Denise as she came into the bike leg of her race, and headed out for the run. 

My legs were a little squishy for the first 3 minutes and then suddenly…  It was great.  GREAT.  

My RUN was FREAKING SO WITH ME ON THE RUN.

Um. If that made no sense, Sorry.  My run and I are just so in love... it was our first race together in a long time. 

My calf was tight, but my run hung with me.  Out. And back. In… THE TWICKORY!  (Talk about knowing every little detail of the course.)  

"Yea!  It's your Birthday RUN!" ~ love that girl.

Mile “almost done” of the run and I see a woman on the corner and realize, she’s YELLING at ME!  “You’re GINNY RIGHT?  I’m SOUTHERN COMFORTS’S FRIEND!!!  GO!!! PASS THAT GUY!!! YEA!!!”  Let me just be clear on how much that didn’t suck. At. All.  Thank you, I think I will add you, Sal, to my list of BFF’s….  

I seriously brought it for the last ½ mile of that run.  I crossed the line, heard my name, and then heard the guy say, ‘OH hey!  AND it’s her birthday today!”

After that I stumbled around for a few, ran into Kc (fresh off her night shift), grabbed a ¼ bagel, thanked a few volunteers and spotted my Witch Dr.  

He offered me a massage.  I felt like SUCH A VIP getting a massage, stretch, etc from my Witch Dr.  That rocked.  He was so sweet, and his wife is a dear.  Very cool.  And my calf knot was “ok” once he mashed the crap out of it.  It, ah, yeah.  Felt great?  (no. not really IN the moment, but afterward it did feel much better). 

Karasmatic, Southern Comfort & me

It really was a PERFECT day.  Did a few things not go to plan?  Sure, absolutely.  Find me a day when everything did go perfect.  I am proud of myself.  I am proud of my training.  I made a plan and executed.

Mer, me, & DeNiece

Final results - 

Not drowned...  smiling... goals met... perfect day....

OH, and there are other blog worthy results too... 

Place 225 #165 F  35  13/43  

Swim-5:41 T1-2:13 Bike-40:55 T2-2:22 Run-26:00 
Total Time 1:17:08


(EDIT) So after the official results were posted, Richmond Multisports announced that 1 minute of the bike split was included in T2 - meaning that my bike was really closer to 41:55 and T2 was more like 1:22.  This is such a relief for me.  I honestly couldn't figure out how I had lost a minute in T2....