So the excitement started on Friday when I went to go pick up my registration packet at Lake Sammamish State Park. I bought a shirt, got my timing chip, race bib and bike number. I ran into some RTB team members and we checked out the transition area and found which rack I was assigned to. I got home made a checklist of all my gear I needed to take (couldn't risk forgetting anything) and pumped up my bike tires. Laid out what I hoped my transition space would look like and the order I would need the gear, like socks then shoes then helmet etc. I then put each piece of gear into my bag and checked it off the list.
Race Day: I woke up at 4:45AM and heard the dreaded RAIN! Really?! After such a dry summer Mother Nature chose this Saturday morning for rain?! Well at least it wasn't record breaking heat I guess. I got up and started loading the car and double checking I had everything (this is important soon). As I'm getting on I-90 the rain actually turns into a light sprinkle...thank goodness.
I get to the park where I need to get my race number marked on my left arm and my gender and age marked on my left calf - this is your key into the transition area. First I unloaded my bike and claimed my spot on the rack I was assigned. I went back to my car to grab the rest of my gear. I went to grab my timing chip out of the bag and couldn't find it! This is where I had a near complete breakdown. My RTB friend Trev was parked next to me and he helped search my car but it was nowhere to be found. I was panicked. I knew without the chip I wouldn't know my splits and if there was a chance for me to place they wouldn't have the official time so placing was out of the question. I went to registration where I explained I had left my timing chip at home and asked if they had extras. The gal at registration called the race director and the race director said there were no extra chips! At this point the tears started to fall and I was PISSED! I knew I didn't have enough time to go back home so I grabbed the rest of my gear and set up my transition while fighting back the tears. I went to my car to put on my wetsuit and saw my friend Seth who offered me his timing chip after hearing my story. After some thought I took it and went to find the race director. I found her and told her my story and she got annoyed and said that changing the chip's ID was complicated and sent me to registration to get one of the EXTRA TIMING CHIPS! (yeah she lied when she was first asked!! Lesson learned - if you are annoying and pathetic enough you may get your way!)
YAY! I got my new number, timing chip, bib, & bike number. I had to get my arm remarked with the correct race number and the old number crossed out. Put the new race number on my race belt and the bike number on my bike. And I still had to use the restroom and get my wetsuit on all before the pre-race meeting that was going to start in 5 minutes....oops! missed that meeting! As my friend Trev was helping me get my wetsuit on, we were getting kicked out of the transition area. Thank goodness I didn't start until wave 7.
Hanging out with RTB team members
Seth and I getting ready for the swim
While hanging out with the RTB team on the beach before the race, I saw Sarah and Hans! I was not expecting them to be there at all. For some reason I thought they were going out of town. Seeing them took away all the built up stress that came from the timing chip incident.
Sarah, me & Hans
The Swim (1/4 mile): I felt pretty good during the swim. It was a short swim so I knew I had to go all out. I didn't meet my goal and there were only a couple people who swam faster than my goal time so my guess is the course was a bit longer than 1/4mile based upon my two 1/2 mile timed swims I've done this summer. I placed 26th overall in the swim out of 632 participants with a time of 6:42.5.
Out of the water and stripping the wetsuit off before entering transition
T1:
The first transition was not as frantic as I had imagined and my wetsuit came off easily. I had a lot of dry grass and sand on my feet so I took a little time getting that mess off before I put on my shoes and socks. It all went by in a blur though. I got through my first transition in 1:52.0 which definitely has room to be improved on!
The Bike (13.5 miles):
Sunglasses on a cloudy, drizzly day was a bad idea! They fogged up right away. For the first couple miles I held them either in my hand or in my mouth which got pretty annoying so I just shoved the sunglasses down my sports bra! The spray coming up from other cyclists was obnoxious but you just had to deal with it. I felt pretty strong on the ride...until I hit the hills. This is where my butt was handed to me by the others. Everybody that passed me on the hills tough I was able to pass on the flats so in the end I was ahead! I was still passing people as I headed down the last stretch. I finished the ride in 43:50.1 which is an average of 19.2 mph...a lot better than I thought I would do! I'm thinking that may be faster because on the results my second transition time wasn't registered and must be included in my bike time. Overall I was 134th in the bike.
T2: I dismounted my bike and while running it in through the transition, I almost fell a couple time because my legs felt like rubber. I guess that is something you just get use to. I racked my bike, drank some water, grabbed my race number belt, hat, and some energy gummies and I was off for the run.
The Run (5k/3.1 miles)
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Now the run is the part that always scared me off from doing a triathlon. How in the hell are you supposed to run after swimming and biking. I found out this day that you just go and don't stop moving your legs. I will admit it was pretty horrible. I thought I would have felt better during the run. The terrain was pretty bad - it was mostly on padded down grass trail and I almost rolled my ankle 3 times. After the first mile I was on a slower pace than I wanted to be so tried to pick it up on mile 2 and 3. It was great to have my cheer squad of Kelley, Ken, Sarah and Hans in the final stretch before the finish line. Like always I finished hard and it felt GREAT to finally cross that finish line. My unfortunate stats (which will be improved upon this triathlon season in upcoming races): completed the run in 27:29.4 (8:52 average) and 345th overall (ugh!).
Final Stats:
Overall Time: 1:19:54.0
Overall Place: 134th out of 632
Division Place: 1st! Along with my beautiful plaque I received a free sleeveless wetsuit from ProMotion! YAY!
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