Parris Island Sprint Tri

Yesterday morning I woke up to the sound of birds, no wind howling, no rain, no cold front. It was going to be a beautiful day AND it was time to race. I admit I did not go into this race feeling very confident but every year I have to start somewhere. I kept telling myself that it is March and that I should not be peaking - which is oh so true, but there is always that racer in me that wants to give it everything I have got. I was looking forward to the race because I knew that for 1 hour I would be totally focused and all the other things my brain usually wanders to would disappear because of my intense concentration. The start of the race came quickly. I was not as organized as I usually am, I was out of my routine and had forgotten this or that. I made it to the pool and actually swam a lap or two. I was not really warmed up but for me it was as good as it was going to get. The race started and I was a little more relaxed than I should have been. Jamie Church (fellow coach) passed me in the pool and I hung on to his feet. Thanks Jamie! Once out on the bike Thea, new comer to the area passed me like I was standing still. Holy cow is that girl strong! I tried to pick up the pace a little after that but 24 mph is a little out of my league at this point in the year. Another few miles into it another girl passed me going just as fast! This time I was warmed up and I hung with her for a few miles before my legs screamed for mercy. My cadence was way too low. Yes, I actually saw 76 for my cadence. At this point my mind took over and I shifted down and got my cadence back up where it belonged, or at least closer to it. From a coaching standpoint I know I was bad on the bike. That is what is good about an early race, it allows you to see what you need to work on. Towards the end of the bike I actually caught up to Tracy D. which is rare and then I was overtaken by Gabi close to transition. We ran the first mile back and forth. Neither one of us is in the best shape right now but we are both runners and we were going to fight it out. I surged as many times as I could, ran on her shoulder, held my breath to make it seem like I was not running very hard - yeah, for 1 mile I raced. Finally we had a little gap and she was behind me. Tracy came flying past me but at this point but my legs were done. Cooked from the bike and then my 1 mile race with Gabi. Scott who was going out on his bike yelled to me "if you are not hurting, you are not running hard enough" so I actually did run a little harder for a moment. Thanks Scott! In the end I missed 3rd by 20-30 seconds. Thea's amazing bike split and solid race landed her in front of me, which is ok for now...but I can't wait to train some more and race again!

Once my race was over I was back out on the course until the last person had finished. I proudly watched many that I coach have awesome races. Pam out biked me, but more impressive than that was that she looked like a runner starting AND finishing the run. Suzanne really did run well for the M&M's with a PR for her 5K. Jim looked amazing out on the run course and Chris Dillard PRd by 7 min! Some hardware was collected by the unassuming Malone Coaching group and everyone was more motivated than ever to train hard! Thank you all for making my job so much fun!