Eagleman 70.3 Race Report

I don't remember what wkd eagleman took place, but I will try to recreate the day's events in excrutiating detail for you, loyal slog-reader...

- in my two race pro career, this is the second-consecutive race where I am first out of the money
- I placed 9th, but was less than 4 min from 4th place (big improvement over columbia where I was SLAUGHTERED)


On race morning I awoke to an impressive breakfast spread laid out by my homestay parents Pat and Jenny... yessss this included EGGS for scrambling. A mil calories later I headed to the race venue with fellow homestayers Glenda and Kate, finished setting up transition and got to the start...

SWIM--5th--26:33

I entered T1 behind Mirinda and was pleased with my swim when I saw Laurel Wassner and Kelly Handel in T1 who both swam 1 min faster than me at Columbia. At this point in time, Coach Paulo almost had, in his words, a brain aneurism, when he saw my swim time. The women's swim times first appearing on ironmanlive included an extra 3 minutes since we started 3 min back of the men & that adjustment was not made in the posted time. If there's anything noteworthy about the swim--at some point I felt, uh tired and in some discomfort, BUT, I remembered succumbing to the SLOW DOWN DEMONS in the Dallas US Open last year, and told myself, let's not do that.

REAL-TIME INTERMISSION: on my walk home from the pool last night I came across hashers--self-professed members of a "drinking club with a running problem"--as they were on their Thursday night troll around the neighborhood. I overheard one shout to a passerby that it was a Michael Jackson Memorial Run. haha, LOVES

BIKE--2:31--9th

I hung around with the girls I came out of the water with for a while. FACT --Natascha is a powerhouse biker--geez. Around the 2 hr mark, a woman in black, later identified as Desiree Ficker, rode past me and Laurel and we picked up the pace to keep her in sight... so the last hr of riding was a pretty good effort. I tried to stay relaxed and relieve tension in my arms, back, shoulders to save energy for smiling on the run, obviously.

Let there be Blood -- look at pic where I'm running w/ my bike. My bike fit has been adjusted since eagleman and I currently ride bloody-knee free. For all those interested in fashion, do you remember Malia Obama's pink and orange Inauguration outfit? I do (reference the close-up pic of me running).


RUN--1:30:28--8th

The first couple miles were ROUGH... here come the complaints... the front of my left ankle and left quad hurt. I reflected on LAHP's now-HEALING foot and wanted to stop before I did damage. Those irritations subsided within a couple miles.

A few women passed me--one wrote in her race report that she saw her "victims" on the run course. I SHALL NOT BE A VICTIM! I was that day...

Racing close to home, there was a large DC Tri Club contingent, so I had plenty of cheers along the run course (but was generally unresponsive as I was focused on ... GETTING THE WORK DONE). :)

This is the only time I smiled on the run, I SWEAR. but look at this guy. LOOK AT HIM.  My pal with Echappe Equipment (www.racewheelrental.com), Andrew Shanks, hooked me up with a disc wheel for the flat and fast course!!!  :)  It was my first race riding a disc... very nice.

splits:

6:35 (prob started watch late)
6:56
6:56
6:53
7:03
7:04
6:55
6:50
6:51
6:52
7:06
7:02
6:39

Upon examination of my run splits, the ever-inquisitive LAHP asked if there was a hill when I ran the 7:0Xs. Eagleman is a FLAT COURSE. I replied in kind and asked to see HER run splits. Conversation over.

At mile 11 I was hurting and happy I put in a good effort. Eagleman was a step in the right direction. Big congrats to training pals Ryan and Kelzie who BOTH earned slots to clearwater!

NEXT: Philadelphia!