Originally we had planned to stay at the 'Americas best quality inn' but changed based on less than flattering reviews (bullet holes?). At the race we met these cool pros from South Africa and England who actually did stay in the quality inn and gave us their review: "I must say, there is really nothing quality about it."
Our pre-race day was very chill--besides the pre-race prep (including a swim in the hotel pool) I spent most of the day reading "A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." Fantastic short story about humans; philosophy, insecurities, religion etc. I had never read it for some reason, but am glad to now know why some people think the meaning of life is '42' and that life can be beautiful, even without fairies under the garden.
I cant ever really remember being nervous for a race and this was even less so. Being my first pro race, I just figured I would show up and 'go do my thang.' (Side-note I literally just found that video). One of the most calming aspect for me is the singing of the star spangled banner--gets me every time--I just look at all the people standing around and wonder what they do for a living, whether they are nervous, or if they like moose tracks ice cream as much as I do. Having already answered the questions of "what do we eat" and "why do we eat," we now have the luxury of asking, "where shall we eat?"
Since I honestly only know the names of a few other pro triathletes, I didnt recognize anyone there except Laura Bennet and my friend Dan Theleen from Boulder. So I kinda just stood there in silence and contemplated how many grains of sand were on that beach. Probably a lot.
The swim was easier than I thought--I tried to let everyone go off the beach but they all just flopped into a big mess right in the middle so I dove out to the side and was somehow in first for a little bit (how the heck did that even happen?). I quickly slowed down remembering that my game plan was to just swim tempo and keep it chill. It was pretty awesome to have XTERRA Wetsuits on my side because just this week I got a Vendetta Wetsuit and a Velocity-M swimskin. BUT, since the water was 70 degrees, that meant no wetsuits for pros! The swimskin was awesome but by the end of the swim my legs were more tired than usual from actually having to kick. Also, 'keeping it chill was good' but I was something like 2nd to last out of the water for the pro men with a 20:30 (ish).
Whatevs I thought, I like biking. For the first 5 miles of the bike I kept fidgeting with my new Chobani Fit singlet thinking it was really super tight on my thighs and cutting off circulation or something. Then it occurred to me that maybe it was because I had been kicking hard the entire swim to keep my legs afloat; again, the swim coming back to get me.
Also, I ate a vanilla gel which was yummy.
By the end of the second lap of the bike course I had caught a ton of guys and was in 5th starting the run. I started conservatively as I had done in the swim and was again feeling pretty darn comfortable when Nate White caught me at mile 1.5. I picked it up a bit to stay with him and we traded off until mile 5 when he kicked a bit. I was thinking I might let him go (assuming that he was gonna drop the hammer and that flames would start erupting from his shoes or something) but I just picked it up and stayed with him. I could tell he was hurting and I wasnt, so at about mile 5.5 I went hard, left him and finished a solid 5th.
Not bad for my first pro race! AND I won some money, whoot! Next up is the New Orleans 5150 June 24. That is unless I decide to give up all my worldly possessions, become a pretentious boulder hippie, and subsist on organic grass clippings while insisting that they actually have 'lots of protein'. Until then, its back to the CHE lab again yo. I get to play with liquid nitrogen and perhaps I will even 'accidentally' catch something on fire again this week.
Oh, and to keep with the video based theme, here is some footage of our trip including Tess' majestic singing voice I was referring to:
Had a nice nap on the way home too.
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