Forecast:

COLD and WET!

Ride map and expectations:

HILLY

Training Level:

Peaked a month ago, haven't done much since

Readiness:

Dreading the day

Motivation:

Family and Friends

Distances:

Run 3, Bike 22, Run 1

My thoughts as I entered this race were "Great, I should have stuck to my guns of not doing this race in the first place and ending the season with a 4^th place finish in the Irongirl Race!" I hate doing races where I'm going to be cold, let alone riding in the rain...yes, I'm a fair weather rider. Oh well, I'll manage. My other motivations for doing the race were more important anyway, so I needed to put my personal discomfort aside and suck it up.

"Why AM I here?" I asked myself as I was setting up my transition area, fingers freezing, toes threatening to revive the frostbite feel I get in the winter time. The answer is easy - one of my friends has an 8 year old daughter who is thinking of doing races, and she specifically asked "is KP going to be there to watch me?" The cute little button - she had me convinced that I needed to sign up for another race. Then I ask myself, "So, I'm here, now what is going to be my motivation to fight to the end?" As a guy across the rack puts his bike into place, he comments on my pink Chris King Hubs....my second question answered - My grandmother! This week she was diagnosed with cancer for the 3rd time - and it's the same strain of cancer that has been bothering her system chronically for the last 4 years starting in her breast, now in her lungs. If she can fight cancer 3 times, I can suck it up for an hour and a half to do something I love even in conditions I detest. I was going to do this one for her.

The truck said it was 45 degrees....that's above freezing...it won't be too bad. (mental mind trick) The elevation on the map that I saw...it's rough, but nothing that I haven't faced before - especially after Madison's Ironman. (mental prep)

Time to race!

The run starts out and I'm hauling butt. At the 2 mile mark, I check my watch and see that it's 15:10..."I'm running 7:35!" Awesome - right on track. However, I get done with "3 miles" in 24 minutes --- Either their timing was off or their distance was off....or else I ran a really slow third mile. I'm not sure which it was, but I know I didn't slow down for the 3^rd mile. Oh well....I ran what they tally as 8:00 miles. Feeling pretty good, time to ride!

I decided to use the VB shoe covers to keep my tootsies warm, so I knew transition would take a little longer. 1:30 and I'm out...ready to take the hills. I love hills now! I can climb! (probably not as good as other Bellas...but...hey, I'm getting better!) I see a few strong riders, I catch them, I pass them on the uphill, then they pass me on the downhill. Crud. Another hill climb to my rescue to help move me forward...and I pass them all again! I won't admit to any of them that during that climb I thought I wanted to puke...but kept my pedals moving! Steady we move at a small incline for a while. At one point, as we ride on the small shoulder, I hear a horn honking back behind me a way, and I yell "CAR BACK!" and I keep pedaling. Eventually I hear another honk and some shouting from one of the riders...then the truck comes near me and I realize why I heard shouting --- the jerk was riding the shoulder line and he had 2 lanes to use!!! No one hurt, but I shake my head as I think about those who have no clue how to "Share the road" even when there are signs and pylons marking the way for riders.

One gal I leap frog for a couple of miles, she comments "Man, I hate this no drafting rule...I'm a road racer!" I giggle to myself and think "you're only at mile 4....see ya at the finish line sweetheart!" I never saw her again during the race. Another guy, Tom, and I are constantly changing places, enough times to actually exchange names and some friendly conversation. I climb past him, he descends past me...argh! At one point, I catch him on a flat and tell him, "if you can teach me how to descend faster, I'll teach you how to climb!" He laughs and says that he would like a pointer....my advice "Use the full pedal stroke" I don't think he understood what I meant....but that allowed me to pass him again on the next climb, and we rode into transition together.

Overall, the ride was more climbs than I thought it would be, but I didn't mind. The terrain was a bit rough for part of the ride, but enjoyable for most of it. Pretty scenery, but I imagine it would have been more beautiful if the sun would have been shining....and the river would have been more of a site to see if the rain drops weren't falling on my sunglasses at that point too! I enjoyed the ride and yes, I'll sign up for it again next year!

I come into T2 1:08 later...a bit slower than I wanted, but acceptable with the hill climbing we had to do, and now I have to figure out how to keep my cold fingers moving long enough to unzip the shoe covers and tie my running shoes - mental note - get some quick laces soon, especially if doing cold weather duathlons! 1 mile to run...keep the pace fast.

My legs were cold as that second run started, but I kept them moving and picked up the pace to finish with an 8 minute mile at the end. I figured I'd place pretty low in the standings since my overall time was 1:43...2 minutes slower than my 1:41 pace I had done in the Irongirl Duathlon a few weeks ago with the same mileage total. Oh well...I gave what I had, and it's all I could do. I finished strong, felt great, and wasn't complaining about the cold anymore! My friends Tom and Brenda were out there on the course still, following the last rider and picking up cones since they volunteered, Josh and Dani were there to see her brother and his daughter, and of course, Thom and Reese were waiting for me at the finish line...life is good!

I go to the results board interested to see what my overall time and pace was, then have to figure out what the 3 columns of numbers mean to the left...I hear a guy say "That's the place in your age group" and I'm thinking "no way am I second in my age group, he doesn't know what he's referring to"...so I go to the table to get my print out and review the results there in an easier format. WOW! I look down to see that I'm 9^th out of 117 females and 2^nd out of 22 in my age group!!! I PLACED!

So - that was for you grandma! My first podium!

As for my friend's daughter, Emma - she had a blast and is signing up for more next year. Perhaps a Junior Bella? We'll see how serious she gets...right now, she's in the mode of "Girls Just want to have fun!"

I'm planning my race calendar for next year...I can't wait for the winter to hurry up and be done. My goal for next year is to take first in a race. If cancer can be chronic, so can my improvements.

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