"i propose a week (or longer) of beautiful waters, beautiful people, amazing food, awesome temperatures, nothing but sun and some tree shade and maybe even strippers (for mike) and definitely dolphins (for chad).
so here i stand, better yet. here i kneel proposing to all of you. to share another amazing week of laughter and creating of amazing memories!"
it honestly didn't take much. mike responded, yes. chad responded, yes, TM responded, yes. then we had our first casualty. katie was going to be in a wedding the same weekend in mexico. tsk tsk.
it didn't take long (but longer than it should have) but we signed up for the race, booked the flights and eventually found a place to stay.
at first, i was really excited. i looked at the finishing times and though that if i were to put in the training i would be able to compete for a top 3 spot and possibly qualify for 70.3 worlds in austria. thus, i started training early. for once! i started in sept/oct with weekly spin rides at the house. i had friends sherpa their own bikes over and we pedal mashed for an hour and even did some runs afterwards. this lasted 4-5 weeks? then..... between the ending of a relationship and beginning of ice season i kind of fell off the bandwagon. from mid oct/early nov to april i did nothing but ice climb. regardless, i came to this race knowing that i was going to suffer. despite being suited to my style (steep bike with rolling hills between steep climbs, 2 loop run course in the heat, somewhat flat easy swim) i was easily in the worst racing shape of my life. but more on that later. ya'll want to know about st croix!
it honestly didn't take much. mike responded, yes. chad responded, yes, TM responded, yes. then we had our first casualty. katie was going to be in a wedding the same weekend in mexico. tsk tsk.
it didn't take long (but longer than it should have) but we signed up for the race, booked the flights and eventually found a place to stay.
at first, i was really excited. i looked at the finishing times and though that if i were to put in the training i would be able to compete for a top 3 spot and possibly qualify for 70.3 worlds in austria. thus, i started training early. for once! i started in sept/oct with weekly spin rides at the house. i had friends sherpa their own bikes over and we pedal mashed for an hour and even did some runs afterwards. this lasted 4-5 weeks? then..... between the ending of a relationship and beginning of ice season i kind of fell off the bandwagon. from mid oct/early nov to april i did nothing but ice climb. regardless, i came to this race knowing that i was going to suffer. despite being suited to my style (steep bike with rolling hills between steep climbs, 2 loop run course in the heat, somewhat flat easy swim) i was easily in the worst racing shape of my life. but more on that later. ya'll want to know about st croix!
whilst waiting for our rental car, chad digs out is candy. i'm surprised he has all his teeth. st. croix has a small airport, so small you walk onto the runway to get onto the planes. first time flying in a plane with a propeller as well, kinda fun, kinda freaky.
headed out to check out christiansted as well as find some grub. nothing was really open so we ate at angry nates, a super touristy place. we were introduced to some decent local hot sauce, but paid like 13 bucks for an omlette. hot damn island prices are high!
the view from our balcony, the dark stuff in the water is sea grass. it was kind cool, once you swim past it you were in crystal clear water.
after checking out the town and doing some grocery shopping chad and i were wiped. we had been up all night as we took the midnight flight out with a few hours layover in peurto rico (which has one of the shittiest airports ever). we arrived in st croix at 8am and by the time it was 2pm we were zonked. chad kind of passed out on the couch and after some light reading i decided to head upstairs and take a nap. i set my alarm for 5pm. when i woke up i was surprised to see a text from TM saying she was "here". i head downstairs, open the door and see her bike bag and luggage. then i see her. apparently she got in on friday... oops.
kathy joined later that night and manny and kevin joined saturday afternoon. mike overslept his flight and showed up at night.
saturday night was last minute prep time. taping gu to my bike, mentally talking myself through the race, trying not to freak out. prior to the race i had swam a total of 25 mins in the pool (and poorly mind you). i had done a few long trainer rides but only 2 outdoor rides totally 110 miles and put in about 30-40 miles of running. essentially, i did jack shit. i was really worried about the swim (per usual).
race morning came and we got there early.
kevin drove TM and me to the race and went back for everyone else as they were going to shut off the island to traffic, especially christiansted. it was a typical race morning. i got my shit together but whilst unpacking my bag i realized that i had left my visor at the condo. UGH. i have never raced a tri without my visor. already, the mental shield gets its first ding.
the swim start was on an island, so we had to swim to it, i decided to follow TM who was taking it really easy. needless to say, i struggled to keep up with her. so before the race even started i'm really worried that i'm not going to finish.
luckily TM and my friend jay put some positive words in my head and i was able to find some peace prior to the gun going off. when my wave started i checked out my "competition", it felt good to be in an earlier wave. it allows me to judge how well i'm doing. as the gun shot off i started the swim. i actually felt pretty good starting. but about 300 yards in i knew i was in for a long day. i was having trouble sighting and the waves were a bit larger than i had anticipated. i had my first gulp of salt water and began to freak. panic set in. i grabbed my first kayak, then my first bouy, then another kayak. by the time i had finished the first leg (triangle swim) i had chewed up 26 minutes of time. i was seriously worried that i wouldn't finish. i've never had that slow of a swim before. i was on pace to NOT finish the swim. then, something took over. i told myself that i've been in this situation before. i wasn't going to drown, i could go on. i put my head down and just kept going. i didn't care if no one was around me, i didn't care if i was a bit off course. it took me 26 minutes to finish the final 2 legs.
coming out of the water is always a relief. i was happy to see all my friends there screaming and yelling at me. but i also knew that the hard part is still to come (when generally the swim is the hardest part for me).
T1 was pretty typical for me. i ate a gu, did a quick stretch and headed out. i was pretty confident TM was a few miles ahead of me. going into this, i told myself i would stick with her and pace her to a good race for as long as i could before i bonked and let her finish strong. here i am yelling at the crowd asking if TM was on the bike already. to my surprise she wasn't out of T1 yet. she was a good 5-10 mins behind me with the wave start and i guess my swim wasn't as bad as i thought it was, haha.
the bike was challenging. the beast itself wasn't bad. i rode up the whole climb, got out of the saddle 1-2 times just to pick up a little extra momentum but i was really surprised to see the amount of folks walking their bikes. it didn't even feel like anyone tried. after the beast was a fun descent. i was sure to spin down to keep the legs loose. after that i thought i would be in the clear, but i wasn't. to keep it short, i had the hardest bike ride ever. i thought losing my nutrition at challenge AC was bad, this was bad's bigger brother. i recall looking down at my bike computer and seeing 94.8 for temperature. the constant rolling hills, the heat, the lack of real food took a toll on me. by the time i rolled into T2 i was spent. i sat down and gathered myself, and fixed my hair of course ;-).
but all i had left was 13.1 miles. no big deal. been there, done that hundreds of times. never done it after a hard swim, brutal bike and in intense heat. god, that run SUCKED. especially through the golf course. i've never been so drenched in water, ice in my pants, ice in my butt crack and just not cared. i just kept dumping anything that was cold over me. the funny thing is that once i was cool, i was putting down 7:30min/mi. but once the water evaporated (and it did so very fast) my pace was dropping down to the 9's. eventually after mile 9 i decided to just give in. i started my first walk. it was 60 seconds, then running, next time i pushed it to 90 seconds. then i decided i didn't want to limp around for vacation and shut it down. i started walking for longer periods until mile 12 where i just wanted to finish up and eat a bag of chips and have a can of ginger ale.
here i am, decelerating at the turnaround for lap #2.
i was happy to finish the race. i've never mentally broken like that. i had fun, most of the time. but there were a few dark moments where i just didn't want to be out there. we all have our dark days when we race. but it's important to know that no matter how bad you have it race day, no matter how much you want to quit, the only thing keeping you from doing so is yourself.
that and not wanting to disappoint all these amazing people who flew in to cheer you on and support you!
post race relaxation. a little reading, a little sun bathing, a little swimming.
sometimes i can't find my shades, so i use my swim goggles to read.
finding local food is really important to me. this was at harvey's. they had some pretty rocking scotch bonnet hot sauce as well as home made dranks.
a few days later we finally made it to singh's for some roti!
i may look like the odd one out, but the truth is that these two were the only two not wearing wetsuits. at 70+ feet down the water temp was around 70-72 degrees. too cold for my blood.
on our last night we decided to hit up a few tourist spots. we went to see/feed the drunken pigs but by the time we got there, they were closed. thus our journey to find good food. it took us a good 45 minutes but we finally found villa moralles. a small family owned restaurant only open from thu-sat nights serving home style peurto rican and creole cuisines. i got the fried whole snapper. apparently if you want the head on, you have to call ahead! sigh, only if i had know. the place also had awesome mojitos and even more awesome pnia coladas. i think everyone was satisfied with their meals. what was even more impressive was their hospitality. everyone was super nice and the owner, john was a hoot!
photo with the legend himself.
our last day on the island. we decided that it would be nice to find a nice beach to relax a bit before we had to head back for our flight. we had breakfast at polly's where i picked up breakfast for a homeless man only to have him just leave it on the floor (he was likely high on meth, probably the blue stuff, cus who the hell passes up fresh passion fruit juice and an awesome breakfast sandwich?). after breakfast we made the trek to find a good beach and drove by rainbow beach. the water was clear, the sand was white and the beach was vacant. this was our spot.
not too shabby.
as i look back and reflect i think that this was the hardest race i have ever done. at least during the race (bike and run especially) i felt like i hated life. but i honestly have not looked back at this trip and think it was difficult. my friends (the one's that don't race at least) have no idea how much of an impact they have on me during race day. from the rides to the race start, to seeing everyone going into T1, then again leaving T2, at the end of a brutal bike ride i'm greeted by folks screaming my name and most importantly at the finish line to greet me. no matter how good or bad i did their words are always so supportive. extra thanks and love to TM. without her, none of this would be possible. i mean seriously, sign up for a race on a tropical island by myself? that's cray cray!
