So I did it. I raced naked. It was joyous and liberating and I'll probably do it again. I loved every one's comments about it and have a lot to say about it if you are interested. More than anything, I loved not knowing how fast I was going. I wore my watch (cause it's a habit), but didn't start it and didn't know what time we started (the waves were all late anyway). My bike computer (which I thought I would still use) read "0" all day - something wasn't working. And it was awesome! I went by feel alone. I pushed harder than I think I usually do. And you know what???
I freaking PRed by a lot!
Here's the race report... I'll try to keep it short, but I do have pictures so YAY!
Overall Stats:
Swim (.5 miles) - 14:24
T1 - 1:21
Bike (17 miles) - 48:08 (21.2mph)
T2 - 1:04
Run (3.1 miles) - 24:07 (7:47's)
Overall time - 1:29:01
2nd out of 31 in Age Group
68 out of 500 Overall
So Saturday, I totally just chilled. Tom signed up for his first ever bike race so I was his cheering squad. It was a 9 mile, 3 loop course and he was entered as a Cat 5. Poor guy was so nervous. He did great, until he got a flat with 3 miles to the finish. Dang it. But he's addicted so he'll be out there again. I counted a lot of bikes, and 3 horse and buggy's. We weren't in Delaware, anymore. :) See the buggy in the back???
This morning I woke up ready to race. I love that feeling. Stomach was a little sloshy, but nothing unusual. The race site is only 15 minutes from our house, at most, so we didn't have to leave super early. I love local races. Got to the race site, got everything checked in, and met my parents who were unbelievable in coming out to see us race at an ungodly time on a Sunday morning. I'm so blessed to have them both. Plus, my mom played photographer for the day so we were able to get pictures! Always a plus! (Thanks mom...)
Around 7, we started to put on our wetsuits. Does this ever get easier? Seriously, this is not an easy feet. Thankfully the TRISLIDE works wonders and the baby, for the most part, slide right up. I love my Hurricane 5 from TYR. I feel like a poser in it since I'm so stinking slow, but looking good is half the battle, right?
The swim was fine. I positioned myself waaaaaay outside because the water is deeper and because there was no one there. I swam with all of the 30-34 year olds (guys and girls) and only groped one girl's butt so all in all, a successful swim. 14:24, I'll take that - I haven't been working on the swim too much so I can't expect anything amazing here.
T1 was nice and zippy, but the run to the mount line was loooooong.
The bike was awesome. Without a computer, I just went by feel and I felt great. I was passing a crapton of people and only counted three people who passed me - they were from the wave after me and were smoking. Tom was one of them, but I was proud that it took probably 16.25 miles for him to catch me... it's usually way faster than that. I did find myself looking at my computer a lot. Like I said, it always read "0" so I didn't get any data from it. Bad habits are hard to break I guess! But I just felt like my Kestrel was floating... the fit is so perfect and it's a fast bike! Tom and I made it into transition together which was fun. I ended up averaging 21.2mph which was awesome. Tom thought that the course was a little long so it might have been faster. Who knows, who cares! I was the 5th fastest woman on the bike out of 172. And I was the 47th fastest overall out of 500. That's pretty cool!
T2 I just did my thing and ran out with Tom. He said "let's run this together". Ha... well, it was good to start together.
The run was a familiar course, and although it's a simple 3.1 miles, the course is kind of wacky as it's part on a gravel path (which happened to be super muddy and filled with puddles) and then part on a grass trail over a dam. It's really hard to pass people up there though so I honestly had no clue what I was running. Tom had taken off about .5 mile into the run and that was fine. I needed to go by feel. I passed a few people and found a groove. It was great not constantly looking to see my pace. I thought I was sluggish, but looking at the results, I finally put a run together, averaging 7:47's for the 5k!
I got to the finish line, super happy with things. My dad had started his watch when my wave went off and told me he thought that I was somewhere around 1:29. I had two goals for this race which I hadn't told anyone. For one, I wanted to run sub-8's. And the other... to finish under 1:30. Last year on this course, I did a 1:33:59!
I checked the standings after everyone was finish. I finished in 1:29:01 and came in 2nd out of 31 girls. That amazed me. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face!
It was fantastic seeing so many of our friends there. Jim, Tracy and Zach Aust were there and kicked major butt (as always) coming in 1st, 1st and 2nd in their age groups (Oh... and Jim was 5th overall, Zach in 9th and Tracy in 19th and the 2nd female!!!) They are my adopted family and we love them so much! Tom had an amazing race, especially after hearing him tell me that he had nothing in his legs from the bike race the day before. He finished in 1:23, 7th out of 50 in his AG, and 27th overall. Oh... and he had the 9th fastest bike of the day out of 500! Scary to think what he could have done without racing the day before. We also got to see Dave and Meredith too which was fun. Dave raced and although I know he said he didn't hit his goals, he looked strong on the course! It's so fun seeing friends out there! Here's a picture with us and team Austome! :)
So the question is this - I have an Olympic in two weeks. Virtually the same course. Should I run naked again??? :)
