Highlight of this race are always the people and the volunteers. I always feel pretty special doing this race because there are so many newbies, and it's pretty special to be a part of such history.
Had a woman come up to me and a few others asking how we get our wetsuits off so fast. So cute! =)
Now the race, the swim was not as crazy as last year and this is also the first year this race had an elite wave, which consisted of 8 women total. I was pretty prepared and was feeling decent at the start. I was also pretty humbled by my number one race number which was a pretty cool feeling. The talent this year was very deep, which was pretty exciting.
No real highlight from the swim, went pretty smooth and PR of 1 min from last year.
Bike was super bumpy yet again going down the River Parkway and Minnehaha Parkway. I also was getting out of aero a lot being a bit freaked out with the recent accident which happened to a fellow Tri Friend, Denny Johnson. I was really trying to push hard on the bike and managed to catch two women as well as almost catching Greta Simpson who came in before me on the swim.
The run was tough. I knew the first and second place were pretty set, Claire Bootsma and Kort Haag, super fast and talented runners and athletes. It appeared that the 3rd place spot would be a matter of the run. I gunned out and passed Greta within the first half mile or so but I was huffing and puffing hard. I knew Ann S, was a super strong runner and it was a matter of time a little after mile 2 that she passed me. I remember thinking come on stick with her, but I also thought there was a little extra portion on the run like last year and I knew that I wouldn't have enough to stay with her for that long. So, I slowly watched her pull away. Then all the sudden I figure out there was the finish line, and maybe just maybe I could have held on, but it was too late at that point. Darn! Props to Ann, super strong runner! Ended up with a PR total time, but not a run PR.
Total Time 1:13.40
Swim 8:28 500 yards (PR from last year)
Bike 41:28 21.2 MPH (PR from last year by .2 MPH) bike was .5 longer.
Run 21:09 6:49 pace
4th overall. Ann had me by about 15 seconds...
Key Takeaway: I raced pretty hard and really tried to push on the bike, with the weekend before being a 9 hour training weekend at Madison I was surprised I had the speed so I'm overall happy.
Had to do an hour and half training run after the race, the HARDEST run I've done to date, but I made it.
Next up: IRONMAN WI 2011! Do this thing!
