Hyvee Age Group Elite Oly Race 9/1/2012 (Last Tri of 2012)

This race was a great way to end the season! Kim and I drove together to the race on Saturday, took about 4hrs. We stayed at the Locus Suites, thanks to Damon. We ate a really nice meal just down the street at a place called Centro. We got lucky because there was an hour wait, but we were able to find a spot at in the bar area. We split scallops, chicken stuffed with ricotta, and mashed potatoes. I did order a dessert, but was pretty full so I ate just a few bites of it. I had never done this race, but the venue was pretty awesome, and made you feel pretty important. There were three races total, the Championships, the Hyvee Tri, and the Pro race. A bit confusing, so much that I thought I was starting at 6:50am but that was the Championship race, so I had to wait almost an hour before the Hyvee Tri actually started. I wasn't used to waiting so long before starting, but it ended up being pretty fun to watch all of the people in the Championship exit the water. Kim and I got to the race venue very really, around 5:15 since the transition was closing at 630. We got our warm up done by 6 and were ready to go. It was nice to not be rushed, although the warm up was way before any warm up I've ever done for a race...Granted this was because I didn't realize I wasn't starting until 7:37 instead of 6:45 as I originally thought. The swim was a mass start for the Age Group Elite while Age Group was a time trial start, and an out of the water swim start which I had never done. I didn't even really get to wet my goggles or get wet/warm up before. The swim was pretty smooth besides when I swam a bit off course and almost touched me arm to the bottom, ooops...I had a really hard time seeing at the turn around, so I was trying my best to site on people and the big orange buoys. The swim was a counter clock wise route. The bike transition was HUGE, but I was in a good spot so I knew exactly where to go. No issues on the bike. I knew right away in the game today just with how my legs were feeling and mentally I was ready to push, which was good. The bike course was fairly flat with a few false flats which really slowed me down, and a lot of turns (very technical). All in all I was happy with how I was doing on the bike, and I didn't have the pee issues I did at Pig. The run also went fairly smooth. I was in the pain cave at about mile 3 or 4, but kept telling myself this is the last tri, it's OK to hurt. My knee was bothering me too, first time that it's bothered me in a race. I shook it off though and tried to focus on keeping pace. The finish was awesome besides the huge hill at mile 6 with .1 to go. That was pretty brutal. Overall I was very happy with this race and how the season ended. Since Liberty was a short on the bike, comparing this race to Rochesterfest I PR'd on everything, and most importantly felt strong both mentally and physically. Results: 29:10 swim T1(1:56 pace) 1:08.44 (21.6mph) T2 1:26 Run 43:08 6:58 pace Time: 2:24.22 6thoverall woman! PR Oly since Liberty this year was short. PS: Qualified for Hyvee Championships 2013!! PSS: On our cool down run with Kurbs we both looked over at a guy riding in all his gear, and I saw who's is this guy?! And then we both looked at him again and he looked at us, and it was MACCA!!! "Ello Ladies" is what he said to us, and we just screamed like 13 year old Beiber fans, oh good times! =)