Naylor's Beach Race Report

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Resting peacefully this week, kind of.

As for most of the TRIgirls participating, Naylor's was my first ever Olympic distance triathlon. Going into the race, I'd swum father than 1500 meters, biked farther than 26 miles, and run farther than a 10K. But never all in a row.

Having cased the river several weeks prior to the race, I knew to expect the murky brown water, although I still never saw "all the fish" that had freaked my sister out. No surprise that I breaststroked almost the entire swim. That's my race MO. The first time I considered quitting the race was after passing the second buoy, turning to approach the shore. The next 50 meters took as long to swim as the previous 1000 or so had. I felt as if I were doing the treading water portion of a lifeguard exam. I finally made it close enough in that I could touch bottom, and swam/walked the rest of the way in. It was refreshing to see several pink suits just ahead of me--Shannon, Cyndi, and Grandison. I even got to run up to transition with Grandison, and after 1500 meters of exhausting solitude, it was absolutely exhilarating to see (and even get to talk to!) a teammate.

I was really excited to get on the bike, knowing that at least I wouldn't drown. The first couple of miles were okay; we'd ridden the course before, and I knew what to expect. However, when we turned off before the second hill of our prerace ride, my relief shifted to "huh?" as we weren't actually avoiding the second hill, just climbing a different one. I pedaled past a few people who had hopped off their bikes and were walking them up the hill, until I became aware of a harsh, almost squeaking, whirr. I could see that my front brake was rubbing my tire, and I pulled it off a bit while still riding. The same thing kept happening. and I remembered Mary Jo telling me she had ridden the brake throughout the Shady Grove race. I stopped, got off my bike, turned it upside down, and attempted a quick surgery. At first I hated the thought of losing time, but I hoped I'd be much more comfortable if I could get it fixed. Unfortunately, I wasn't very successful, and I spent the rest of the bike ride in a lightly braked position. For this reason, I was looking forward to the run even more than I had looked forward to the bike after the swim!

I came into the run with the attitude that it was "only a 10K," but that, too, quickly changed. After the first couple of miles, I gave myself permission to walk for a bit, then for a bit more. I told myself that if Dyron walked the last three miles of his half iron, then I could certainly walk three miles here. I thought about him describing his last race as humbling, and I knew exactly what he meant. I almost gave myself permission to quit the race, but realized that must just be the heatstroke talking! Thank goodness sweet SanDee was so encouraging at the water stop, although I did then give myself permission to cry (just a little bit!) Bless her heart, Deanna B appeared like an angel out of nowhere and we finished together. That was the redeeming factor of the run.

Overall on the course, I cried once (almost twice,) threw up none (almost twice,) cursed another racer once, cursed in general twice (out loud, anyway,) and FINISHED (almost quit twice!)

The rumors you've all been hearing, however, are true. The TRIgirls most definitely won Best Dressed (I'm not sure why this has not been made into an official category YET...) while sporting our new trigear. And, as always, the TRIgirls win for most supportive, most fun, most fabulous tri-women ever. Can't wait til the next race!