Sunday, June 28, 2009

Just pretending...

I am only pretending to have a good attitude about the race today.

That counts, right?

'Cause when I think about it. I am still mad. So, I am trying not to think about it anymore. Okay, tomorrow I will not think about it anymore. I will allow myself the rest of the day to wallow and stew.

I raced IronGirl today. And I was really excited for this race. It was one of my "A" races. I wanted that necklace. Really did. My mom and dad were there, Mike and the girls came out. They had signs and everything...it was so great to see them all there. Triathlon is a pain in the a$$ to come and watch, especially with little ones. I really appreciated you guys today. Thanks.

Swim was great. Jen told me I needed to get tough and deal with the scary front of the pack swimmers if I wanted to place in my AG. (I normally like to hang back and be a scardey cat.) It was really fine. No contact and I felt like a bada$$ standing right up front and sprinting into the water. Was 6th out of the water, which is good for me.

The bike is where I lost my temper a bit. With myself, with the course, with the "Woo Hoos" of the people whizzing by me while I replaced my dropped chain, with the lady with the flag that told me to left when I should have gone right.

I can explain.

Miles 1-8, I was fine. Right on track. Feeling good. Trying to reel in people ahead of me. Checking my mph and time. I see an intersection ahead and there are no cyclists in sight. Which way do I go?? Flag lady has the flag to the left. Okay. I go left. I start passing a ton of people. (Before it was really spread out. There was no one in front of me before to see.) Now, there's age groupers from the waves behind me. WTF??

Argh. I knew something was wrong. Asked a few people who had no idea if we were supposed to do this loop twice. I knew immediately my race was done. Sprints come down to seconds. An extra 4 miles on the bike (my bike computer had me at 22 miles for what was supposed to be an 18 mile race) does not really help you place in your age group. I wouldn't recommend it.

Enter negative thoughts. Quitting. Cursing. Eye rolling. Thankfully, I was alone on the bike...a very nice place to be to take out aggression. I biked as hard as I could. Shifted like an angry dumbo. Dropped my chain. Replaced my chain. Cursed some more.

Thought about quitting after the bike. Just leave. Take my bike and go home. Thought about it some more and realized I would feel worse if I did that. Felt a bit better. Decided to run hard...good practice for my first Oly distance race in 2 weeks. Even if I wasn't going to have a good race today, I wanted to at least have a good run. (20:53) I am very happy with that. Especially since I took some time during the run to tell Mike my saga of the bike leg and almost break down in tears in front of way too many people. (Today was not my best day.)

So, good swim and run and the rest I am letting go. (This is SO not like me.) :) Let's see if it works. Trying to be an adult here. Or pretend like it.

I have some pics I will post tomorrow. Camera is currently MIA and I am way too tired to go searching.

Found the missing camera. Phew.

E and I heading up to the race expo on Saturday.


I was dying to get a picture of E with these studs, but she was too shy....


So, we got autographs instead.


With the girls before the swim.


Swim exit.

14 comments:

H said...

Sorry it went so poorly for you :(

Anonymous said...

If it makes you feel any better, the neclaces were super chinzy...
Kat Welling

Angela said...

I'm sorry you had such a rough day. Go out and kick butt in the next one!

Michelle Simmons said...

Grrr. Sorry about that. :(

Rebecca DeWire said...

That stinks...4 extra miles on the bike in a sprint is a LOT! It is awesome that you kept going though and way to get in a great run. I also love the fact that you are 'pretending' to have a good attitude.

Angela and David said...

That sucks. But way to finish. You are due a great race - for every crap race there is a great race. And go ahead and stew. I'm still stewing about the race where I dropped my chain twice. Makes you hungrier for the next race.

Drago said...

In the Soviet Union they taught us to look at the course maps before our "A" races.

skigator93 said...

I heard your name called out while waiting for a friend to finish (finish the bike that is!). Nice work on the swim and run.

I was amazed at the mass confusion at the intersection leaving T1 and entering T2. Elite racers were flying around the corner and up the hill into T2 as slower racers were leaving T1 down the same hill...IN THE SAME LANE! It was surely a disaster waiting to happen and that was before you add in the random cars driving down the road aloing the bike finish and the hoards of spectators running back and forth across the road right at the bike finish.

The volunteer with the flag at the bike finish needed a lesson in flag waiving from the pay lot attendants near the GA Dome. He just stood there holding the flag down near the ground as confused riders slowed and then had to start up the steep hill to transition from a dead stop...

Hey AFLAC: more focus on volunteer training and less on PR e-mails!

Good luck in your Oly.

Allison Chapple said...

UGH! Man, I'm sorry! I hope you're feeling better about things today.

RunningMama said...

I'm so sorry! Moments like that make me just feel like a tall child. I would have been crying, cursing, spitting, etc. You just got in a little extra workout. If it makes you feel better, I'm still bitter about the Army 10-miler in 2005. Apparently, there was a "bomb-scare" and they had to re-route the run (without telling anyone) and we ended up running 11 miles and no chip time. Too bad I was running a PR that day and it was never recorded! They should give you a necklace b/c they screwed up!!

Lauren said...

That stinks! What a swimmer you are :) You go girl! You'll be fired up and ready to go in 2 weeks.

Danielle said...

That really sucks, I almost went the wrong way too!

You BLEW past me like I didn't exist! Wow! You can totally have my necklace if you want....it wasn't as awesome as the ones at the expo were!

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