Little Miss Runner Pants

.... after having stripped my wetsuit off outside of the transition area, as i was putting on my socks and bike shoes i noticed... shit shit SHIT!!! where's my chip timer?!?!

i freaked for a second, but thankfully most the volunteers were from KCM so they scrambled around and finally found it, just as i was about to run out with my bike. phew!

this course is HARD. its a lot of hills, and there was a LOT of wind.

but ya know what?!
I HAD SO MUCH FUN!

the bike course is a series of 4 out and backs that make up a big cross, so you get to see people over and over again which made the ride not so bad.

the training i've been doing i could tell was really paying off and the hills, while tough, weren't nearly as bad as the first time i rode them a few months ago.
i was in a really positive state of mind, really soaking it all up, just pedaling pedaling pedaling when at about the 20 mile mark...

WHOA WIND!!!

my coach had told me to go out slow. keep my average pace down about 1mph less than i wanted to average for the first 1/3 of the bike, knowing that i'd want to hammer and over-do it if not.... well...

good advice.
except that when i was ready to finally go that was no longer an option. the wind was out.of.control. and around the half-way point of the ride, i had my first negative thoughts for the day.

i had to struggle to gain any speed going downhill.. i dropped my chain at one point going up, and a few miles after that...

as always....

my knee.
my @$#!-ing knee started to hurt.

as seems to ALWAYS be the case, it was a rather new pain i'd not experience while biking before so.. that was unpleasant.

but unlike any of my races before, i told myself HTFU. you're finishing this, pain and all, so get over it already AND RIDE!

... which i did.

about 16 minutes faster than i'd actually predicted i would, so coming into T2...

i was very very happy.

now all i had to do was run!

and, shocking.. the run was kinda fun!

the first few miles were pure suck. but that was to be expected. the way they had the course set up though i was constantly greeted by friends on the course, so even with having to struggle for a while... about 3 miles in i found my groove and started feeling good.

right around 4.5 miles though... things went downhill.

a storm was rolling in on the other side of the lake and it got COLD. the wind picked up something fierce.. and the sky looked... well. not so good.

but on i ran. never thinking for a MINUTE they'd cancel the thing. no way. its not gunna rain. i'm gunna finish this thing. i'm DOING AWESOME!

.... but at the start of my second loop... half way through the run...

they did.
they cancelled the thing. re-routed the athletes to the chute, and weren't allowing us to pass by and finish.

i was devastated. i collapsed in a heap of tears, just absolutely devastated and when i got up i walked, crying, right through the finish line.

it was one of the most disappointing things i think i've ever experienced. and i don't wish a non-finished race on ANY athlete, EVER.