The day started at 4:50 AM with the alarm going off early so we could pack up the room, check out, eat and get to the race start by about 6AM. I think this is where my problems began. With getting everything packed up and ready, I only at a 100 calorie yogurt. I should have at about 400 more calories than that. I know that, and I've done it before, but I just wasn't thinking.
Anyway, I did do something race smart - I wore my neoprene cap for the swim. Mark said that he thinks the water was the coldest it's ever been, as there was a lot of rain over the weekend. But the neoprene cap worked wonderfully! I was able to swim no problem. No foggy goggles, no ice headache from the cold water - it went well and I exited the water and got to transition in about 38 minutes. Things were starting off well!
We hit the first hill on the bike and I knew we were in for a long day. My legs were so sore. Mark was raring to go and I felt bad that I was holding him back. But he didn't seem to mind too terribly bad. At one point he told me I was "lollygagging" as I looked around at the pretty butterflies, horses and cows along the way. It is a beautiful course. The uphill switchbacks, which I was really nervous about, weren't as bad as I remembered them and I was able to do them, although slowly. We usually seemed to get passed on the uphills, but caught up with people on the downhills. Big mistake on my part occured on the bike, though. I should have eaten. I don't know why, but I did not eat anything except 4 pretzels and some power ade on the bike. I drank a lot of water, but no food. I should have eaten about 500 calores to prepare for the run. Not smart at all! Total bike time was about 4 hours.
On to the run. The lack of nutrition hit me at about mile 1!!! I knew I was in trouble when I hit the first hill and could barely move. I was seriously doubting whether I could finish the race. We managed to make it to the first aid station, which was at about mile 2.5, where I ate 2 oreos and drank some water. That seemed to help a little. But it wasn't until I started drinking the coke they had out there that I started feeling a little better. We made it to the turn around and I knew I could do one more loop. I think the 2nd loop went faster than the 1st loop (maybe not for Mark!).
Anyway, we finished the race in 7:25:01 (approximately). We did it.
Total times for the weekend were:
Friday - 32:39
Saturday AM - 3:13:13
Saturday PM - 3:22:47
Sunday - 7:25:01 FINISHER'S MEDAL
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