Santa Fe Half Century

What a weekend!  Had so much fun and was so happy I had a friend to share in the moment with me, even with bad jokes and all! :-)  I packed my stuff the night before to be ready to be picked up in the morning and kept feeling like I was forgetting something but that could just be because I'm use to having to pack for 3 sports not just 1.  This was going to be my first bike only event (not including the fun ride I did with my son last Halloween).  I was a little bit nervous and not even sure why I wasn't even entered in the timed one (they don't allow aero bars on the timed events and after the very involved bike fit I had I wasn't about to mess with those).  I had been having some dizzy spells on previous rides so maybe that's why I was nervous but I knew this ride would be well supported if anything happened and I had a ride home so no worries there.  Morning of I was desperate to get my usual "buenos dias" call in to my son and for him to wish me well.  I finally got a hold of him as I was standing in the port a potty line just minutes before the start.  He was more excited to hear about me having to chase Lexi, our dog, down the middle of the street that morning than he was about the fact that mom was doing race :-)  But for some reason out of all the things I do or have done cycling feels like one of the more dangerous things I do only because of potential run ins with cars.  Ever since I had my son I am usually chanting to myself as I ride, please don't hit me, please don't hit me.  And after coming across a bike/car accident one day I went straight to get a will and all that done for my son.  So for some reason I just always want to tell him I love him before every ride or race.

photo bombed!

We started about 15 minutes after the rest of the group but there were other stragglers too.  After making it through town I was much more relaxed.  I'm not use to riding in groups of people so once I got on the open road I felt much better!  Then my chain fell off which is frustrating because that seems to happen on my bike a lot more than it should.  It's really the only complaint I have about my pretty bike but it's a big one.  After that there were no hitches.  There were nice rolling hills for most of it.  We stopped at one food stop where I had a PB&J which is the only fuel I had on the ride and I had drank a full bottle of Accelerade and about half of a bottle of water and felt pretty good.  There was a Popsicle stop that provided my already loopy riding partner with some pretty cheesy jokes that I got to hear over and over, but hey if it made people laugh as we passed by and gave them a little boost who am I to complain!! :-)  Thankfully only dizzy spells I had were about the last 5 miles of the ride and it passed quickly soon after I was done with the ride.  Stayed after to eat some lunch and chat it up with fellow riders.  The last 15 miles of the ride had some pretty decent climbing but my legs felt surprisingly fresh after I was done.  Total ride time was about 3:19 but that doesn't include our time for stopping for food and mechanical issues.  Lots of friendly riders and the wind was not bad.  I could feel it at the end as we got closer to noon but nothing that I couldn't handle.

Lastly as we were loading up our car these two women rode up to a nearby car and were congratulating each other and so happy with each other that they had just completed their first 50 mile ride.  They said whatever you do don't stop moving, keep going!! They told us they were 65 and 68 and were so happy to have done that ride.  They said eat healthy, exercise and stay happy!  They had so much energy, gratitude and camaraderie that it was contagious and made us smile!  Keep it up!  You inspire me to keep going!

Fun day to end the weekend.  Then I went with my son to go get him a real bike so he wouldn't have to get frustrated with spinning out on his old plastic trike.  He was very happy riding around the neighborhood and my guess is the training wheels won't be on there for too long!  I'm going to need to focus on the good and I'm happy I have training to keep me positive and up beat and in great shape to keep up with my son.  This morning I received an email with some heartbreaking news of a small personal battle I'm going to have to deal with in the upcoming months.  All I hope for is the best outcome possible no matter what it may be.  I hope my son comes out the winner and most of all that he will always know his mom loves him more than anything in the world!  I hope to have plenty of bike rides with him to come!  He's already revving to go for the bike ride I promised him this afternoon after school/work.  To new and old training buddies!

Happy Training! 

Rio Grande Retro Tri Race Report

Ok so this one is a hard one to write and I'm still not sure how I feel about it all.  I know I will walk away with lessons learned but right now it still stings! 

First the days leading up to it with winter storm warnings and temps in the low to mid 30s I spent most of my time convincing myself and my friends that we could do it!  It was just a sprint and if they didn't cancel the race and it was safe enough to race we could all endure the poor weather conditions together.  I packed an extra plastic bag to keep as much as I could dry in transition.  This was a reverse tri which meant the swim was in the pool and last.  I didn't however realize it was an outdoor pool until I showed up to the race which gave some of my friends quite the laugh.  :-)

Morning of in my head it actually felt warmer than I had anticipated.  The one good thing about the fact that I always build things up in my head to be WAY worse than they really are is that when I show up for something no matter how bad it is I am usually pleasantly surprised because I had prepared myself for way worse. 

Run went well I was cheering everyone on that I could and finally could feel my hands and feet around 1.5 miles.  I had one girl running right behind me pacing herself with me and it turns out it was her first triathlon which was exciting to cheer her on.  I passed one of my friends who yelled keep it up Natasha you have like 5 women ahead of you.  I said yeah and one on my butt! :-)  I was joking of course with her and she said she wanted to stay next to me because I was such a good cheerleader and it kept her going.  That made me so happy to hear!  I also didn't mind because once I warmed up a little I may have slowed down if I didn't know she was right behind me.

It was so exciting to see so many of my friends out there and all with their own stories, like first race post baby, racing even though afraid they might drown, another raced her heart out and placed over all F for her first time, other people having overcome things such as heart disease to still be out there, one making her comeback after a major foot surgery and racing as a team with a super supportive hubby.  I could keep going and going!  You are all my heroes and keep me inspired!  How couldn't I spend the whole race cheering and high fiving??!!  The bike was slick with the wet roads so the first loop was kind of slow for me but the second loop I had a talk with myself and was like you already know what to expect and you didn't fall so go for it!

Then came the swim.  This is where it gets ugly for me.  I jumped in and my legs were on fire and stinging so bad.  I guess I hadn't worn enough layers on the bike and I didn't have enough circulation going to my legs as it hurt and they were red and swollen when I got out.  It was down and back in each lane then under.  Which I thought I did!!!  I heard my friends cheering for me but somehow I supposedly didn't hear an official trying to tell me I had skipped a whole lane??!?!!!!  That's what they are claiming led to my disqualification!  So while this makes me so sad because I swear I thought I did the whole course and there were so many people in the pool I was following and so many people cheering that would have told me if I had skipped and my times make sense with everyone around me, I'll just have to live with my first DQ EVER!  My first D of any sort EVER!  Until this race I had never had a DQ, DNF, DNS none of the Ds I tell you!  I may not be the fastest but a quitter or a cheater I am not.  So I will learn to live with this result and I will now be so super cautious on the course moving forward.  They actually gave finisher's medals for this one even though it was just a sprint, I think that's weird but ok, but now I have to throw this one away.  The trick is how the heck do I tell my son that I need it back!  He thinks all my medals are his because I told him I earn them for him.  I might have to let him keep it but I really don't want that reminder around the house.  :-)

In the end I was proud of myself and everyone else for getting out there and toughing it out and I still had a lot of fun with all my friends.  I am so lucky to be a part of this sport and we Tri for those who can't and I will keep at it!

Happy Training!