Race Days Make Me Hungry

I think I've had 5 or 6 meals today, when all is said and done, thanks to my 4am wakeup! There's something about getting your entire day done by 12pm that seems to make me want to eat my way through the rest of the evening. I can't stop! It's insane.

I suppose I should back up and go into a little detail about my day. I'm afraid my eloquence has been spent for the day, but we shall start with the butt crack of dawn, which seems to be the curse of Triathlons. Just in case you hadn't gathered, I hate getting up early. I'm comatose until 9am, and that is unfortunate for this sprinter, as most races are done by then! At any rate, I was all packed and ready to rock n' roll this morning, so all I did was get dressed, brush my hair, apply sunscreen, make coffee, and then grab my water bottles. The drive to Long Beach was nice and easy, and I found the massive parking lot before 6am. (I'm a little put out by the $8 parking fee, but after living in DC, this wasn't THAT hard of a pill to swallow....I just couldn't believe they had to man the booths so frickin' early)

I met my relay team members outside of transition, where we put on our wristbands and then proceeded to get set up with 30 million other relay team members. Most everyone was racked and ready to go by 6am, but relay athletes appear to be a different breed. They speak my language....sleep in.

So our rack managed to get filled to capacity and beyond by 6:30am, and then the race director gave his schpiel about the water quality. The whole way up on the radio, they were reporting that all the OC beaches and Long Beach waters were closed for swimming....but the race got the health department up and testing on race day, and they decided that although there was lots of debris in the water from yesterday's rains, the bacterial levels were low enough that the swim could go on. Seriously, though....the waves were brown and dead fish were washing up on shore. People, there was POOP IN THE WATER!!! Our swimmer, who is doing a big race next weekend and didn't have her Hepatitis shot, opted not to swim. I didn't blame her at all, nor did I step in and volunteer to get wet. And poopy. So Coach told us that Swimmer would just enter the transition area when the first cap from our wave came in, and we'd proceed to continue with our race and get our times....and then at the end, we'd report to the officials that we didn't swim and were a DNF for the race. (Heck, we paid our money-- we were going to race that course!)

Anyway, the bike was phenomenal. I felt strong out there, and I passed a ton of people. The only people who passed me had race wheels and retard helmets. I loved it! (Not getting passed....passing people) I felt like I was cheating, though, because I only had one leg to complete and everyone else was exhausted from a swim. But I continued on, dodging the path of thrown waterbottles and wayward beginners who were oblivious to road etiquette. I almost took someone out myself, but to my credit, he should have been calling "on your left" when passing so closely and fast uphill! Yes, my bike handling skills could be better....I practically crash through turns.

Anyway, I did the bike in 35:25. Wowza! My bike computer said 38 minutes when I checked it in transition, so I had no idea that I'd actually met my goal. But I was pretty darn proud of myself and that made the race for me....it didn't matter that our team wasn't going to place and that my bike was all for naught....it was a blast.

I think all of my races are going to pale in comparison to Santa Barbara from here on out. It was so well run that I am now SPOILED. Long Beach was even worse than Pacific Coast. I heart Santa Barbara.

I met SixTwoThreeTries today, too, so that was a lot of fun. It's crazy that you aren't so anonymous out there in cyberspace! But she's a good egg, so now I have someone else to cheer for at tris. (She's a heck of a lot faster than I am, though.....she's like uber runner, and I am granny)

So, that was the day. Hubby passed and made it into the sim, but that means we have 3 more tests to go. Sim ride #3, Sim Ride #7, and the FAA Checkride. He is dreading it all, of course, but I have faith. I rode hard for him today, with my rings on and my necklace he gave me for our anniversary. I don't exercise in jewelry, but I needed some good juju for the day. :)

So that was the day. A PR. A DNF. And insatiable hunger coupled with temporary relief. What tomorrow brings? Who knows!