St. Anthony's - Part 2

Our thanks go out to the Skaggs family (I raced their daughters in college swimming) for their hospitality on pre-race night because they let us stay at their house. In the morning it wasn’t more than 5 minutes to the race site…but we were still awake at 5am for breakfast. Setting up my race gear in the transition area was uneventful; it’s always nice to realize that you have NOT forgotten anything important. After I finished all the set up, I jogged over to the race start at Spa Beach (it’s about ¾ mile hike!). My dad had a backpack to hold all the clothes and shoes I wore to stay warm right until start time.
Timing was precise and the pro men went off right at 7am; we followed 2 minutes later. The weather had not changed much from the day before…the water was still CHOP and the whole race course was windy! After looking at the splits, I’m pretty sure that the wind pushed the buoys closer to shore and made the swim a bit short…I’m not complaining, I was actually getting a bit sea-sick near the end of the swim. I caught some of the men, expected, and headed out on the bike about 1 minute in front of the next women (which happened to be my roommate Sarah and Jasmine). I felt great on the bike, tried not to focus too much on the men passing me back, and just worried about staying out of their drafting zone so I didn’t get a time penalty.
This year I made it further along on the bike course before the first woman passed me (it was Becky, the eventual race winner) but since the field was a LOT stronger, I had about 6 women pass me before entering T2. With the winds gusting from every direction, I was very happy to see a 1 minute faster bike split than in 2005! I guess all that work in the hills in Colorado and southern California is paying off…it’s also paying off for everyone who passed me:)haha.
I think I finished the bike leg in 6th place…I had a fast transition and started my 10k. Right away, Laura and Nina (very strong runners), flew by me on the road. I pulled my hat down low and focused on my own run pace and my form. Around mile 1, Joanna passed me, but this time I felt like I could hang onto the pace she was going. I stayed off her shoulder for a while and let her be a wind blocker. Eventually, she pulled a little bit ahead of me and I was unable to close the gap. I finished strong and ended up in 9th place…good enough for a top 10 award and a bit of prize money. This was the second race of the year and I have run both 10K’s in under 40 minutes!